The Soft G

"I better take this G out of the hot tub!" "So Kala, if I want to soften the letter G, I don’t do it by warming it up, right?" "That's correct, Dee. You would need to put one of three special letters behind it." Let's find out what Kala means by learning about the soft G. You may already know that the letter G makes a hard /g/ sound as in gum, globe, gate or go. But, the letter G can also make another, softer sound. It can say /j/ just like the letter J. But this doesn't happen all the time. It usually happens when the letter G is followed by one of three special letters. E, I or Y. Say them with Kala! G E, G I, G Y /J/! The E, I and Y work their magic on G, softening the sound it makes in a word. Let’s look at some G E examples! G says /j/ in gem, germ and angel because the letter E comes straight after the letter G in each of these words. If we read these words with the hard /g/ sound, that would be incorrect. For example, germ doesn't sound right. Let’s look at some G I examples giant, engine and giraffe! The word gigantic is also helpful to look at. The first G in gigantic says /j/ because the letter I comes straight after the first G in the word. But, the second G in gigantic still makes the hard /g/ sound because the letter A comes straight after it. Finally, let’s look at an example of G Y! G says /j/ in gymnasium because the letter Y comes straight after the letter G. Now that we know about the soft G, let's try sorting words with /g/ and /j/ sounds. The first word is gym, does this word have a hard or soft G? It has a soft one because the G is followed by the letter Y which makes it say /j/, gym. How about the word golf, does this word have a hard or soft G? It has a hard one because the G is not followed by an E, I or Y. It is followed by an O, so the G says /g/, golf. What about the last example, magic? It has a soft G because the letter I comes straight after it which makes it say /j/, magic. Now that Dee knows the real way to soften the letter G, let's remember! Today we learnt about the soft G which makes the sound: /j/. G can say /j/ when an E, I or a Y come straight after it in a word. When it is followed by any other letter, the G will make a harder /g/ sound. "I think this is a much better use of the hot tub, Kala." "Yes, agreed! This is definitely better than trying to soften the letter G."