Decoding the letter U

jʊə

cure /kjʊər/

ɜː

nurse /nɜːrs/

juː

cute /kjuːt/

ʌ

strut /strʌt/

The letter U (lowercase u, pronounced /juː/), as most vowel letters in English, had initially four main pronunciations; however in Received Pronunciation they are currently eight and in General American there are seven.

• So-called “short u”, IPA phoneme /ʌ/, as in strut, run, running or hurry^BrE
• So-called “long u”, with two possibilities

IPA phonetic sequence /juː/, as in cute, student, assume, or assuming

IPA phoneme /uː/, as in rule, ruling, conclusion or flu

• Long "ur" monophthong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɜː/, as in nurse, fur, furry or hurry^AmE
• Long vowel "ur" spelling, with two possibilities and several sounds

With /j/

Traditional pronunciation, as in cure, curious or fury: IPA phonetic sequences /jʊə/^BrE or /jʊ/^AmE

Newer pronunciations: IPA sequences /jɔː/^BrE (cure) or /jɜː/^AmE (cure, curious)

Without /j/

Traditional pronunciation, as in sure, tourist: IPA phoneme /ʊə/^BrE or /ʊ/^AmE

Newer pronunciation IPA phoneme /ɔː/^BrE (sure, tourist) or /ɜː/^AmE (sure)

U also can be pronounced /ʊ/ as in full and /w/ as in quit, plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).

It is also very much one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between RP (/juː/) and American (/uː/) pronunciations regarding, particularly with words like due or nude. This is also explained at "Yod dropping"" in the IPA phonetic sequence /juː/ article.

As /juː/ or /uː/

IPA vowels

æ	ɑː
trap	father - start
e	eɪ	eə
dress	face	square
ɪ	iː	ɪə
kit	fleece	near
ɒ	əʊ	ɔː
lot	goat	taught
ʊ	uː	ʊə
foot	goose	mature
	juː	jʊə
	cute	cure
ʌ	ə	ɜː
strut	comma	nurse
aɪ	aʊ	ɔɪ
price	mouth	choice

IPA consonants

Normal sound: /b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z/
ʃ	tʃ	ŋ
show	church	sing
ʒ	dʒ	j
usual	judge	you
θ	ð	s
think	that	see

IPA	Stress
ˈ	Primary stress hotel /həʊˈtel/
ˌ	Secondary stress understand /ˌʌndərˈstænd/

IPA	Syllabification
.	nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/, night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/

See main articles IPA phoneme /uː/ and IPA phonetic sequence /juː/.

The letter U can represent the sounds /juː/ or /uː/ depending on the previous consonant.

Always /juː/

Initially and after /b, f, g, h, k, m, p/ and /v/ the letter U sounds /juː/

• Initially /juː/: unit - unite - university

	/bjuː/	/fjuː/	/gjuː/	/hjuː/	/kjuː/	/mjuː/	/pjuː/	/vjuː/
"u" + magic e	distribute	refuse	legume	huge	cube - excuse	amuse - mute	compute	ovule (of plants)
"u" + consonant + vowel	distribution	confusion - future	argument	human - humor	accumulate - Cuba - occupy	community - music - stimulate	computer

Exception

as /uː/: recuperate

Depending on the accent

After /d, n, s, t, θ/ and /z/ U sounds /juː/ in Received Pronunciation and /uː/ in General American

	/djuː/ or /duː/	/njuː/ or /nuː/	/sjuː/ or /suː/	/tjuː/ or /tuː/	/θjuː/ or /θuː/	/zjuː/ or /zuː/
"u" + magic e	dude - introduce - reduce	nude - nuke	assume - consume	attitude - substitute - tube - tune		presume - resume
"u" + consonant + vowel	duty	nutrition	consumer	opportunity - student - tuna	enthusiasm

Exceptions

Always /juː/: annual - manual - menu

Always /uː/

After /dʒ, l, r, ʃ/ and /tʃ/ U represents /uː/.

	/dʒuː/	/luː/	/ruː/	/ʃuː/	/tʃuː/
"u" + magic e	June	conclude	rude - rule	chute - parachute
"u" + consonant + vowel		conclusion - illuminate	imprudent		actuate
"u" in the last syllable		flu	truth

Exceptions:

/juː/: volume

As /ʊ/

See main article IPA phoneme /ʊ/.

• "u" + final consonant: put;
• "u" + two consonants: bull - bullet - bush - cushion - full - pull - push

As /ʌ/

See main article IPA phoneme /ʌ/.

• "u" + final consonants: bun - but - cup - discuss - fun - just - lunch - much - run - sun - up
• "u" + double consonant: butter - funny - runny - suffer - summer - sunny - tummy
• "u" + two consonants: hungry - judge - number - public - trumpet - uncle - under
• "u" + single consonant: study

• The prefix "un": unable - unemployed - unusual

As /w/

See main article IPA phoneme /w/.

• with "g": anguish - distinguish - Guatemala - language - linguistics - Nicaragua /ˌnɪkəˈrɑːgwə,^AmE ˌnɪkəˈræɡjʊə^BrE/ - Paraguay - penguin - Uruguay
• with "q": acquire - consequence - equal - equipment - quality - quarter - question - quick - quickly - quiet - quite - quote - request - require - requirement
• with "s": persuade - suite

As schwa

See main article Schwa.

• as "-ure": figure  /ˈfɪɡər/,^BrE /ˈfɪɡjər/^AmE
• as "-ture": adventure - creature - feature - future - nature - picture - structure - temperature
• others: minuscule - mollusc^BrE/mollusk^AmE - opossum - Saturday - supply - support - virus

Silent U

• Antigua /ænˈtiːɡə/ - buoy - guarantee - guard - guardian - guess - guide - Guinea /ˈgɪnɪ/ - Guinnes /ˈgɪnɪs/ - guilty - guitar

See also "Silent ue" and "ui as /ɪ/" below.

Others

• As /ɪ/: business - busy - lettuce - minute (60 seconds)

Combined with vowels

As "ue"

• As /uː/: blue - issue - tissue - sue - true
• As /juː/: argue - continue - due - revenue - Tuesday - value

Silent "ue"

• antique - cheque - colleague - conquer - league - technique - tongue - unique

Ending in "logue":

• analogue - catalogue - dialogue - epilogue - monologue - prologue

With magic e:

• fugue - vogue

In American English the following spellings are also used:

• analog - catalog - dialog - epilog - monolog - prolog

As "ui"

See main article Pronunciation exercises: "ui".

• as /uː/: bruise - cruise - fruit - juice - lawsuit - suit - suitable - suitcase;
• as /ɪ/: biscuit - build - built - circuit;

Combined with "r"

See also as schwa above.

As /ɜː/

See main article /ɜː/.

• blur - burn - curb - curl - curling - curly - furniture - hurt - surgeon - Thursday - turn - urban - urgent

As /ʌ,^BrE ɜː^AmE/

• currency - current - hurry

As /jʊə/

• cure - pure - secure

As /ʊə/

• mature

As /ʊə/ or /ɔː/

• assure - ensure - insure - sure

As /e/

• bury

Homophones

See main article Homophone.

• blue - blew; bury - berry; flu - flew; sun - son

Heteronyms

See main article Heteronym.

• minute: 60 seconds /ˈmɪnɪt/, very small /maɪˈnjuːt/

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish

See Pronunciation exercises: /uː/ vs /ʊ/#Spanish

See also

• Vowel
• Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/
• Pronunciation exercises: /uː/ vs /ʊ/
• Pronunciation exercises: "au"
• Pronunciation exercises: "eu"
• Pronunciation exercises: "ou"