Producing /eɪ/

How to produce /eɪ/

Before anything else, get the articulation right. The right mouth position makes the sound effortless.

/eɪ/
FACE diphthong
Lips: spread
Tongue: mid-front
Voicing: voiced
💡 Start at /e/ (mid-front), glide up toward /ɪ/.

Key production cues:

Start mid-front, glide up to /ɪ/.

Practice the sound in isolation

Before trying words, practice the sound on its own. Record yourself. Does it match?

1. Say /eɪ/ in isolation — hold it for 2 seconds.
2. Say /eɪ/ quickly, 5 times in a row: /eɪ-eɪ-eɪ-eɪ-eɪ/.
3. Compare your recording to a native reference.

Try a few isolated words

These words all contain /eɪ/ in different positions — beginning, middle, and end:

• Beginning: age, aim, say
• Middle: day, way, name
• End / in clusters: paper, later, baby

/eɪ/FACE diphthongArticulator diagram · regional variants · drill ↗