A pronúncia em inglês costuma confundir muitos alunos, porque nem sempre podemos seguir um padrão de acordo com a combinação de letras (e essa é uma dúvida muito recorrente).

Veja este poema, de autor anônimo, explicando alguns sons confusos em negrito. Você consegue pronunciar corretamente todas as palavras?

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough and through.
Well done! And now you wish perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead, is said like bed, not bead –
for goodness’ sake don’t call it ‘deed‘!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, or broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s doze and rose and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward

And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart –
Come, I’ve hardly made a start!

A dreadful language? Man alive!
I learned to speak it when I was five!
And yet to write it, the more I sigh,
I’ll not learn how ‘til the day I die.

OUGH

tough
bough
cough
dough 
hiccough
thorough
slough
through

EA / EAR / E / EE / UI / AI

heard
beard
bird
dead
debt
bed
bead
dead
threat
deed
meat
great
straight
suite

OTH

moth
both
broth
mother
bother
brother

OSE, OZE / OOSE

doze
rose
lose
goose
choose

O / OR

do
go
font
front
cork
work
word
sword

ARD

card
cart
ward
thwart
start

Se você quiser checar o som de todas essas palavras em pronúncia americana, clique aqui.

Neste link, você pode checar a pronúncia britânica, e até comparar com a americana, deste mesmo poema.

Neste outro link você encontra vários poemas que nos ajudam a aprender inglês, confira.

Escrito por Lígia Velozo Crispino e publicado na coluna semanal de inglês da Revista Exame. Editado para o blog da Companhia de Idiomas.

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