Description
*“Eh”* and *“ah”* are vowel sounds that can sound similar in English, but if you don’t say them carefully, people won’t understand you! You’ll be saying a completely different word. I will demonstrate the difference between the *“eh”* sound and the *“ah”* sound in English in this video. Listen to me and then practice with me. We will look at common minimal pairs like _pan/pen, man/men, bad/bed, sat/set, land/lend,_ and more. With one of these sounds, you open your mouth wide, and with the other your mouth opens a lot less. Learn, practice, and speak more clearly. https://www.engvid.com/eh-or-ah-say-these-16-common-words-correctly/
Take private lessons with me: https://EnglishWithRonnie.com
More of my English pronunciation videos:
https://youtu.be/H_cKdT18-LM
https://youtu.be/JQn6Pp8j2UE
In this lesson:
0:00 Short "a" & short "e" sounds in English
0:38 Pronouncing short "a" & short "e" words correctly
5:05 Practice the short 'a' & short 'e' sounds
Transcript:
Do you have problems pronouncing the difference between "man" and "men"? One is singular, "man", and one is plural, "men". I hear this mistake all the time with my students. So, you out there listening, now's your time to nail this. Nail it means get it right, get it perfect. And there are a lot of words like this. The problem is the vowels in English.
So, today I'm going to teach you about the short vowel sounds of "a" and then "e". So when we want to say the short "a" sound, we have to open our mouth, and we'll go with "man". Make sure your mouth opens wide, "man". The difference between that would be the short "e" sound would be "men". See, it's a little smile there, show your dimples, "men". So the first one is "man", and the other one is "men". Okay, singular, plural.
Then we have a "pan", "pan". My mouth is going to be sore, your mouth is going to be sore from doing this, too. So, "pan" is like a fry pan, something you use to cook with. So, we're going to say "pan" and something we write with a pen, see the smile there? It's a forced smile, but it's a smile, so "pan", "pen".
Moving right along, we have "sat". "Sat" is the past tense of "sit", so "sit down" or "I sat down". Like a dinosaur, it seems. Also, it's the beginning of the word "Saturday", but that one's okay. Then we have "set". So again, "sat", "sat", "sat", and then "set". Smiley face, okay?
"Bad bed". Be careful with this, this is another common mistake. I'll hear people say, like, "I went to bad." Why? Where's that? I was tired. Oh, "bed". Oh, "bed", "bed", "bed". "Bed", "bad". "I have a bad bed." See? A-E-I.
"Mat". So, "mat" is a small carpet or you can have a mat in your kitchen to stand on. I'm sitting on a mat right now. It's black. It's really not that exciting. And then we have the past verb of "meet", which is "met". "I met someone with a mat." "Mat" with another "t" is also a common male name in English. "Mat", and then "met". Check this out. "I met Mat." "I met Mat." "Hi, Mat."
"Sand". When you go to the beach, it gets everywhere, and your toes, and your butt crack. Woo. It's sand everywhere. And then we have "send". The present tense is "send", the past tense is "sent". So you have to be careful with that one, too. "Sand", "send", or if you want to make it past, you can say "sent". But you got to hit the "t" with that one. Be careful.
"Land", "land". "Land" means... Hmm. "Land" means "land". Thanks, Ronnie. That's great. "Land" means like a country, not water. Also, an airplane, when it hits the ground, it lands. Then we have "sand". Oh. No, that's wrong. What have I done there? This should be "lend". See? It's so easy to make mistakes. Let me fix this. We don't want to say "sand" again. That was silly, Ronnie. Bad Ronnie. Okay. So, we have the word "land", then we have another "l" word, "lend". So, if I "lend" something... This is confusing. It means I give something. Oh. Let me "lend" you my pen. "Lend" a pen. Okay?
Then we have "past", "past", and "pest". Do you know what a "pest" is? A "pest" is something that bothers or annoys you, like a fly or an insect. Also, people. People can be pests. If people are like, "Hey, hey, hey", you're like, "What?" A "pest" is something that annoys you.
So, this is your time to practice. I've written some sentences here, and we're going to go through, and I'm going to emphasize with the "a" and the "e", and you listen, and then you try.
Let's do the first one. The man with a bad pan sat on the bed with a set of pens. Now, it isn't really a wonderfully logical sentence, but we're just practicing the pronunciation. So, I want you to try it now. Okay. How did you do? Do it again. […]