How to Pronounce the I in ING

How to Pronounce the I in ING

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Tagged With: ING Verbs

The I in ING is the IH as in SIT vowel, according to the IPA.  However, in practice, many Americans make a sound that is closer to the EE as in SHE vowel.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over how to pronounce the I in ING.The ING ending

is written in IPA with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ vowel followed by the NG consonant sound. But actually, when the IH vowel is followed by this consonant, it tends to sound a lot more like the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel. Take for example these words. Win, wing, and ween. ‘Win’ is written with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ vowel. Wi-, wi-, win. ‘Wing’ is also written with the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ vowel, but clearly the vowel sound is different. Wi-, wi-, win, wi-, wi-, wing. It’s actually a lot more like the sound in ‘ween’. Wee-, wee-, ween. So keep this in mind when you look up a word in the dictionary and find the IPA ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ followed by the NG consonant sound. It is more like the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel. Let’s look at some more examples.

Sing, si-i-i-i, sing. Nothing. Nothi-i-i-i, nothing. Winning, winni-i-i, winning. Ring. Ri-i-i-i, ring. I hope this helps to clear up the confusion that some students have when they hear this ING ending sounding so much like an ‘ee’ as in ‘she’.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Don’t stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest video.

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