Hard G

G is /g/ before a, o, u and consonants, at the end of words, when doubled, and in a long list of Germanic words where soft g would be expected.

Soft and hard sounds

ga / go / gu / g + consonant HARD_G_01

Strong rule · High reliability · Very common · Beginner · Reading and spelling

• /g/ hard g: goat, game, gum

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 1: First Sounds & Blending

Child explanation

G says /g/ in goat, game and gum. It is only e, i and y that can change it — and even then, not always.

The rule

G represents /g/ before a, o, u, before a consonant, at the end of a word, and when doubled. It also stays hard before e and i in a substantial set of Germanic words.

What is really going on

Hard g is the unmarked value. English also uses a silent u to force it where a front vowel follows — guess, guide, guitar, guard, vague — which is a spelling device rather than a sound, and a useful thing for a reader to recognise so the u is not decoded.

Position in the word

• Beginning of a word — Before a, o, u or a consonant. For example: goat, gum, glad, grab.
• End of a word — Reliable. For example: bag, dog, pig, big.
• Middle of a word — Doubled g is always hard. For example: bigger, giggle, dagger, wiggle.

Examples

Easy examples

goat, game, gum, bag, dog

More examples

go, got, gap, glad, grab, green, grow, big, pig, leg, flag, bigger, giggle

Advanced examples

guess, guest, guide, guitar, guard, vague

Pseudo-words

Made-up words that follow the rule. A child who reads these has the pattern rather than the vocabulary.

gob, glim, grud

Contrast pairs

• goat versus gem — Hard before o, soft before e.
• gum versus gym — Hard before u, soft before y.
• get versus gem — Both before e — and this is the pair that shows the rule is not reliable for g.

Teacher note

Teach hard g early and thoroughly. Because soft g is unreliable, hard g needs to be the automatic default a child returns to when flexing — which means it has to be more secure than the exception, not merely learned before it.

Related rules

• Soft G before E, I and Y — ge / gi / gy — G is often /dʒ/ before e, i and y — but get, give, girl and gift all break it. Far less reliable than soft c, and the difference must be taught.
• Hard C before A, O, U and consonants — ca / co / cu / c + consonant — C is /k/ everywhere except before e, i and y. This is the default, and it is nearly exceptionless.
• The letter U — u — Short /ʌ/, two different long values, a /ʊ/ set after p and b, and a job as a silent partner to q and g.
• CK after a short vowel — ck — One sound, /k/, and a strict position rule: ck only ever follows a short vowel at the end of a syllable. Never at the start of a word.

• Previous in Soft and hard sounds: Soft G before E, I and Y — ge / gi / gy — G is often /dʒ/ before e, i and y — but get, give, girl and gift all break it. Far less reliable than soft c, and the difference must be taught.
• All reading rules

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