The /æ/ Sound: English Pronunciation Practice Made Easy

What is the /æ/ Sound?

First, let's look at a few examples of words with the English /æ/ sound:

• ask
• active
• apple
• back
• wag
• ram

According to Baruch College's Tools for Clear Speech, the /æ/ sound is made by doing the following:

"This vowel is a low vowel. Position your tongue low in your mouth, and shift it toward the front. The muscles of your lips and mouth should be relaxed. Vibrate your vocal cords with your mouth in this position. This vowel is made lower in the mouth than the /ɛ/ vowel."

If you need more help articulating the /æ/ sound, check out this video to learn the correct tongue and mouth placement.

Practicing the /æ/ Sound

Everything you need to pronounce the English /æ/ sound correctly is on this page. Just follow the instructions.

What do you have to do?

Practice for 5 minutes a day for 7 days.

That’s it.

Your goal is to pronounce the /æ/ sound clearly and easily by the end of day 7.

Let’s do it!

This guide to the American English /æ/ sound is full of useful information. Click the link below to jump to the part you are looking for:

• Day 1 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 2 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 3 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 4 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 5 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 6 of the /æ/ sound
• Day 7 of the /æ/ sound
• Additional /æ/ sound resources
• PDF download of the /æ/ sound
  
  

Day 1: The /æ/ Sound

If you are ready, let’s start with the practice for day one.

It’s pretty simple.

Watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /æ/ sound and similar sounds like /ʌ/ or /e/.

• ran - run
• cap - cup
• jam - gem
• mat - met

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• ban - bun - bin - barn
• chat - chit - cheat

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• example
• absolutely
• answer
• astronaut

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• You have got to think of an example.
• Is it absolutely necessary?

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• The rain ran through gran’s grain.
• I hate the hats that Nate and Nat wear at eight. 
  
  

Day 2: The /æ/ Sound

Just like day one, except simpler.

Watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /æ/ sound and similar sounds like /ɑ:/ or /ʌ/.

• had - hard
• chat - chart
• ban - bun
• mad - mud

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• rat - root - rate
• black - bleak - block

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• challenge
• translate
• attitude
• alligator

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• Do you know the answer?
• Could he become an astronaut?

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• The pat cat sat on that mat with a hat
• A big black bug bit a big black dog on his black nose.
  
  

Day 3: The /æ/ Sound

Today will be the last day you only listen and repeat.

Tomorrow, you will have to start to speak.

But let’s focus on today.

Just like yesterday, watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /æ/ sound and similar sounds like /e/ or /ɑ:/.

• bag - beg
• bland - blend
• cap - carp
• pat - part

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• cap - cape - keep - cope
• pat - pot - pit - part

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• travel
• thankfully
• blacksmith
• backpack

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• It ought to be at least a challenge.
• I want to translate it into Spanish.

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /æ/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• The fat cat had an uncanny way of catching rats.
• What rat cat acted on that? 
  
  

Day 4: The /æ/ Sound

Time to speak.

You will notice that these are the words, phrases, and sentences you repeated on day one.

Today, your job is different.

Open up a Google Doc, enable voice typing and speak.

Watch the video to see how it works.

• ran - run
• cap - cup
• jam - gem
• mat - met

• ban - bun - bin - been - barn
• chat - chit - cheat - chart

• example
• absolutely
• answer
• astronaut

• You have got to think of an example.
• Is it absolutely necessary?

• The rain ran through gran’s grain.
• I hate the hats that Nate and Nat wear at eight.
  
  

Day 5: The /æ/ Sound

Let’s revisit the words, phrases, and sentences you practiced on day two.

Just like yesterday, open up a Google Doc, enable voice typing, and get ready to speak.

Let’s do it!

• had - hard
• chat - chart
• ban - bun
• mad - mud

• rat - root - rate - wrought - wrote
• black - bleak - Blake - block

• challenge
• translate
• attitude
• alligator

• Do you know the answer?
• Could he become an astronaut?

• The pat cat sat on that mat with a hat
• A big black bug bit a big black dog on his black nose.

TIP*** Are there some words that the computer does not understand no matter how many times you say them? No worries, just skip it and move on. No one is perfect.

Day 6: The /æ/ Sound

You are so close to day 7.

Be proud that you have made it this far :)

In today’s lesson, let’s circle back to the words, phrases, and sentences you repeated on day three and practice saying them aloud.

• bag - beg
• bland - blend
• cap - carp
• pat - part

• cap - cape - keep - cope - carp
• pat - pot - pit - part - port

• travel
• thankfully
• blacksmith
• backpack

• It ought to be at least a challenge.
• I want to translate it into Spanish.

• The fat cat had an uncanny way of catching rats.
• What rat cat acted on that?
  
  

Day 7: The /æ/ Sound

Congratulations!!!

You have made it to the very last day of this /æ/ sound practice course.

Do you feel like your pronunciation of this sound is improving?

Let’s finish with a simple, but challenging exercise.

Just like you did on days 4, 5, and 6, open up a Google Doc and enable voice typing.

This time, try to get the technology to recognize these six tongue twisters.

• The rain ran through gran’s grain.
• I hate the hats that Nate and Nat wear at eight.
• The pat cat sat on that mat with a hat
• A big black bug bit a big black dog on his black nose.
• The fat cat had an uncanny way of catching rats.
• What rat cat acted on that?

Now, turn voice typing off and try to say each tongue twister as fast as possible.

Watch the video to learn how to go through this exercise.

Additional Resources: The /æ/ Sound

Words with the /æ/ sound

Minimal Pair Collection

Minimal Pair /æ/ and /ʌ/ bat but

ran - run

cap - cup

ban - bun

mad - mud

track - truck

drank - drunk

hat - hut

lack - luck

sang - sung

began - begun

Minimal Pair /æ/ and /e/ bad bed

jam - gem

mat - met

bag - beg

bland - blend

track - trek

bat - bet

dad - dead

gas - guess

land - lend

sad - said

Minimal Pair /æ/ and /ɑ:/ had hard

had - hard

chat - chart

cap - carp

pat - part

lad - lard

back - bark

ham - harm

hash - harsh

ban - barn

pack - park

Vowel Collection

ban - bun - bin - been - barn

chat - chit - cheat - chart

rat - root - rate - wrought - wrote

black - bleak - Blake - block

cap - cape - keep - cope - carp

pat - pot - pit - part - port

Syllable Stress Collection

1. example
2. absolutely
3.  answer
4.  astronaut
5.  challenge
6.   translate
7.  attitude
8.  alligator
9.  travel
10.  thankfully
11.   blacksmith
12.  backpack

Reduced Sounds Collection

1. You have got to think of an example.
2. Is it absolutely necessary?
3. Do you know the answer?
4. Could he become an astronaut?
5. It ought to be at least a challenge.
6. I want to translate it into Spanish.

Tongue Twister Collection

• The rain ran through gran’s grain.
• I hate the hats that Nate and Nat wear at eight.
• The pat cat sat on that mat with a hat
• A big black bug bit a big black dog on his black nose.
• The fat cat had an uncanny way of catching rats.
• What rat cat acted on that?

• Tools for Clear Speech /æ/ profile
• Rachel’s English Video on the /æ/ sound

• TEFLpedia /æ/ sound

Additional Activities for All Sounds

Practice Three Words

Answer the following question:

What do you like to do in your free time?

Pick one, two, or three words from the word bank and include them in your response. If it helps, you may write out the example sentences with the word in context first.

Youglish Research

Visit the Youglish website. Pick a word or phrase you would like to practice. Enter it into the Youglish search bar. Find three examples of the word or phrase in context to shadow.

Teacher Time

During your next English speaking practice session with a teacher or conversation partner, have a list of three to five words you would like to use. Give yourself a point every time you use the word correctly in context and it is understood. Aim to score 5 points within the first 10 minutes (so the rest of the time you focus just on communicating).

Voice Typing

Write out three sentences with challenging words or phrases. Use Google Docs or any other software with the ability to turn speech to text. Read these sentences aloud and check to see if your pronunciation is correct.

***There are a ton of possibilities. These are just a few ideas. Use the word bank, tongue twisters, example sentences, and other resources on this page to continue to work on this sound.

If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments below. I read and respond to all of them.