Sounds of letter A
Here is the list of long and short sounds that the vowel A can produce.
Long sounds
1) /ɑː/
Almost always with ar. Mind that we do not pronounce /r/ in British English.
father, rather, castle, master, bath, glass, laugh, car, bark
2) /ɔː/
Almost always with all, au, aw, aught.
all, ball, tall, wall, water, talk, autumn, fault, dawn, awful, daughter, taught, quarter
3) /ei/
Often with ay, ai and in the pattern A_consonant_E.
may, hay, wait, lazy, daisy, grave, fake, create
4) /eə/
Almost always with are and air.
care, share, air, chair, fair
Short sounds
5) /æ/
Very often in closed (ending with a consonant) syllables with a.
man, hat, traffic, marry, lamb
6) /ɒ/
Mostly in words starting with wa-.
watch, was, want, wash
7) /e/
Pay attention: these three words have the /e/, not the /æ/ sound.
any, many, said