What is a syllable
1 A syllable is the sound of a vowel (A, E, I, O, U) that is created when pronouncing the letters A, E, I, O, U, or Y. 2  The letter Y is a vowel only if it creates an A, E, I, O, or U sound.3  examples: fry, try, cry, & dry. 4  The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel is the number of syllables in a word. When two (or more) vowels are next to each other, the number of syllables depends on the number of vowel sounds. 2  examples: free (1 syllable), eat (1 syllable), & bio (2 syllables). 3  If a vowel is silent, it is not counted as a syllable.