Listen to this sound file a couple of times. Listen expecially carefully to the vowels.

Exercise 03.08.mp3

Every Somali word is pronounced with either light or heavy vowels.

Light U sounds almost like OU in soup, whereas heavy U sounds almost French U in sur.

Light O sounds almost like O in hot, whereas heavy O sounds almost like O in kingdom.

Light A sounds almost like A in father, whereas heavy A sounds almost like A in cat.

Light E sounds almost like E in get, whereas heavy E sounds almost like É in French allé.

Light I sounds almost like I in sit, whereas heavy I sounds almost like EE in feet.

Once again listen carefully the words and try to determine whether each of the words is pronounced with light or heavy vowels. All the vowels in a specific word are pronounced as either heavy or light.