Unit 4.1
Letter: g
Introduction
The letter g can be pronounced in different ways, depending on the position in the word.
Form
These are the pronunciations of g or the digraphs containing this letter:
| Uppercase | Lowercase | Phonetics |
|---|---|---|
| G | g | /g/ |
| G | g | /dʒ/ |
| G
GN GH GG DG |
g
gn gh gg dg |
/ʒ/
silent /f/ or silent /g/ or /dʒ/ /dʒ/ |
Example
Letter g:
g (/g/):
- game, go, leg;
g (/dʒ/)
- gentle, giant, gym
g (/ʒ/)
- garage, genre, regime;
Digraphs with g:
gn-gh (silent)
- design, foreign, signed;
- daughter, eight, light;
gh (/f/):
- enough, laugh, tough;
gg (/g/):
- aggressive, baggage, egg;
gg (/dʒ/)
- exaggerate, suggest;
dg (/dʒ/)
- bridge, edge, judge.
Use
There are some rules that will make easier the process of learning when the letter g is placed.
Generally, the letter g is pronounced as /g/, although before e, i, y is pronounced /dʒ/
- G = /g/
- G + e, i, y = /dʒ/
We can find digraphs including the letter g, which means that those two letters represent only one sound.
In the case of gn, the g is not pronounced if it is placed in the end of the word or if has an -e after the digraph.
- GN = Silent (only pronounced /n/)
- GN + e = Silent (only pronounced /n/)
In the digraph gh, sometimes g is not pronounced or it is pronounced as an /f/.
- GH = Silent
- GH = /f/
When it is double g (gg), sometimes it is pronounced as a common /g/ or /dʒ/.
- GG = G
When a d goes before g, it is also pronounced as /dʒ/.
- DG = /dʒ/