Spelling

Simpli uses phonetic spelling: one sound = one letter. No silent letters.

Alphabet

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u.

• a — father, cat
• e — bed, red
• i — sit, see
• o — hot, go
• u — put, too

Consonants: p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, f, s, l, r, h, w, y.

• p — pen
• b — bed
• t — top
• d — dog
• k — cat
• g — go
• m — man
• n — no
• f — fan
• s — sun
• l — leg
• r — run
• h — hot
• w — we
• y — yes

Letter mappings

English sounds that don’t exist in Simpli are mapped to the nearest letter:

• th → d (dis, dat, dey)
• v → w — we never write v in Simpli (e.g. sewen, haw, giw, liw, mow). See Alphabet rationale for the full rule and examples.
• ch → c (ticer, caild)
• ph → f (fon)
• sh → s; j → y or d depending on sound
• z → s when needed

Long vowels

One vowel = short sound; double vowel = long sound. The aim of doubled vowels (and thus long sounds) is to differentiate homonyms (e.g. it vs iit) although, in most cases, context is enough to understand.

• it (it) vs iit (eat)
• rod (rod) vs rood (road)
• rum (rum) vs ruum (room)
• ston (stone), kii (key), leef (leaf)

No silent letters

Every letter is pronounced. Spell the sound you hear:

• lait (light), windo (window), dor (door)
• bred (bread), faind (find), plei (play)
• Diphthongs: /aɪ/ as ai (bai, caild), /eɪ/ as ei (plei)

Syllable and stress

Syllables follow (C)V(C): consonant + vowel + optional consonant. Stress usually on the second-to-last syllable (komputer, yesterde, tumoro).

Common endings

Familiar English endings are simplified:

• -tion, -sion → -son (acson, vison)
• -ture → -tur (natur, futur)
• -ous → -us; -ful → -ful (same)

Alphabet rationale — why we use W and not V, why we keep i and y, and full letter details.