Able at the End

It’s very common for vowels to change sounds as they are transformed from one part of speech to another. The vowel A in able is one that is often mispronounced.

We pronounce the A like the A in day in the adjective able. (1)

A also sounds like the A in day in the nouns cable, fable, stable, table. (2)

However, when we add the suffix -able to verbs like afford, consider and rely, or nouns like comfort, fashion and reason, they become adjectives, whose A sounds like the U in fun:

affordable, considerable, reliable, comfortable, fashionable, reasonable. (3)

The sound of the A in the suffix remains the same even when we change the E to Y and turn the adjectives into an adverbs: considerably, reasonably. (4)

Read the sentences below and check your pronunciation with the recording that follows.

That cable is unreliable. This table is affordable.

I’m unable to walk comfortably in these shoes. (5)