Tone Marks and Everyday Spelling

Foundations

Read akwa as written and choose the word from the sentence.

How It Works

Igbo has tone, but daily writing does not show it, just as English writing does not show stress. Readers manage because the sentence gives clues.

Take akwa. In Ana m eri akwa the verb “eat” points to “egg”. In Ada na-ebe akwa the verb be points to “crying”, because ibe akwa is the usual phrase for crying.

Tone marks do appear in some dictionaries, school books and course materials, and people use two main systems. Marks are not a pronunciation guarantee either, so listen to the audio in the app.

Because lessons are written without marks, word lookup also ignores them. If you type a word with marks, you still find it.

Examples (4)

  1. akwa

    egg, cloth, bed or crying

    One spelling, four words, chosen by the sentence.

  2. ụlọ akwụkwọ

    school

    No tone marks are written.

  3. Ada na-ebe akwa.

    Ada is crying.

    The verb be “cry” goes with this akwa.

  4. Ana m eri akwa.

    I am eating an egg.

    The verb eat points to egg.

How It Connects

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

Tone Marks and Everyday SpellingFoundations

Learn This First

Tone marks write down the high and low tones, so learners need those tones first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.