 How do you spell the A sound in English? This video is brought to you by ESLgoal.com and Spelletics. We're here to give you some help with the complicated spellings of English sounds. Our approach starts with the sounds, not the letters in the alphabet. Audio first, visual later. This video is designed for adult and teenage learners of English. If you would like to see the fun children's version, please click on the link in the description below. How do you spell the A sound in English? Seems like a silly question, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. There are actually seven ways to spell this sound. Seven. Let's learn them all. Let's start with the most common ones. Believe it or not, the A sound is seldom spelled with an A alone. At the ends of words, it is usually spelled A-Y. A-A-A. Okay, Jay, what do you say? It's a nice day in the month of May. By the way, are you ready to play? Play on grass or play on clay? In the middle of words, the A sound is often spelled A-I. Wait, wait, wait, it's going to rain. I don't want to miss the train. Hit the trails or hit the rails. Maybe we should hit the sails. A-A-A. How did you straighten out your waist? Actually, I'm glad to explain my claim. I used my brain. No pain, no gain. We sometimes spell A with a silent E. The silent E comes at the end of the word and it is usually separated from the A by a single consonant. A-Silent E. Let's look at some examples. Cane. Gate. Same. Wade. Bake. Hurricane. Translate. Landscape. Bookcase. Take a look at the way A is spelled here. What did you do to celebrate? I ate and ate some big pancakes. How long did it take, Jake? I don't know, I'll ask my date. Once in a while the A sound is spelled with an A alone. This is not as common as you might expect. Acorn. Table. Baby. Danger. Bank. Vacation. Vacation. It's kind of strange. A is seldom spelled with an A alone. Technically, the Y here functions like a final E, giving the A its A sound. Using other letters to spell the A sound. An E for an A? What? Here's where the A spelling gets confusing. Sometimes we don't even use the letter A to spell the A sound. At the end of some words, A is spelled EY. Hey. They. Gray. Obey. Hey, hey, hey. See the way gray is spelled with E or A. To make matters worse, A is sometimes spelled EI in the middle of words. But not always. The EI is followed by a silent GH. Eight. Neighbor. Way. Reindeer. Eight reindeer for Santa's sleigh? How much does the old man weigh? Finally, A is sometimes spelled EA. This is not a common spelling for A, but it does occur in a few words. Great. Break. Stake. I'm hungry and I need a break. Sounds great. Let's go get some steak. Note. EA is more commonly pronounced E as in team or EH as in bread. Let's summarize the seven ways we can spell the A sound. Spell it with A, most common. At the ends of words, A-Y, play, okay. In the middle of words, A-I, main, wait. With silent E, A-silent E, cane, gave. In the middle of words, by itself, acorn, bank. At the beginning or middle of words. Spell it with E, E-Y, they, obey, E-I, reindeer, weigh, EA, break, great. Well that's about it. Be sure to check out our other videos on sounds and spelling. And don't forget to click on the link for kids videos. Check out the description and links below to learn more about our program. Thanks for watching. You can find out more on the following websites ESLgold.com and Let'sReadItAgain.com for kids books.