Words and sounds : silent letters and « s » endings

🔊 La maîtresse lit pour toi

Write the word knife: five letters. Now say it out loud — /naɪf/ — three sounds. The k is on the paper and nowhere in your mouth. Write lamb: the b at the end has not been pronounced by anybody for centuries, and it is still printed. Now look at the other end of a word. You write one single letter, s, at the end of sweets, of figs and of peaches — and it comes out three different ways. So which letters does English write without saying, and what decides the sound of a final s?

🎓في نهاية هذا الدرس ستكون قادرا على:

تعريف الحرف الصامت (⁦the silent letter⁩) واكتشافه بمقارنة الكتابة بالنسخ الصوتيّ
التعرّف على عائلات الحروف الصامتة الكبرى : ⁦kn- · -mb · -gh- · l · h · r⁩
نطق لاحقة الجمع والمفرد الغائب ⁦-s⁩ بنطقها الصحيح من ثلاثة : ⁦/s/ · /z/ · /ɪz/⁩
معرفة أنّ الصوت السابق هو الذي يقرّر، لا الحرف السابق
إدراك أنّ قانون ⁦-s⁩ هو نفسه قانون ⁦-ed⁩

🔑يفترض هذا الدرس أنّك تتقن:

الفرق بين الحرف المكتوب والصوت المنطوق
أبجديّة الرموز الصوتيّة : ما بين ⁦/ /⁩ صوت، لا حرف
جمع الأسماء بالسين، وسين المفرد الغائب في المضارع

Part one — Silent letters

القسم الأوّل : الحروف الصامتة. اضغط زرّ الاستماع أعلى الصفحة : هذا الدرس لا يُفهم بالعين وحدها.

⛔ Do not read this lesson silently. For every word below, do the same two things: look at the spelling, then listen to the transcription and say it out loud. The letter that disappears between the two columns is the one you are looking for. In this lesson your ear is not an extra — it is the only instrument that works.

⛔ لا تقرأ هذا الدرس في صمت. قارن العمودين بعينك ثمّ انطق الكلمة بصوت مرتفع : الحرف الذي يختفي من فمك هو المطلوب.

Presentation — you see one thing, you say another

cooker ⟹ /ˈkʊkə/ · fruit ⟹ /fruːt/ · parsley ⟹ /ˈpɑːslɪ/ · fork ⟹ /fɔːk/ · knife ⟹ /naɪf/ turnip ⟹ /ˈtɜːnɪp/ · yoghurt ⟹ /ˈjɒɡət/ · spaghetti ⟹ /spəˈɡetɪ/ · yolk ⟹ /jəʊk/ · salmon ⟹ /ˈsæmən/ stomach ⟹ /ˈstʌmək/ · lamb ⟹ /læm/ · doughnut ⟹ /ˈdəʊnʌt/ · wheat ⟹ /wiːt/ · light ⟹ /laɪt/ calf ⟹ /kɑːf/ · autumn ⟹ /ˈɔːtəm/ · salt ⟹ /sɔːlt/

A silent letter is a letter that is written and not pronounced. It is not a mistake and not an exception: English spelling is full of them. ⭐ And there is a method that helps. Put the spelling and the transcription side by side, count the letters on the left and the sounds on the right, and the extra letter shows you where to look. ⚠️ A doubled letter (the tt of spaghetti) or two letters for one sound (the ou of doughnut) also make the count longer: they are not silent letters. knife — 5 letters, 3 sounds ⟹ the k and the e are silent. lamb — 4 letters, 3 sounds ⟹ the b is silent. ⚠️ Look at the last word of the presentation: salt ⟹ /sɔːlt/. Four letters, four sounds. Nothing is silent there — and that is why it is in the list.

The families — learn the pattern, not the word

k before n — knife · know · knee
b after m — lamb · climb · comb
l before another consonant — calf · yolk · salmon · walk · should
h inside or after another consonant — spaghetti · yoghurt · stomach · wheat — and at the start of a few words: hour
gh — light · doughnut · night · daughter
n after m — autumn · column
r before a consonant or at the end of a word — fork · turnip · parsley · cooker · water
w before r, and t inside — write · wrong · listen · castle

⛔ The one that costs the most: the letter r. In British English, an r that is followed by a consonant, or that ends a word, is not pronounced. Look at what it leaves behind: fork ⟹ /fɔːk/, turnip ⟹ /ˈtɜːnɪp/, parsley ⟹ /ˈpɑːslɪ/. The r is gone, and the vowel in front of it has become long. ⟹ That is the whole trade in a stressed syllable: the silent r does not vanish for nothing — it pays for itself by lengthening the vowel before it. At the end of a word like cooker or water, it leaves a short /ə/ instead. Say fo-o-ok, and you are much closer to English than if you roll the r. ⚠️ And never add a letter that is not there either. In hour, the h is silent: it is said exactly like our.

⛔ الفخّ الأكبر لناطق العربيّة : لا تنطق الراء في آخر الكلمة ولا قبل الصامت. ⁦fork⁩ تُنطق ⁦/fɔːk/⁩ ولا راء فيها، وأثرها الوحيد هو إطالة الحركة قبلها.

Practice — cross out the silent letter in each word

Say each word out loud first, then decide which letter you never pronounced. a. lamb b. tart c. raspberry d. sandwich e. fork f. knife g. water h. salt

Answers

a. lamb ⟹ /læm/ · b. tart ⟹ /tɑːt/ · c. raspberry ⟹ /ˈrɑːzbəri/ · d. sandwich ⟹ /ˈsænwɪdʒ/
e. fork ⟹ /fɔːk/ · f. knife ⟹ /naɪf/ · g. water ⟹ /ˈwɔːtə/ · h. salt ⟹ /sɔːlt/ — nothing is silent

Eight words: seven of them hide a silent letter — knife even hides two, the k and the final e — and one word has none. Item h is the important one: a lesson on silent letters teaches you to look for them, and looking for something is the fastest way to find it where it is not. ⟹ Before you cross a letter out, say the word. If you hear the letter, it stays.

Part two — The ending -s

القسم الثاني : لاحقة ⁦-s⁩. حرف واحد يُكتب، وثلاثة أصوات تُنطق.

The ending -s is written one way and pronounced three ways — and it works exactly like the ending -ed you already know. The sound just before it decides, and nothing else. ① /ɪz/ — an extra syllable — when the word already ends in a hissing sound: /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/. peaches ⟹ /ˈpiːtʃɪz/ · oranges · dishes · he watches ② /s/ — no extra syllable — after a voiceless sound: /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/. sweets ⟹ /swiːts/ · apricots ⟹ /ˈeɪprɪkɒts/ · he eats ③ /z/ — no extra syllable — after a voiced sound: a vowel, or /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /v/. kiwis ⟹ /ˈkiːwiːz/ · beans ⟹ /biːnz/ · figs ⟹ /fɪɡz/ · eggs ⟹ /eɡz/ · berries ⟹ /ˈberɪz/ ⭐ And the same three rules cover both jobs of the ending: the plural of a noun (two figs) and the -s of he, she, it (he reads).

⛔ The trap, and it is the same hand test as for -ed. Put your fingers on your throat and say the last sound of the word without its ending: nnn for bean, ttt for sweet. — Something vibrates ⟹ voiced ⟹ the ending is /z/: beans, figs, eggs, kiwis. — Nothing vibrates ⟹ voiceless ⟹ the ending is /s/: sweets, apricots, books. — The word already hisses ⟹ you cannot add another hiss, so English inserts a vowel: peaches, oranges, dishes. ⚠️ Saying every final -s as /s/ is not a small accent problem: he reads said with an /s/ is heard as a different word by an English ear.

⛔ خطأ شائع : لا تنطق كلّ ⁦-s⁩ سينا. ⁦beans⁩ تنتهي بصوت الزاي، و⁦peaches⁩ تكسب مقطعا كاملا. ضع يدك على حنجرتك : إن اهتزّت مع الصوت الأخير فالنطق ⁦/z/⁩.

⚠️ Count sounds, not letters — one last time. In peaches, the letters before the ending are c-h, which look like two sounds and are one, /tʃ/ — a hissing sound, so the ending is a whole syllable, /ɪz/. In eggs, the letter before the ending is g, and the sound /ɡ/ is voiced, so the ending is /z/ — even though nothing on the page suggests a z. And in kiwis, the sound before the ending is a vowel. Every vowel is voiced, so a word ending in a vowel always takes /z/. ⟹ That single line settles half the plurals in the language.

Practice — /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/?

Say each word out loud, then decide which of the three endings you hear. a. sweets b. kiwis c. beans d. figs e. apricots f. berries g. peaches h. eggs ⟹ Then do the same with three verbs: he cooks · she reads · he watches.

Answers

Word	The ending you hear	Why
sweets · apricots	an s	the sound before is t, which is voiceless
kiwis · berries	a z	the sound before is a vowel, and vowels are voiced
beans · figs · eggs	a z	n and g are voiced sounds
peaches	an extra syllable, iz	the word already ends in a hissing sound
he cooks	an s	the same rule serves the verbs
she reads · he watches	a z · an extra syllable, iz	d is voiced; ch is a hissing sound

In phonetic symbols: sweets /swiːts/ · kiwis /ˈkiːwiːz/ · beans /biːnz/ · figs /fɪɡz/ · apricots /ˈeɪprɪkɒts/ · berries /ˈberɪz/ · peaches /ˈpiːtʃɪz/ · eggs /eɡz/. ⭐ Seven of the eight words are exactly as long as the singular. Only peaches has grown a syllable — for the same reason, and by the same mechanism, as roasted grew one. ⟹ -s and -ed are not two rules: they are one rule, applied at the end of two different words.

At the BEM, pronunciation is tested on paper, for 2 points: in 2023 and in 2025, the same task — “Write the following words in the right box according to their vowel sound”, in a table /eɪ/ and /aɪ/ (“play”, “my”). The silent letters and the final -s of this lesson train the same skill: compare the spelling with the sound. Keep these ready: compare the spelling with the transcription and count the sounds ; the final r is silent before a consonant and at the end ; and /ɪz/ only after a hissing sound, /s/ after a voiceless one, /z/ after a voiced one. ⛔ The mistake examiners see every year: putting eggs in the /s/ column because the ending is written s.

English writes letters it no longer says, and says sounds it does not write. At the beginning and inside a word, whole families of letters are silent — the k of knife, the b of lamb, the gh of light, and above all the r of fork, which pays for its silence by lengthening the vowel in front of it. At the end, one written s comes out as /s/, /z/ or a whole extra syllable /ɪz/ — decided, exactly as for -ed, by the last sound of the word and never by its last letter. Say the word, put your hand on your throat, and the page stops lying to you.

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