A long vowel. The mouth is wide open, the tongue is low and back, and the lips are relaxed. In British English there is no /r/ at the end: car is /kɑː/.
Hear it: /ɑː/ · in a word: car
How to make it
- Open your mouth as if the dentist asked you to.
- Hold it long and steady.
- Do not pronounce the r (British English).
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| ar | car, start, hard, park, market |
| a | father, bath, class, ask, dance |
| al | calm, palm |
| other | heart, aunt |
Compare with /ʌ/
Open wide and hold /ɑː/; keep /ʌ/ short and lazy.
| /ɑː/ | /ʌ/ |
|---|---|
| cart /ɑː/ | cut /ʌ/ |
| lark /ɑː/ | luck /ʌ/ |
| heart /ɑː/ | hut /ʌ/ |
| barn /ɑː/ | bun /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: car, start, hard, park, father, calm, heart, aunt, cut, bus, love, sun, young, money, touch, mother. /ɑː/ as in car; /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.