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In this video, we're going to learn how to pronounce '-s' endings.
Take a look at these four words:
Now let's make them plural:
Listen to how the '-s' ending is pronounced:
Did you notice any differences?
In these examples the '-s' ending is pronounced three different ways.
Why?
Well, because they're different animals!
Just kidding :).
The pronunciation of the '-s' ending depends on the sound it follows.
Take a look.
the '-s' ending is pronounced as /s/
after the voiceless consonant /t/ in the word "cats."
the '-s' ending is pronounced as /z/
after the voiced consonant /g/ in the word "dogs,"
and after the vowel /ə/
in the word "zebras."
And finally, the 's' ending is pronounced as /ɪz/
after the /s/ sound in the word "horses."
It may sound complicated, but it's really not.
There's actually a rule.
All you need to do is check the sound before the '-s' ending.
If it's one of the following sounds:
then the '-s' ending is pronounced as /ɪz/.
The rest of the time, it works like this:
If the sound before the '-s' ending is a voiceless consonant,
then the '-s' is pronounced as /s/.
If the sound before the 's' ending is a voiced consonant
or a vowel,
then the 's' is pronounced as /z/.
There's one more thing you'll need to know about this rule.
Let's return to the word "horse."
It's pronounced with the final /s/ sound.
The letter 'e' at the end is silent.
But when it's plural, the 'e' is pronounced as a part of the ending:
Here is another example:
The word "fox" also ends with the /s/ sound,
but it doesn't have the silent letter 'e' at the end.
So its plural is formed by the ending '-es'
that's pronounced as /ɪz/:
As you may've guessed,
this works for words that end with the sounds
/s/ /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, or /dʒ/.
Now, let's practice these rules one by one.
It'll help you learn them faster.
You'll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation.
Like this.
You'll have a few seconds to pronounce the word.
♪
Repeat each word after the speaker.
Let's begin.
Now let's practice random words with '-s' endings.
When you see a word on the screen,
try and remember which rule applies.
You're done!
Congratulations!
The '-s' ending rule applies not only to plural nouns,
but also possessives
and verbs in the third person singular Present Simple tense.
Let's go back to our animals.
We've already made them plural.
Consider what they may be called when they're in a group.
Take a look:
Awesome, isn't it?
We're most certainly NOT going to cover this topic in our next videos!
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