Long and Short Vowels
Listen to the sound file and get a feel for this pattern of short versus long vowels. It is crucial that you understand this lesson. It dictates to the whole pronunciation system, and determines the spelling as well.
Note: word examples are a mix of real and fake words.
| Short | Vowel | Long |
|---|---|---|
| tak-ke kas-te mat-te | A | ta-ke ka-se ma-te |
| bed klets let-ter | E | be-de kle-re re-pe |
| min-ste kits lis-sie | I | mi-nus kri-sis li-sie |
| bot-te slot-te pot-te | O | bo-te slo-te po-te |
| slur-pie rus-tig buk | U | u-nie mu-re bu-re |
Comments:
1. Words above are broken into syllables.
2. A syllable ends on either a vowel (a,e,o, i, u) or a consonant.
3. OPEN -- If a syllable ends in a vowel, it is OPEN, and the vowel pronunciation is LONG.
4. CLOSED -- And inversely, if the syllable ends in a consonant, the syllable is CLOSED, and the vowel pronunciation of the previous syllable is SHORT. That is why the A in take (ta-ke) would be long, and the A in takke (tak-ke) would be short.
5. On single syllable words, like SIT, SOK, SAG, KUS, SET, etc. the vowel pronunciation is short. If you need a long pronunciation, you would DOUBLE the vowel. Example: tak > taak, slep > sleep, slop > sloop, slip > sliep. (There is no double 'i'-- 'ie' is used to represent the long 'i'.
Long-short Pair Examples:
A | E | I | O | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pakke pake sakke passe kasse masse | lekke leke bekke messe bette lesse | pikke pike skimme mikke sikke tippe | bokke boke sotte kotte hotte losse | putte pute tukke musse lusse busse |
Mixed Examples:
| Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixies | With Prefixes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
A | ha-ke hak-ke pal paal pal-le pa-le | taak take tak takke hasse hase | verhaal onthak gedale bedalle vernap hernape | behaat verhat herhake verhakke vernap hernape |
E | leek le-ke lek-ke seep se-pe sep-pe | putte ekke ete ette epe eppe | verlekker verees veresse besete ontese herlese | verenik verennik gebede herbedde belesse ontleke |
I | piet pi-te pit-te piets ki-te kit-te | dienaar kittaar kitaar sippres sipres pieke | bedien hersite gekiet ontpitte verpit bepite | versien bekiem herskim ontskime verpit bepite |
O | koop ko-pe kop-pe pool po-le pol-le | lotte sloot potte bote kolle kome | beslot hersloot ontslotte verklope hernote verkotte | vermose ontmokke herlope verlokke hernote verkotte |
U | kuul ku-le kul-le muus mu-se mus-se | suur tuut sure sutte nutte pukke | versuur bemure hernutte ontkusse herlusse vermuke | bepute geputte verhutte herhute verbuk gebuuk |