How to Say 'l-i-v-e'
About this episode
A listener from Madrid asks why the word live has different pronunciations. The host introduces the question and prepares to explain the difference.
Transcript
Hello.
This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Lola.
Hello, I'm Lola from Madrid.
My question is about the pronunciation of the word L-I-V-E.
Sometimes the pronunciation is live, and others live.
The same with the word l i v e s. Why?
Thank you very much.
Thank you for writing, Lola.
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This is such a good question.
L i v e is an example of a heteronym, or words that have the same spelling but different pronunciations and meanings.
There are nearly one hundred heteronyms in English, but let's get to your question about the word spelled L-I-V-E today.
It can be either an adjective, an adverb, or a verb.
When it is used as an adjective or adverb, we use the i sound, like live.
I love live music.
Are you watching the game live?
When it is used as a verb, we use the ih sound, like live.
Where do you live?
We live just outside the city.
As for the word spelled l i v e s, it can be either a plural noun from the singular life.
Or third person singular verb.
When it is a plural noun, we use the "i" sound.
Cats have nine lives.
When it is used as third person singular, we use the "i" sound.
She lives with her mother.
So, in order to know which pronunciation to use for l i v e and s, you want to look carefully at how it is used in a sentence.
Please let us know if this explanation has helped you, Lola.
Do you have a question about American English?
Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews. Com.
And that's Ask a Teacher.
I'm Gina Bennett.
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Audio and English text: VOA Learning English, a work of the U.S. government in the public domain. DeepListen arranged the transcript sentence by sentence. VOA has no partnership with DeepListen and does not endorse it.
Source: VOA Learning English (public domain).