For young children and beginners:
'oo' in a word is pronounced as a short 'oo' or long 'OO'
- Words where two o's are followed by a hard consonant like k, d are pronounced with a short oo sound.
- Words where two o's are followed by soft consonants like f, m, n, s and t are pronounced wih a long OO sound.
- Exceptions are cases that do not follow general rules.
Words with short 'oo': Book, cook, look, hook, took, shook, cook, good, hood, stood, wood,
Exceptions with short 'oo': Foot,
Stretch the 'OO' sound long in these words: Boot, hoot, loot, roof, hoof, moon, soon, boon, noon, spoon, room, bloom, gloom, doom, root, loot, monsoon, cartoon, baboon, maroon, loose, goose.
Exceptions with long 'OO': Mood, food, brood, spook