The two vowels rule states that when any two vowels are together, sometimes the first one says its long sound. Since the letter A and the letter I are two vowel letters, AI are pronounced as the long A sound except when AI is followed by the letter R or in few cases. Click here to learn all the patterns for the AI rule.

1. Select the Rules tab.
2. Choose ...AI... as below.
3. Click >> button as below until you see the similar words or just click here.
4. Go through the words in the list box.
5. You will see that the letter I is in gray color, meaning that the letter I is silent and only the letter A is pronounced as the letter A.
6. Now if you learn a new word such as flail, you shall apply the AI rule that the word flail shall be pronounced as F-L-A-L.

There are exceptions. If AI is followed by the letter R, you need to pronounced AIR together as the ER sound . You can click on the >> to list the following word. Practice those words over and over to help you get used to pronounce the sound.

There are few words which you have to memorize them without any rules. They are captain, mosaic, portrait, certain, and aisle. Note that you can remember the pronunciation of aisle = I'll.

Tip: I, personally, find the AI rule is extremely helpful to me. I had a very hard time pronouncing the word fail. Once I know the AI rule, I found it easy for me to say fail as F-A-L. I hope that this rule can help you correct some of your pronunciation as well.