Lesson 38: Hard ‘g’ (Part Two of Two)

In this lesson, we will continue learning the pronunciation and spelling patterns of words with a /g/ sound. This topic is also known as the pronunciation of hard <g>. Learn Hard /g/ Part One.

We will learn and practice the following rules for hard <g>:

• The /g/ sound spelt as <gu>

 guilt       guitar     guy

• The /g/ sound spelt as <gue>

 guest     guess     catalogue

• The /g/ sound spelt as <gh> in foreign loan words. 

 ghost     ghetto   dinghy

• The /g/ + /z/ spelt as <x>

 exist       exam      exit

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Now practise your pronunciation with the individual words and example phrases below. Place close attention to your articulation and repeat-after-me as clearly as possible. Some of the example words below are commonly mispronounced words. Listen carefully to remove possible mistakes from your English.

Practice Hard /g/: Some Examples from the Lesson Recording

guy: that guy’s guitar

▶︎ ‘guitar’ is a commonly mispronounced word. The stress of this word is on the second syllable.

guess: your guess is as good as mine

▶︎ ‘your guess is as good as mine’ is an idiom that is said when you don’t know about something.

colleague: Colleen’s colleagues from the college

▶︎ Notice that there are many /k/ sounds in the above phrase ↑

ghee: Gita cooks aloo gobi with ghee

▶︎ The word ‘ghee’ contains a silent ‘h’ and is pronounced /giː/

exam: Alexander passed his exam

▶︎ Notice that <eg> spelling is pronounced /ɪg/

Brexit: Brits and their Brexit

▶︎ The word ‘Brexit’ can also be pronounced /ˈbrek.sɪt/

Now Practise Consonant blends with /gw/

Watch the video lesson below to learn the correct pronunciation of ‘hidden /w/’ words. Note that these words contain a /gw/ consonant blend, though you wouldn’t know that judging by the spelling!

Learn how to pronounce ‘language’, ‘anguish’, ‘penguin’, ‘linguine’ and ‘distinguish’ by watching the above video British English pronunciation lesson.

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