LISTEN

/iy/…/iy/…/iy/…/iy/

see…kee​p…dream…busy

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation: 
The sound /iy/ is a high, front, tense ​vowel.

• Lift your tongue to the top of your mouth.
• Spread your lips wide, like a smile.
• Tighten your tongue.
• Breathe out to make the vowel.

This vowel is usually stressed, as in these words:

• freezer
• eastern
• reason
• perceive

However, /iy/ can also be unstressed. In an unstressed syllable, /iy/ is pronounced quickly and softly. This is most common at the end of a word.

• lazy
• very
• quickly
• windy

Spelling:

• “ee” – beef, week
• “ea” – each, reason
• “ie” – believe, chief
• “ei” – receive, seize
• “i” – ski, taxi
• “y” (unstressed) – busy, lovely

Grammar Tip:
An unstressed /iy/ is part of some suffixes.  

a. The suffix “-ly” is common in adverbs.

• ​quickly
• nicely
• readily

b. The suffix “-y” is common in adjectives.

• busy
• pretty
• ready

COMPARE

Compare /iy/ with /ɪ/:

/iy/…/ɪ/…/iy/…/ɪ/…/iy/…/ɪ/

These are both high, front vowels. However, /ɪ/ is pronounced with a relaxed tongue and /iy/ is pronounced with a tightened tongue.

You can hear the difference between /iy/ and /ɪ/ in these words.

1. A. beat, B. bit
2. A. read, B. rid
3. A. leased, B. list
​4. A. teen, B. tin
5. A. leave, B. live
6. A. steal, B. still

Practice recognizing words with /iy/ and /ɪ/ by taking the quiz here (external site). 

​​Now, compare /iy/ with /ey/:

​/iy/…/ey/…/iy/…/ey/…/iy/…/ey/

These are both front, tense vowels. However, /iy/ is pronounced with a high tongue and /ey/ is pronounced with a mid tongue.
​

You can hear the difference between /iy/ and /ey/ in these words.

1. A. see, B. say
2. A. meek, B. make
3. A. veal, B. veil
4. A. peer, B. pair
5. A. leader, B. later
6. A. bees, B. bays

​Practice recognizing words with /iy/ and /ey/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:

​​​Now, practice /iy/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.

1. see – green – tree 
​Do you see the green tree?
2. he – seemed – mean – easy 
He seemed to mean it was too easy
3. very – pleased – meet
I’m very pleased to meet you.
4. happy – receive – pretty – tee-shirt
I was happy to receive a pretty tee-shirt.
5. eat – meat – Easter
They eat special meat for Easter.
6. sleep – dream – easily 
​When you sleep, do you dream easily?

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:

Male – US Midwest (St. Louis)

Male – US Midwest (Iowa)

Male – US Midwest

Female – US Northeast

Female – US Southeast

​Prepare:
Think about what you do when you feel…

• Happy
• Angry
• Peaceful
• Worried
• Envious
• Inferior
• Fearful
• Curious

​​Record​:
​Choose 3 of these feelings. In your recording, describe what causes each feeling and how you respond to each feeling.

©2024, Christine Wingate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.