A short, relaxed vowel. The tongue is high and forward but loose, and the lips are only slightly spread. It is much shorter and lazier than the long /iː/ of sheep.
Hear it: /ɪ/ · in a word: ship
How to make it
- Keep it quick: it lasts about half as long as /iː/.
- Relax your lips. Do not smile as much as you do for /iː/.
- Think of the first sound in it.
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| i | sit, big, fish, gift, kiss |
| y | gym, myth, system |
| ui | build, guilty |
| other | busy, women, English |
Compare with /iː/
For /iː/ spread your lips and hold the sound. For /ɪ/ relax and keep it short.
| /ɪ/ | /iː/ |
|---|---|
| ship /ɪ/ | sheep /iː/ |
| sit /ɪ/ | seat /iː/ |
| bit /ɪ/ | beat /iː/ |
| fill /ɪ/ | feel /iː/ |
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: sit, fish, gift, kiss, build, busy, women, English, seat, green, leave, field, people, machine, key, piece. /ɪ/ as in ship; /iː/ as in sheep.
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.