A (letter)

A is the first letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced like the strong form of the indefinite article a. Eh? has the same sound.

Use in English

A shows various vowel sounds. The first letter of the alphabet is also, perhaps, the most unstable.

Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes):

The short sound: cát, sát, mát, háve, bád, cráss, glád, Hárry, jázz, wháck, báck, pál, drág, cán, márry, mántle, lámb, quáck, záp, át, bárrier. It can actually be quite long, especially before a voiced consonant: drág, brág, sád, mád, jám, hám, bád evil = báde asked, válve, dámn, háve, glád, crám, jázz. á is halfway between à and é, and is absent from many languages, notably from the Latin ones, so it causes problems for many learners.

There are two basic long sounds. The first is a diphthong consisting of é plus ê: gâve, trâin, sây, bâke, mây, slâve, plâte, nâvy, wâil, quâver, wâiter, crâter, plâce where = plâice fish, quâint, hurrây, McCreâ, quâke, nâvel body = nâval sea, sâke, grâze, Spâin, creâte (crê-) greât, relâte, sâve, sâil, Câin, plây, hây farm (= hèy shout). Before two consonants: wâste, wâstage, pâste, bâste, âche (*âyk) âching (*âking).

So why unstable? It is the question of á versus à. The other long sound à is heard in both British and American English before r: pàrt, fàrm, yàrd, vàrnish, tàrt, gàrden, màrk (though not before double r: árrow, nárrow). The r is silent in BrE (*pàat, *gàaden). And à is also found in both AmE and BrE before silent l followed by m in càlm, bàlm, and quàlm (*kàam, *bàam, *kwàam). (But only in BrE is à found before silent l followed by v or f in hàlve, hàlf, càlf: AmE *háav, *háaf, *cáaf). Further, à is also heard in both AmE and BrE in Chicàgo, Coloràdo and AmE pajàmas BrE pyjàmas, and, curiously, in fàther - but not in ràther or làther, both á in AmE - and of course à is heard in words which retain their foreign pronunciation (especially names) like adàgio, ària, Accrà, Zimbàbwè, Guatemàla, Nicaràgua Slovàkia and Màhler. But in the great majority of words standard British English à is á in American English and some varieties of British and Commonwealth English (and long in American): BrE hàlve, hàlf, càlf, ràther, làther, Iràn, càst, làst, pàst, gràss, càn’t, grànt, pàss, àfter, làugh, gràph, àunt, càstle, dànce, àsk, tàsk, blàst, nàsty, cràft. AmE: hálve, hálf, cálf, ráther, láther, Irán, cást, lást, pást, gráss, cán’t, gránt, páss, áfter, láugh, gráph, áunt, cástle, dánce, ásk, tásk, blást, násty, cráft. So in BrE Páris, Frànce; in AmE Páris, Fránce.

In fact, à is showing an increasing tendency to give way to á in British English: it has long had the á sound in Scotland and the north of England. à versus á can be merely a matter of idiolect, that is, one of personal habit, especially with geographical names. But conversely, in some place names where BrE has á, à is preferred to á by many Americans: one hears Milàn, Vietnàm, Ugànda and Ànkara.

Finally, an anomaly: BrE banàl does not rhyme with canál, and neither does AmE bânal.

å is found in ål(l) åw and åu: tåll, småll, såw, bråwn, dåughter, hålt, scåld, båll, åwful, nåughty, Shåun = Seån, ålter, sålt, dåwn, jåunty, dråw, fålter, målt, Nepål, låw, Måud, clåw, håul, sålt, fåult, côbålt, mínotåur, céntåur, dînosåur. And in wåter. This sound is also spelt ŏ: ŏr, fŏur. Many foreign learners confuse å (a long vowel) with the diphthong ô and so pronounce låw legal as if it were lôw down, whereas in fact låw rhymes with påw, jåw, clåw.

ã is a gliding sound before r. The r follows immediately or there is an i first (-ãir): stãir step = stãre look, Blãir name = blãre out. The sound begins with the sound of é in thén and then glides into a schwa - exactly as in thére. Examples are bãre naked = béãr tolerate, animal, pãrent, rãre, vãry, vãrious, Mãry, fãir satisfactory = fãre bus, cãring, péãr fruit = pãir two = pãre cut, flãir able = flãre fire, lãir (some old-fashioned BrE speakers pronounce the normally two-syllabled lâyer like lãir). ã is exactly like é in the suffix -ãrily as in necessãrily and militãrily.

àù sounds like òw and òu and is found in àùtobàhn, sàùerkràùt, Sàùdi Arâbia and Guínea Bíssàù.

Double a is rare: àardvark, bàa, bazàar, Ãaron.

Final a after a consonant is schwa: Joánna, mánna, dilémma, nôva, Cánada, África, América, Austrâlia, Venezuèla and also in rhêa (two syllables, cf. sêa, one syllable). Although it can be otherwise in cínemà/cínema and it is always à in Pánamà.

The initial combinations -ẁa- or ẁha- and qùa are in most words pronounced quó- and wó-: ẁas, ẁhat, ẁant, ẁasp, Ẁarwick, ẁaddle, ẁaft, Ẁally, ẁash, qùarry, qùantum, qùantity, qùarrel, qùad, qùash. Similarly: ẁrath. But: wág, wháck, quáck, and quàlm (-àm), and au is ó in because (*bicóz).

a or ai are pronounced é in some common words: any, many, again, against, though the latter two are for some speakers agâin and agâinst.

A list of irregular a’s:

spelling	pronunciation
again	*əgén
against	*əgénst
any	*énny
au pãir	*ô-pãir
Austrâlia	*Ostrâlia
Austria	*Óstria
bûreau	*byûrô
bureaucracy	*byurócrəcy
because	*bicóz
blancmange	*bləmónzh
faux-pàs	*fô-pà
gauche	*gôsh
laureate	*lóriət
laurel	*lórrəl
Laurie name	lórry vehicle
Lawrence or Laurence	*Lórrənce
many	*ménny
Maurice (BrE) 'given name	Mórris surname
mauve	*môav (move is pronounced *moôve)
pláteau	*plátô
said	*séd
says	*séz
tábleau	*táblô
Thames	*Témz
Vauxhåll	*Vóxåll
yacht	*yót

In -able, a is schwa: êatable (cf. édible), pálatable, breâkable, repêatable, thínkable, dispénsable, màrketable, remàrkable, nôtable, unrelîable, pálpable, vîable. A final silent -e is retained before -able if it aids pronunciation: mánageable (*mánajable, not *mánagable), sâleable (*sâlable, not *sállable).

Compare -ible, i also normally pronounced schwa: respónsible (*responsable is French), sénsible, póssible, édible, convërtible, suscéptible.

-(ic)al, and -(ic)le are identically pronounced. -le is for nouns and -al for adjectives. Adjectives: mûsical, clássical, nåutical, quízzical, pênal, feûdal, rûral, nátural, mâniácal. Nouns: pàrticle, fóllicle, îcicle, pébble, míddle, púddle, múddle (which is also a verb).

Of course there are exceptions: pédal bicycle = péddle sell, líttle (adjective or noun), befúddle (verb), óbstacle, bàrnacle which many speakers pronounce -ícle.

-ant is a common suffix which has the schwa sound. In some words it is French for -ing and has this meaning, and it is rather less common than -ent: relúctant, redúndant, pétulant, mŏrdant, triúmphant (î), péndant, érrant, mílitant, élephant, élegant, árrogant, ascéndant, depéndant noun (cf. depéndent adjective), árrant, érrant, and cúrrant has the a when it means the fruit, and not, as one might expect, ‘at this time’: cúrrant eat = cúrrent now.

-ance/-ancy or -ence: as with -ant, and -ent: pétulance, redúndancy, élegance, mŏrdancy; éssence, depéndence, correspóndence, ínsolence, rédolence.

The suffix is -ment, not -mant; but of course -ant can be added to -m: clâimant, dŏrmant.

The suffix -age is pronounced -íj by most speakers: ímage, víllage, píllage, spíllage, wattage, cóttage. Exceptions are: míràge (*míràzh), gáràge (BrE *gáràj; AmE *gəràzh). Similarly with the a in térrace (*térris), ménace (*ménnis, cf. ténnis), and Hórace (*Hórris, cf. Nórris, Dóris, Bóris) – though these can all be schwa.

The suffix -ate is pronounced -âte in verbs: éstimâte, séparâte, prédicâte, delíberâte, artículâte, célebrâte, dénigrâte, eláborâte, precípitâte, régulâte. (This ending is spelt differently in wâit, bâit and gâit - that is to say, only in some monosyllables.) But schwa in nouns and adjectives: laureate (ló-), célibate, éstimate, séparate, prédicate, delíberate, artículate, eláborate, precípitate - all, when not verbs, -ət.

a is redundant in ëarly, ëarth, dëarth, rehëarse, hëard, lëarn, yëarn, pëarl (cf. heàrt, heàrth, rehëarse) and in Latin and Greek aê: nébulaê, nôvaê, fŏrmulaê, currículum vìtaê, Aêschylus (*êeskiləss). Unstressed in aesthétics BrE aê can sound like í in ít, while in AmE the spelling can be esthétics, and both e’s are pronounced with the é sound.

As âe this combination is rare: Gâelic Ireland (Gáelic Scotland), Ísrâel (cf. Mîchael, where it is unstressed: *Mŷcle), mâelstrom, phâeton (*fâytən), Râe surname (= Rây Raymond, rây light), while Grâeme is pronounced exactly like its more common variant Grâham (*Grâyəm).

a is redundant in some Scottish names: Líndsay, Múrray surname = Mòray Firth cf. Welsh Ánglesey, Manx Rámsey.

And it is redundant in BrE, for most speakers, in words where the suffix -ary is preceded by an unstressed syllable: díctionary, suppleméntary, sécondary, nécessary compliméntary praise = compleméntary together.

In names beginning with Mc- and Mac-, the a, visible or not, is pronounced schwa, except in a few cases, like McEnroe, where, though invisible, it is the main stressed vowel.

See also

• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing