But Eu has a u sound....so why it shouldn't be England is an European country. Why should one consider Eu having the you sound rather than the u sound?
Thanks,
Ron
The name of the letter "u" and the word "you" have the same sound. Both of those sounds
start with a 'y' sound, as in 'yellow' and 'young'.
So as we say '
a young person', we also say
a European'.
The letter u, the word 'you' and the 'Eu' in 'European' all have the
long u sound. The
short u sound is what the word 'uncle' starts with. So we say 'an uncle'.
You have to remember that the vowels have different
long and
short sounds. I hope it's clearer now.