Vocalic sounds

Let’s start learning different vocaling sounds. In written language, we use 5 different vowels (a e i o u), however, in spoken language we use 8 different vocalic sounds (a ɛ e i ɔ o u ə).

• A /a/
  • Written as A
  • Like English “father”
  • Examples: català, casa
• E oberta /ɛ/
  • Written as E
  • Like French “père”
  • Examples: veig, recta, fred
    
• E tancada /e/
  • Written as E
  • Like French “été“
  • Examples: néixer, est
• I /i/
  • Written as I
  • Like English “seem”
  • Examples: illa, crisi
• O oberta /ɔ/
  • Written as O
  • Like French “robe”
  • Examples: forta, goig
• O tancada /o/
  • Written as O
  • Like French “peau“
  • Examples: honor, sanció, calor
• U /u/
  • Written as O or U
  • Like English “food”
  • Examples: cuinar, curta, muntanya, cobrir, obert
• Vocal neutra /ə/
  • Written as A or E
  • Like English “above”
  • Examples: casa, portes, territori