Quick Tip #8: How To Pronounce GH In English

Although, tough, ghost, cough, fight or tight are just a few examples of English words which contain the letters «gh», and you should know that there are many more. The problem is that this combination of letters seems to cause problems to learners, who struggle with its pronunciation. In this post I will provide you with the main possible pronunciations of «gh» in English words. Let’s begin…

1. Words ending in «-gh»

This first point covers a great deal of problematic words, as these words can be divided into two possible pronunciations:

A. /f/ – Words like «cough» /kɒf/, «tough» /tʌf/ or «laugh» /lɑːf/ are all pronounced with a final /f/. 

laughter

B. Silent – In words like «although» /ɒlˈðəʊ/, «sigh» /sʌɪ/ or «thigh» /θʌɪ/ the «gh» is ignored and not pronounced.

thigh


2. Words ending in «-ght»

This case is a simple one. If a word ends in «-ght» the «gh» is never pronounced. This happens in the past and past participle forms of some very common verbs:

think – thought /θɔːt/thought
catch – caught /kɔːt/
buy – bought /bɔːt/
seek – sought /sɔːt/

and in some other words, too:

fight /fʌɪt/ (and its past forms: fought /fɔːt/)
weight /weɪt/
freight /freɪt/
height /hʌɪt/
fright /frʌɪt/
light /lʌɪt/

As you can clearly see, in all of the words above we only pronounce the final «t», and never the «gh».


3. Words starting with «gh-«

These words aren’t very frequent in English and they have normally been adopted from other languages. However, there are some common examples like the ones below. In these cases, the «gh-» combination is pronounced /g/, as in «gap» /ɡap/. Some examples include:

ghetto /ˈɡɛtəʊ/
ghost /ɡəʊst/

ghost


4. Words containing «-gh-» in the middle

When a word contains the letters «gh» in the middle we have different possibilities for its pronunciation:

A. /f/ – this happens when we have derivatives of words like the ones in 1.A (laugh – laughing, cough – coughed, etc.)

B. /g/ – this is the case of words like «aghast» /əˈɡɑːst/, Afghanistan /afˈɡanɪstɑːn/, etc. Note that the pronunciation of «gh» is a simple /g/.

aghast

C. /gh/ – this is common with compound words when the first word ends in «g» and the second starts with «h». In these cases we pronounce both «g» and «h» as separate phonemes. Some examples include:

bigheaded /bɪɡˈhɛdɪd/ (also spelled «big-headed»)
egghead /ˈɛɡhɛd/
bighorn /ˈbɪɡhɔːn/

D. Silent – this is the case of derivatives of words from words in 1.B (high – higher/highest, sigh – sighed, etc.)


5. Rare, but noteworthy exceptions

Some rare exceptions have extremely unexpected pronunciations. A common example is the following word:

hiccough /ˈhɪkʌp/


While some of these tips are extremely useful, you can’t expect to pronounce all words perfectly straight away. A good way to learn and practise these words is to select a page in your notebook for these 5 categories. Then, every time you come across a tough word to pronounce which contains «gh», you can write it under one of these categories. By doing this you will quickly learn their pronunciation by heart.

If you liked this post, share it with other teachers or learners and don’t forget to subscribe to the biweekly or monthly newsletter. Or follow Keep Smiling English on any of the following social networks, and always Keep Smiling!

Google
Pinterest
, , , , ,

Entradas relacionadas

3 Comentarios. Dejar nuevo

Deja una respuesta

Tu dirección de correo electrónico no será publicada.

Rellena este campo
Rellena este campo
Por favor, introduce una dirección de correo electrónico válida.
Tienes que aprobar los términos para continuar

Menú