Open Syllable A (Long A)
When A is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the A says its name “ay” — like in 'ba-by' and 'pa-per'.
How this rule works
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves that vowel 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone A at the end of a syllable says “ay” (ba-by, a-pron, lady). The long A sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — silent E (cake), or vowel teams (ai in rain, ay in play) — but those are not open syllables.
Remember: Long A says its name — A!
Examples
Words that use this rule
326 words in the SnapPhonics dictionary use this rule. Tap any word to see how it breaks into sounds. Showing the first 200 alphabetically.
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