The “Long A” sound, also known as the /eɪ/ sound, is a vowel sound commonly found in the English language.
This sound is often represented by the letter “a” in words such as:
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
| Cake | /keɪk/ |
| Face | /feɪs/ |
| Place | /pleɪs/ |
One of the most interesting things about the Long A sound is the various ways in which it can be represented in written English. While the letter “a” is the most common representation, it can also be represented by other vowel combinations such as “ai,” “ay,” and “ei.”
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
| Ray | /reɪ/ |
| Train | /treɪn/ |
| Weight | /weɪt/ |
Now, let’s learn how to pronounce the /eɪ/ correctly so you can improve your English pronunciation
Words with the Long A Sounds
Here’s a list of words with the long “a” sound and their corresponding phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
These words have the vowel “a”, followed by a consonant and the vowel “e”:
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|
| Gate | /ɡeɪt/ |
| Fate | /feɪt/ |
| Mate | /meɪt/ |
| Bake | /beɪk/ |
| Lake | /leɪk/ |
| Flake | /fleɪk/ |
| Grape | /ɡreɪp/ |
| Shape | /ʃeɪp/ |
| Cake | /keɪk/ |
| Wave | /weɪv/ |
| Save | /seɪv/ |
| Brave | /breɪv/ |
| Rake | /reɪk/ |
| Sake | /seɪk/ |
| Brake | /breɪk/ |
These words have the letters -ay in them:
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|
| May | /meɪ/ |
| Day | /deɪ/ |
| Pay | /peɪ/ |
| Ray | /reɪ/ |
| Lay | /leɪ/ |
| Way | /weɪ/ |
| Stay | /steɪ/ |
| Spray | /spreɪ/ |
| Pray | /preɪ/ |
| Play | /pleɪ/ |
| Gray | /ɡreɪ/ |
| Hay | /heɪ/ |
| Say | /seɪ/ |
These words have the letter -ai in them:
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|
| Saint | /seɪnt/ |
| Paint | /peɪnt/ |
| Waist | /weɪst/ |
| Raise | /reɪz/ |
| Faint | /feɪnt/ |
| Brain | /breɪn/ |
| Wait | /weɪt/ |
| Aid | /eɪd/ |
| Gain | /ɡeɪn/ |
| Fail | /feɪl/ |
| Sail | /seɪl/ |
| Trail | /treɪl/ |
| Rain | /reɪn/ |
| Drain | /dreɪn/ |
| Spain | /speɪn/ |
| Main | /meɪn/ |
| Train | /treɪn/ |
| Pain | /peɪn/ |
| Chain | /tʃeɪn/ |
These words have the letters -ei in them:
| Word | Phonetic Transcription |
|---|---|
| Weight | /weɪt/ |
| Eight | /eɪt/ |
| Neighbour | /ˈneɪbər/ |
| Reign | /reɪn/ |
| Veil | /veɪl/ |
| Sleigh | /sleɪ/ |
| Weigh | /weɪ/ |
| Eighty | /ˈeɪti/ |
Videos to Learn How to Pronounce Long A
This is the first video that I recommend if you want to pronounce the sound correctly
These are other videos that you might want to check out to complement what you already learn from the previous video
