Spelling and pronunciation have a rocky relationship in English at the best of times. But one of the most difficult letter combinations for English-learners to pronounce is „-ough“. And it’s no wonder. There are at least TEN different ways to pronounce „-ough“! But the LINGUA FRANCA blog is here to help.
Below is a list of common words with „-ough“ (and their German translation), and in each word the combination is pronounced differently. Do you know how to say them all?
| enough | (genug) | bought | (gekauft) | |
| cough | (husten) | through | (durch) | |
| drought | (Dürre) | thorough |
(gründlich) | |
| though | (jedoch) | hiccough | (Schluckauf) |
To help you work out the pronunciation, you can match each word above to the word below where the letters on bold are pronounced the same.
off / slow / up / butter (UK) or slow (US) / stuff / you / door / out
The answers have been written in white at the bottom of this post. To make them visible, simply highlight the area below this paragraph. Good luck!
| enough | stuff | bought | door | |
| cough | off | through | you | |
| drought | out | thorough | butter / slow | |
| though | slow | hiccough | up |