Short E Sound
e (pen, bed)

English Pronunciation, Lesson 07

The short e sound (IPA symbol: e) can be found in English words such as: 
pen, bed, dead, said, spend, best, rest, again, ready.

Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses

Watch the following video to learn how to pronounce this sound correctly:

(Note that in the video the term "soft palate" will be mentioned.
Soft palate means "the soft part at the back of the top of the mouth".)



Have you watched it? Good! Let's practice...

Say these words out loud (short E sound is bold):

1) bet

2) rest

3) bed

4) pen

5) said

6) spend

7) get

8) check

9) let

10) sweat

11) wet

12) yet

13) ten

14) again

15) ready

16) neck

17) head

18) when


Now say these sentences out loud (short E sound is bold):

1) I bet you haven't slept yet.

2) Get some rest.

3) When will you be ready?

4) He spends ten dollars a day.

5) My head is on my neck.

7) The floor is wet again.

8) He said: "Could you check if you have a pen?"

9) Can you help? Sure, no sweat (=no problem)!

10) Let's pet the cat.

Have you finished them all? Cool! 

Well done! You have completed the short E sound lesson.

Let's move on...

Your next lesson: Lesson 08, the Schwa Sound (the, about)

List of Lessons

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