Hour 8 - Rules for pronouncing 'I'

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i is pronounce as /aɪ/ when i + consonant + e as in: time, site, fire, to entire, ...
    
This is a special case of the "magic e" rule: vowel + consonant + e = "long" vowel. It's a fine rule that accurately describes pronunciation — most of the time.

Some silent e's do not lengthen the vowel, but serve other purposes:

    To prevent a word from ending in "v", as in "give" and "live".
    To "soften" a "c", as in "notice", "office", and "practice".

OTOH, some words ending in "ce" or "ve" do have a long vowel ("ice", "hive").

I can't determine why "engine" and "opposite" have short i's.

i is pronounce as /aɪ/ when i is followed by gh as in: sigh, sight, thigh,...

"Eigh" is pronounced /eɪ/. (Eight reindeer pull the weight of Santa's sleigh.) Otherwise, I can't think of exceptions to this rule.

i is pronounce as /aɪ/ when i is preceded by a as in: aisle, ...
    
I'm afraid that I must raise an objection here. The main pronunciation of "ai" is /eɪ/. (The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.)

Again, all English spelling rules are certain to have exceptions, like the /ɪ/ in "mountain".

The word "said" seems to be unique in prouncing "ai" as /ɛ/.

Some more rules you could use are:

    "tion" is pronounced /ʃən/
    "ing" is prounounced /iŋ/ (or informally, /ɪn/)
    "oi" is pronounced /ɔɪ/
    "i" followed by a double consonant (or "ck", "dg", "tch") is pronounced /ɪ/.

    So, I know (or I believe to know), that it is hard to make pronunciation rules for English words. But how can I improve my gut feeling, pronouncing new words correctly?

Start by learning the pronunciation first, and then learn the spelling. 

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