A short, open vowel. The mouth is wide open, the jaw drops, and the tongue is low and forward. Many learners say /e/ or /ɑː/ instead, so open your mouth more.
Hear it: /æ/ · in a word: cat
How to make it
- Drop your jaw: you should see a gap between your teeth.
- Spread your lips a little to the sides.
- Keep it short: cat is not “caaat”.
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| a | cat, man, black, hand, bag |
| a (in longer words) | happy, apple, family, planet |
Compare with /ʌ/
For /ʌ/ the mouth is less open and the sound is lazier. For /æ/ open wide.
| /æ/ | /ʌ/ |
|---|---|
| cat /æ/ | cut /ʌ/ |
| ran /æ/ | run /ʌ/ |
| hat /æ/ | hut /ʌ/ |
Practice
Drag each word to the vowel it has. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap a box. Spelling can mislead you.
Words to sort: cat, black, hand, bag, family, apple, happy, man, cut, bus, love, sun, young, money, hut, run. /æ/ as in cat; /ʌ/ as in cup.
Think about the sound, not the spelling. British pronunciation.
Press 🔊, listen, and choose what you heard. Press it again to hear it again. Each time you start, the sounds are different.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.