Q:

Essayer: j'essaie, or j'essaye?

I was confused how I should conjugate the verb essayer, or any other ones like nettoyer.
I looked up in a conjugation website,

J'essaie / ye

I'm guessing that means both j'essaie and j'essaye are accepted. However, my teacher said to use j'essaie.
Which one is correct? If both are accepted, is there any difference?

A:

It looks like both are in regular use today, and that this is also the case for "payer", "balayer", as well as any other verb in "-ayer". I am not aware of any rule mandating to use one rather than the other when writing vs. speaking.
The pronunciation is slightly different though: "j'essaye" would sound at the end like "pareil", whereas "j'essaie" would sound like "sait".
I am not aware that one pronunciation or the other would have this or that connotation. It is even possible for native speakers to use both in the same conversation. 

