Pronunciation rules for the vowel combination oo
Combination of vowels Pronunciation Example words Example word pronunciation My own example words
oo ／ōō／ moon /mōōn/
／ǒo／ book /bǒok/
/ǔ/ blood /blǔd/
The three pronunciations of the vowel combination oo can be divided into two groups for discussion: /ōō/ and /ǒo/ are the first group; /ǔ/ is the second group.
The first group, the vowel combination oo, is pronounced as the glasses long vowel /ōō/, as in the word mōōn, and the glasses short vowel /ǒo/, as in the word bǒok.
There are certain rules to follow when the letter combination oo makes a long sound and when it makes a short sound. Words are written in two rhyme poems, please memorize these two rhyme poems:
(1) Before k, oo is short, (2) Before l,n and s, oo is long,
As in bǒok and cǒok. As in cōōl,mōōn and chōōse.
Learn the words by heart, Bōōt,mōōd and fōōd, tōō!
Gǒod, wǒol and fǒot, You can read short or long,
Stǒod, hǒod and Hǒoray! Words like room and wood.
The first two sentences of the first rhyme poem (1) summarize the pronunciation rules of the short vowel sound /ǒo/ in glasses, that is, the short vowel sound /ǒo/ of oo before the consonant letter k; the fourth and fifth sentences There are several commonly used words that oo pronounces its short sound /ǒo/ but has no rules, including gǒod, wǒol, fǒot, stǒod, hǒod, and hǒoray. The first two sentences of the first rhyme poem (2) summarize the pronunciation rules of the long vowel /ōō/, that is, the oo before the consonants l, n and s is mainly pronounced with the long vowel /ōō/; the third sentence lists There are several commonly used words with oo pronouncing its long sound but no rules to find, including bōōt, mōōd, fōōd, and tōō; the fourth and fifth sentences list the pronunciation can be glasses long vowel / ōō / or glasses short Two commonly used words room and wood for the vowel sound /ǒo/.
However, in many words, whether the vowel combination oo is pronounced long or short is often irregular. For example, when it is followed by the consonants t and d, in most words it is pronounced with its long sound /ōō/, as in the word bōōt
