What the song is about
This song is a slow, relaxing trip through the English alphabet. A soft voice says each letter and then about five common words that start with it: A. Apple. Animal. Always. About. The pauses give you time to listen, repeat and remember. The intro and outro ask you to slow down: Listen to the letters. Take your time. Learn the words.
Useful words and expressions
- Nice and slow: a friendly way to say slowly and calmly. You can also say nice and easy or nice and quiet.
- Take your time: don't hurry, there is no rush.
- From A to Z: from the beginning to the end, or everything. She knows the city from A to Z.
- The words are mixed on purpose. There are:
- nouns (things): apple, book, door, house, key, river, window
- adjectives (descriptions): blue, cold, easy, heavy, quiet, small, young
- verbs (actions): drive, jump, learn, read, visit, walk
- frequency adverbs (how often): always, often, usually, never
- time words: early, morning, today, yesterday
- X has only one word, X-ray. Very few English words start with X.
Pronunciation tips
The first letter and the first sound are not always the same:
- Know: the k is silent, so it sounds like no.
- Island: the s is silent, so it sounds like EYE-land.
- Use and usually start with a you sound, but umbrella, under and up start with a short uh sound.
- Hour is not in the song, but heart, house and happy all have a clear h.
- Qu in queen, quiet, quick sounds like kw.
- X-ray starts with the letter name ex.
- City has a soft c, like s. Cat, color and cold have a hard c, like k.
Grammar
Most lines are single words, not sentences. The few sentences are imperatives, which are instructions with the base form of the verb and no subject: Listen to the letters. Learn the words. Take your time. Note that we say listen to something, never listen the words.