The rules regarding sound of the letter ‘g’ in words are complex. Some words comply with e, i, and y rule but many words do not follow this rule as the words get, gift, and gyne are totally opposite to above rule. There are also two letter combinations that create /j/ sound i.e. ‘ge’ and ‘dge’. The sound of ‘ge’ and ‘dge’ is explained in following paragraphs.
When letter ‘g’ is at the end of a word, it gives hard g sound /g/ as in word plug or jug. When we need ‘g’ sound at the end of a word followed by a long vowel or a consonant we add e after g. look at below words:
Cage, privilege, revenge: (use of ‘ge’ at the end of words to keep long vowel and with consonants)
We read in the above paragraph that when we need /j/ sound at the end of the word followed by a long vowel, we use ‘ge’ e.g. cage. In a similar way, when we need a soft g sound at the end of the word followed by short vowel, we use ‘dge’ to avoid long vowel sound. Look at the examples below:
Cambridge, pledge, bridge: (use of ‘dge’ at the end of words to make vowel sound short)