One Letter, One Sound

Foundations

Spelling and sound match closely. Read the letters and you can say the word.

How It Works

Igbo spelling is one of the more regular ones. Each letter, or two-letter pair, has one main sound, and the spelling keeps every syllable.

  • nri “food” is n and ri.
  • mmiri “water” is m, mi and ri.
  • ahịa “market” has three open syllables.

Two things the spelling does not show are tone, because everyday writing leaves it out, and dialect, because speakers in different regions say some letters differently. The lessons teach one standard pronunciation.

Do not apply English habits. The letter g stays the hard sound in go, even before i and e, and r is a quick tap of the tongue.

Examples (5)

  1. nri

    food

    Two syllables: n-ri.

  2. mmiri

    water

    Three syllables, each said fully.

  3. ahịa

    market

    No silent letters.

  4. akwụkwọ

    book

    Say every vowel, including the final ọ.

  5. ọgwụ

    medicine

    The pair gw is one sound.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

One Letter, One SoundFoundations

Learn This First

Spelling can only be regular once learners know what counts as a letter, so the alphabet comes first.