 How do you spell the I sound in English? This video is brought to you by ESLgold.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'd like to see the fun children's version, please click on the link in the description below. How do you spell the I sound in English? Seems like a silly question, doesn't it? Well it isn't. There are actually 12 ways to spell this sound. 12 ways. Let's learn them all. Ready to go? Believe it or not, the I sound is seldom spelled with only I. There are almost always other letters used with it. The sound is actually a combination of two vowel sounds, A and E, I-E, I-E. Number one, I alone. Sometimes, but not always, the letter I is used to indicate the I sound all by itself. Hi, it's I, or is it me? I have no idea. Kind of strange, but I don't mind. Two, I-E. This spelling usually comes at the ends of words. For example, pie, tie, die, lie, vie. It's easy as pie. That's no lie. Three, why, why, why? Sometimes we use the letter Y to spell the I sound. For example, cry, try, sly, spy, fry, sky, dry. Why is it sometimes spelled I-E and sometimes Y? Well, the general rule is that with single syllable words, if there is only one consonant before the I sound, it is spelled I-E. If there are two or more consonants, the sound is spelled with a Y. For example, lie, tie, pie, fly, cry, spry, but not always. For example, buy, my. Two syllables with I, E and Y. Be careful now. When there are two syllables and the I-E or Y spellings occur at the ends of words, they usually indicate an E sound. For example, city, tiny, cozy, pretty, Annie, Robbie, doggy, Maggie, but not always. Untie, decry. Notice that the last syllable is stressed. Thanks to Vicki Smith for this piece of information. Four. Now back to the I sound at the end of words. You'll often see the I sound spelled I-G-H at the end and sometimes in the middle of words. For example, high, sigh, nigh, sign, fight, light, night, bright. Sign is technically not I-G-H, but we include it here to show the similarity. Other words like this are align and design. Have we lost you? I hope not. Breathe a sigh. Give it a try. You won't die. You'll be just fine. Five. Let's go back to something a little more familiar, the silent E. Like a lot of other sounds, I is often indicated by a silent E. The silent E comes at the end of the word and is usually separated from the I by a single consonant, I-silent E. Let's look at some examples. Find, nice, like, ripe, wise, size, life, time, smile, bride. Six. A variation on this is a silent E after the letter Y. This is not so common, but you will see it once in a while. Y, silent E. Type, rhyme, tyke, bite, liar. Some of the time the word is time, or maybe rhyme, and it will rhyme. Seven, Y-E. Here's where the I spelling gets even more confusing. Sometimes we don't even use the letter I to spell the I sound. At the ends of some words, I is spelled Y-E. For example, rye, dye, goodbye. Wait, there's more. An I for an I? What? Why? Eight. Sometimes we spell the I sound, E-Y-E. Don't worry. These are almost all related to your physical eyes, so it should be easy to see. I, eyebrow, eyelashes, eyeglasses. Nine. If that's not bad enough, we sometimes spell I with the letters U-Y. For example, buy, guy. Bye-bye, guy. I won't tell you why, but I'll stop by the store and buy you a tie. Luckily, there are only a couple of words with this spelling. Ten. I-A. This one is a little controversial. Sometimes you spell I with the letters I-A. Some people actually pronounce the A as a separate sound. Some don't. Diamond. Diaper. Liable. Or liable. Eleven. A-I. These words almost always have their origins in other languages, where the A-I combination is a common way to spell the sound. For example, Thailand, Lanai, Isle, Mai Tai, Twelve, E-I. This is not a very common spelling for the I sound, but you may see it in a few words. Feisty, Heist, Einstein. Now you know how, now you know why. Twelve different ways to spell the I. Let's review the twelve ways we can spell the I sound. One to three. Spell it with a single I. At the ends of words, high, Wi-Fi, alibi. In the middle of words, find, pint, wild. At the beginning of words, iPhone, I-rate, idle. Spell it I-E. At the ends of words, pi, vi, untie. Also in plurals and past tense, pies, vi-ed, untied. Spell it with a Y. At the ends of words, cry, fly, spy. Change in plurals and past tense, cried, flies, spies. Spellings four to six. Spell it I-G-H. At the ends of words, high, thigh, sigh. In the middle of words, fight, tight, bright. Spell it I-Silent-E. In the middle of words, ride, kite, bribe. Spell it Y-Silent-E. In the middle of words, hype, bite, rhyme. Spelling seven to nine. Spell it Y-E. At the ends of words, hide, bite, rhyme. At the ends of words, die, rye, bye-bye. Spell it E-Y-E. At the beginnings of words, eyelash, eyelid, eyesore. At the end of words, I-rib-i. Spell it U-Y. At the end of words, by, guy. Spellings 10 to 12. Spell it I-A. In the middle of words, diamond, diaper, libel. Spell it A-I. At the beginning of words, aisle. At the end of words, tie, lanai, mai-tai. In the middle of words, Thailand, Taiwan, Nairobi. Spell it E-I. In the middle of words, feisty, heist, stein. 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, eslresources. Let's read it again, dot com, kids' books.