G follows the same idea as C — soft before e, i, or y, hard everywhere else — but with a catch: some of the most common words in English (get, give, girl) break the rule outright. Here's the full pattern, the word lists, and the exceptions worth teaching on purpose.
The rule in one sentence
If G is followed by e, i, or y, it usually says soft /j/. Everywhere else — before a, o, u, a consonant, or at the end of a word — it says hard /g/. The word usually matters here far more than it does for C.
The common exceptions — worth teaching on purpose
These everyday words break the rule
Get, give, girl, gift, tiger, together — all keep G hard even before e or i. These are frequent enough in early reading that guessing-and-getting-it-wrong happens fast; teach them explicitly as a short exception list rather than letting a child stumble onto them alone.
Teaching order: C first, then G
Teach hard C and soft C first — it's the cleaner, more reliable version of the same idea. Once that's secure, introduce G as "the same rule, but watch out for a few common words that break it." Teaching them in the opposite order tends to make the exceptions feel like the rule doesn't work at all, rather than a small, learnable list on top of a mostly-reliable pattern.
For the rest of English's spelling rules, see our 10 English spelling rules guide.
Free printable for this rule
Download the Apply the Rule worksheet — Rule 6 (Soft G) is a ready-to-print practice page, part of a free PDF covering all 10 spelling rules.
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