Count the vowels to determine the number of syllables in a word. For example, you would identify one vowel in a word such as "fed" and would therefore count one syllable. A longer word such as "banana" contains three vowels, so you would count three syllables.
Subtract silent vowels. For example, the word "take" contains two vowels, but the silent "e" must be subtracted, so it contains only one syllable.
Subtract one vowel for each diphthong, which is a combination of two vowels that creates one sound. The word "door," for example, contains two vowels, but they form a diphthong, so one must be subtracted, yielding one syllable.