they
PronouncedTHAY
pronounUsed to talk about two or more people or things you already mentioned, as in 'Sam and Maya went to the park, and they had fun.'
pronounUsed to talk about one person when you don't know if they are a boy or a girl, as in 'Someone left their book here; I hope they come back for it.'
pronounUsed to mean people in general or someone you don't know, as in 'They say it's going to rain tomorrow.'
pronounUsed to mean the other team or side in a game, as in 'Our team scored and then they scored too.'
"they" does not follow standard phonics patterns and should be memorized.
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: TH Digraph (Voiced)
Sound“th”·/ð/
TH can make a buzzy sound “th”, like in 'this' and 'the'. You can feel your throat vibrate!
The voiced TH “th” is the vibrating version. Put your hand on your throat — you can feel it buzz. This sound appears in very common words like 'the', 'this', 'that', 'they'.
Tip
Voiced TH buzzes — this, that, the!
Examples
Phonics Rule: EY says long A
Sound“ay”·/eɪ/
EY can say the long A sound “ay”, like in 'they' and 'obey'.
The vowel team EY often makes the long A sound “ay”: they, obey, grey, prey, hey, survey. (EY also says long E “ee” at the end of many words — money, key, honey — where the Y is doing the 'long E' job.)
Tip
EY says long A — they obey!
Examples
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