Get better clarity with your spoken English by fully understanding all the consonant sounds
we have in American English.
Today is a compilation of every single consonant sound you need to know.
Some will be easy for you.
You have them in your own native language.
Great!
Just practice the words.
Others will be tricky, unfamiliar.
Use the photos to study the position and the up-close slow motion shots.
This will help make it clear, for example, how much of the tongue tip needs to come through
the teeth for the th.
It’s not much.
Why not start with the th?
Let’s dive in.
These sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
TH is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth, and TH is voiced, meaning you make
a sound with the vocal cords, th, th.
The very tip of the tongue comes through the teeth.
The air passes around the tongue.
The tongue is relaxed.
There shouldn’t be any pressure in the mouth, or a stop quality to this sound.
Just nice and easy, th, th.
The tongue has to easily vibrate between the teeth, so keep the tongue soft and relaxed.
Th, th.
The lips don’t affect the sound, so they can be transitioning to the next sound.
For example, in the THR cluster, the lips will round a little bit for the R as you make
the TH: three, three.
Be careful with the tongue tip.
Make sure it doesn’t come too far forward; it’s just the very tip that should come
between the teeth.
To make the unvoiced TH, the tongue tip absolutely has to come through the teeth, th, th.
But the voiced TH can be different.
When it’s in an unstressed, quick word like ‘these’ or ‘the’, the tongue tip doesn’t
have to come through the teeth.
It can press behind the teeth.
Make sure the tongue isn’t at the roof of the mouth, or pointing down, but pressing
right in the middle, where the teeth come together.
If it’s not in the right position, the sound will be wrong.
Th, th, these, the.
This tongue shortcut works in these words because they’re unstressed.
So when you don’t bring your tongue tip through the teeth, it allows you to make these
less important words quickly.
These, the.
Let’s look at these sounds up close and in slow motion.
Notice how it’s just the very tip that comes out of the teeth.
The tongue is relaxed.
The teeth surround it, but they’re not clamping down on it.
The lips and face are relaxed.
Throw.
Notice how the lips are starting to flare for the R as the tongue comes through the
teeth for the unvoiced TH.
Birthday.
Keep in mind when you only stick the very tip of your tongue out, the movement into
other sounds isn’t as hard as you might think.
Watch the tongue tip come in and flip up for the D.
This is a quick move of the tongue that you can practice over and over to make it more
natural.
Brother.
Tongue tip through the teeth for the voiced TH.
Lips and tongue are relaxed.
Worth, ending in the unvoiced TH.
Again, the lips and tongue look very relaxed.
Remember to keep your tongue relaxed and soft when you practice this sound.
The voiced and unvoiced TH: throw, birthday, brother, worth.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Other
Either
Though
Thursday
Nothing
South
The R in American English is also such a tough sound for my students to get.
Here’s the thing, most people needs to simplify.
Do less with the tongue.
Maybe round the lips a little bit more but take out tension.
Take a look.
This is truly one of the hardest sounds in American English.
Before I go into how to make it, I want to talk about how not to make it.
In many languages, the R is made by bouncing the front part of the tongue against the roof
of the mouth, rr, rr.
In American English, this sound of the T or D between vowels, but it’s quite different
from the American R, rr.
You can’t hold out rr, rr, but you should be able to hold out the American R, rr.
This consonant is voiced.
There are two ways to make this sound.
In the first way, the front part of the tongue pulls back and up, like this.
The tongue can be stretched so it’s long and skinny, or it can be pulled into itself
so it’s fatter and thicker.
And that’s what we want here.
We’re making the tongue fatter and thicker so it’s not as long.
The back doesn’t move.
This is happening with the front and middle of the tongue.
The middle part of the tongue lifts up towards the roof of the mouth.
You can touch the sides of the tongue to the sides of the roof of the mouth here, or to
the inside or bottom of the side teeth, here.
The front part of the tongue is hanging in the middle of the mouth, not touching anything.
This sound is forward and focused because of the position of the lips.
The corners come in, pushing the lips away from the face.
This lip position will be a little more relaxed when the R comes at the end of a syllable.
We’ll compare this way, on the left, with the other way to make an R on the right.
The R can also be made by flipping the tongue tip up.
The lips flare the same way.
Some native speakers make the R one way, and some the other.
Native speakers get the correct sound, no matter the mouth position.
But I’ve found that non-native speakers drop the jaw too much in this second method,
and it makes the sound hollow, rr.
The jaw doesn’t need to drop very much for this sound, rr, so keep this in mind as you
work on one of these two methods.
Here is the R sound on its own, not part of a word.
You can see the lips flare.
Think of creating a little space between the inside of your lips and your teeth.
Notice how little jaw drop there is.
We don’t need to drop the jaw to pull the tongue back and up.
The word ‘rest’.
When the R is at the beginning of a word, we tend to make the lips a tight circle.
Again, little jaw drop as the middle of the tongue lifts to the roof of the mouth.
The word ‘proud’.
When R is in a beginning consonant cluster, the lips may not be as tight as in a beginning
R.
The word ‘mother’.
At the end of a syllable, the lip position for the R is definitely more relaxed than
a beginning R, but the lips still flare.
Here, we compare the lip position of the beginning R in ‘rest’, above, to the ending R in
‘mother’, below.
The ending R lip position is much more relaxed.
Thinking about the lip position will help you make a better R sound.
As you work on this consonant, practice very slowly, thinking about all three things at
once.
Very little jaw drop, the tongue position, and the lip position.
Remember, you can hold out this sound, so that’s how you want to practice it, rrrr.
Hold it out for 5 or 10 seconds; hold it out as long as you can.
When you practice it in a word, do the same.
Rrrrrrrest, prrrrrroud, motherrrrrr.
The R sound: rest, proud, mother.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Read
Great
Try
Later
Right
Other
And now, back to back you’ll see all the other consonant sounds in American English.
We’re going to start with the pairs like TH where there are two sounds together because
one is voiced and the other is unvoiced but they have the same mouth position.
Then we’ll get in to single sounds like R.
The P and B consonants.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
P is unvoiced, pp, meaning only air passes through the mouth.
And B is voiced, bb, meaning, you make a sound with the vocal cords, bb.
The lips stay together while the teeth part a little.
The tongue position doesn’t matter for these consonants, so the tongue can start to get
into position for the next sound.
For example, if the next sound is the R consonant, the tongue can move back and up for the R
while the lips close for the B, bring.
Let’s see the sounds up close and in slow motion.
The lips press together, and then release.
These are stop consonants.
In stop consonants, there are two parts.
There is a stop of the airflow, and a release.
The stop of the airflow happens as the lips close: hap-pen.
The release is when the lips part and the air comes through, -pen, hap-pen, happen.
Sometimes native speakers don’t release stop consonants when they come at the end
of a sentence, or when the next word begins with a consonant.
For example, the common phrase ‘What’s up?’.
My lips closed in the P position, but I didn’t release the air.
What’s up?
Another example: nap time!
Nap---time!
My lips came together for the P, but they didn’t release the air.
I stopped the air with my lips, then released it with the next sound, the T consonant.
Nap time.
Let’s look at some words up close and in slow motion.
The word ‘best’.
The lips press together, and then release into the EH as in BED vowel.
The word ‘spot’.
The lips press together, and then release into the AH as in FATHER vowel.
The word ‘rip’.
The lips press together, and then release.
The P and B consonants: best, spot, rip.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Bring
Baby
Job
Peace
Price
Up
CH and JJ consonants.
The CH and JJ consonants are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
Ch is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth, and jj is voiced, meaning, you
make a sound with the vocal cords, jj.
These consonants have a stop consonant component, but unlike stop consonants, they're always
released.
They each contain two sounds: for the CH, we’re combining the T, tt, and the SH, sh,
to make ch.
For the J sound, we’re combining dd and zh to make jj.
The teeth come together and the lips flair, just like in the sh and zh sounds.
But the tongue position is like the tt and dd sounds.
The tongue lifts so the front, flat part of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth.
We stop the air in our throat, and then we release everything, ch, jj.
We release the air at the vocal cords, release the tongue down from the roof of the mouth,
release the teeth so they part a little, and release the lips by relaxing them.
Ch, jj.
Let’s look at these sounds up close and in slow motion.
The lips flare and the teeth come together.
Then the release.
The word ‘jar’.
The lips flare and the teeth come together, then release into the AH as in FATHER vowel.
The word ‘chart’.
The lips flare and the teeth come together, then release into the AH as in FATHER vowel.
The word ‘batch’.
The lips flare and the teeth come together, then release.
The CH and JJ consonants.
Jar, chart, batch.
Example words.
Practice with me:
Chase
Attach
Teacher
Danger
Just
General
The T and D consonant sounds.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
Tt is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth.
And dd is voiced, meaning, dd, you make a sound with the vocal cords.
These consonants are complicated because the way Americans pronounce them isn’t always
what you’ll find in a dictionary.
First, let’s talk about the true pronunciation.
These are stop consonants, which means there are two parts.
First, a stop in the airflow, and second, a release.
We stop here, by closing our vocal cords, and lift the tongue so the flat, top part
is at the roof of the mouth.
It’s far forward, almost touching the back of the top front teeth.
The teeth come together, and we release all three parts at once: the tongue comes down
from the roof of the mouth, the teeth part, and we release the air in the throat.
TT, DD.
Just like with other stop consonants, we want to release them into the next sound.
Let’s look at the True T and D consonants up close and in slow motion.
The teeth come together and the top, front of the tongue is at the roof of the mouth.
The air stops in the throat.
Then, the teeth part and the tongue pulls down to release.
The word ‘desk’.
The teeth close and the tongue is at the roof of the mouth.
Then, everything releases right into the EH as in BED vowel.
The word ‘stick’.
The teeth close and the tongue is at the roof of the mouth.
Then, everything releases right into the IH as in SIT vowel.
The word ‘expect’: the teeth nearly close and the tongue is at the roof of the mouth.
Then the teeth release just a bit.
There’s no next sound to release into, so the movement is minimal for the release.
The tongue releases down.
It’s possible to make the True D without the teeth coming together.
Said, dd, dd.
Because of the voice in this sound, we can still release it.
Said, dd.
But to make the True T, the teeth do have to come together or nearly together, set,
tt.
That was the True T and True D. If the T or D are at the end of a sentence, or if the
next word begins with a consonant, then we make a Stop T or Stop D.
We stop the air, but we don’t release it.
You lift your tongue into position, stop the air, and that’s it.
For example, the word ‘mad’, dd.
Mad, dd.
Notice the last sound is dd, the beginning of the D, with the vocal cords engaged, because
it’s a voiced consonant.
And that’s all.
I don’t release.
A release would sound like this: mad, dd.
But instead, I say ‘mad’, leaving my tongue tip up.
Now let’s look at an example with a T followed by another consonant, the phrase ‘not for
me’.
Here the T is followed by F. I stop the air, ‘not’, and then, without releasing, go
into the F sound.
Not for, not for me.
With stop consonants, we do stop the air in the throat.
So I don’t have to move my tongue up into position for the T to stop the sound.
In this phrase ‘not for me’, I touch the roof of my mouth with a part of the tongue
that’s further back.
Not.
My tongue tip can stay down.
This helps me make the stop even shorter, so I can quickly go into the next sound, not
for, not for.
I’ll bring my tongue up for the Stop T if the next sound also requires the tongue being
at the roof of the mouth.
When I say ‘not for me’ instead of ‘noT for me’, the words are more connected and
the sentence is smoother.
That’s what we want in American English.
And that’s why we use the Stop T instead of the True T in these cases.
Not for me.
NoT for me.
Not for me.
Let’s look at a stop up close and in slow motion.
Here is the word ‘what’.
I don’t release the T at the end.
The tongue goes to the roof of the mouth, but then I just stop the air.
My teeth aren’t together, and I don’t release.
The lips simply close, what.
Here’s what it looks like with a True T: The teeth come together, then a subtle release.
Compare the ending.
The top is ‘what’ with a Stop T, and the bottom is ‘what’, with a True T.
For the Stop T, the teeth don’t come together, because they don’t need to release.
The air simply stops with the tongue in position.
For the True T, we bring the teeth together so the tongue, teeth, and air release.
The Stop T and D relate to the True T and D.
We simply skip the release.
But when the T or D come between two vowels or diphthongs, or after an R and before a
vowel or diphthong, we make a different sound.
One exception: if the T or D starts a stressed syllable.
Then it’s a True T or D. But in other cases, when the T or D consonants come between two
vowels or diphthongs, or after an R and before a vowel or diphthong, we make a Flap sound.
This is different from the True and Stop T and D, because we don’t stop the sound.
We don’t hold anything.
We simply let the front part of the tongue bounce against the roof of the mouth without
stopping the flow of air.
The Flap T and Flap D sound the same.
The T in ‘matter’ is the same as the D in ‘madder’.
Matter, madder.
This sounds just like the R in many languages, but in American English, it’s the Flap T
or Flap D.
In my videos, I use the D symbol for this sound.
This sound, however, isn’t a stop consonant anymore.
Let’s look at some words with a Flap up close and in slow motion.
The word ‘city’.
Here the T comes between two vowel sounds, so it’s a Flap.
The tongue is in position for the IH vowel.
Watch how it flaps against the roof of the mouth quickly.
The air doesn’t stop.
That Flap was fast, even in slow motion.
Let’s watch again.
The whole word, one more time.
The word ‘party’.
Here the T comes after an R and before a vowel, so it’s a Flap.
The tongue is back and up for the R. Watch it flap and come down from the flap.
The air didn’t stop.
Watch the whole word one more time.
The word ‘tidy’.
Here the D comes after a diphthong and before a vowel, so it’s a Flap D. Watch the tongue
flap.
The whole word, one more time.
To isolate the sound, try holding out the sound before and after: parrrrrrtyyyyy.
Then you can really feel the tongue flap, bouncing against the roof of the mouth.
Remember, this isn’t represented in dictionaries.
They will show the symbol for the True T, ‘parTy’, even though Americans pronounce
it ‘party’.
So remember the rule: when a T or D comes between vowels and diphthongs, or after an
R before a vowel or diphthong, like ‘party’, unless it starts a stressed syllable, flap
the tongue.
Sometimes, we drop the T or D completely.
We leave the sounds out.
This is an American habit.
If you look up the words in a dictionary, the sounds are there.
There are two cases when you might hear an American drop a T or D.
First, when the T or D comes between two consonant sounds.
For example: exactly.
This word has the K, T, L consonants together.
But most people pronounce it without the T. Exactly.
Full pronunciation: exactly.
Common pronunciation: exactly.
Dropping the T between two consonants simplifies the pronunciation.
Also, we often drop the T when it comes after an N. Many Americans say ‘cenner’ instead
of ‘center’, or ‘innerview’ instead of ‘interview’.
This is a big topic.
I have a whole series of videos on the pronunciation of T and D, which you can find on my website.
The True T and D sounds: desk, stick, expect
Stop T and D:
mad, not, what
The Flap T and D: city, party tidy
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Best
Time
Do
Odd
There’s no way to make a Stop T sound on its own, because it isn’t a sound.
It’s a lack of sound.
Cut
Better
The F and V consonants.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
Ff is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth.
And vv is voiced, meaning, you make a sound with the vocal cords, vv.
To make these sounds, the bottom lip lifts and touches the very bottom of the top front
teeth, ff, vv.
The top lip lifts a little bit to get out of the way of the bottom lip.
You don't want to see your bottom lip disappear, ff.
It's actually the inside of the lip, here, that makes contact with the teeth, ff, vv.
The tongue should stay relaxed so the air can easily push through, causing the bottom
lip to vibrate against the top teeth.
Let’s look at the sounds up close and in slow motion.
The top lip lifts so the bottom lip has room to vibrate against the bottom of the top front
teeth.
Very: Bottom lip goes to the bottom of the top front teeth.
Flavor: The bottom lip goes to the top front teeth for the F, and again for the V.
Enough: bottom lip to top front teeth.
When you work on these consonants and words with these consonants, watch yourself and
make sure your bottom lip doesn’t curl in, ff, vv.
Remember, it’s the inside of the lip that makes these sounds.
The V and F consonants: very, flavor, enough.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Live
Value
Provide
Fresh
Offer
Tough
The G and K consonant sounds.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
Kk is unvoiced, meaning, only air passes through the mouth.
and gg is voiced, meaning, you make a sound with the vocal cords, gg.
These consonants are stop consonants, which means there are two parts to each sound.
First, a stop in the airflow, and second, a release.
We stop the flow of the air here, closing our vocal cords, while the back part of the
tongue reaches up to touch the soft palate.
I’m going to slow down the K sound in the word ‘back’.
See if you can hear the stop of air before the release.
Ba-ck.
Back.
Here, you can see the tongue position.
The back of the tongue reaches up to touch the soft palate, which is closed.
The tip of the tongue can remain forward, lightly touching the back of the bottom front
teeth.
The jaw drops a little bit, and the lips are open, kk, gg.
The lip position doesn’t matter for these sounds, so the lips might start forming the
next sound, like in the word ‘great’.
Here the lips can start taking the position for the R as we make the G: g-, g-, great.
Let’s look at these sounds up close and in slow motion.
The jaw drops and the back of the tongue lifts to touch the soft palate.
Then the tongue releases.
Sometimes, to make a sentence smoother, the words more linked together, native speakers
will skip the release of a stop consonant when the next word begins with a consonant.
For example, the phrase “back to work”.
Back to, back---to.
I’m not saying ‘back to’, kk, with a full release of the K. I’m holding the air
for a fraction of a second with my throat, making that stop, then I go right into the
release of the T consonant.
Back to, back to.
Back to work.
Without the release of the K in ‘back’, the two words flow together more easily, making
it smoother.
Notice I do make a light release of the K in the word ‘work’.
Can you hear it?
Back to work.
Let’s look at some words up close and in slow motion.
The word ‘keep’.
Because the tongue lifts at the back, and does not require much jaw drop, it’s hard
to see this sound in this word.
The word ‘green’.
The lips round for the G because they need to round for the next sound, R. The lip position
doesn’t change the G sound.
It’s a little easier to see the back of the tongue move when it’s at the end of
a word like this word, ‘egg’.
The tongue lifts in the back, then releases.
The G and K consonants: keep, green, egg.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Go
Again
Big
Cry
Key
Black
The S and Z consonant sounds.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
SS is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth, and ZZ is voiced, meaning you make
a sound with the vocal cords, zz.
To make the sounds, the lips part and the corners pull back a little while the teeth
themselves lightly touch, ss, zz.
There are two ways to make these sounds.
One, with the tip of the tongue down, lightly touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
Or, by pointing the tip of the tongue up.
You may find that the position of the tongue tip depends on the sounds around the S and
Z.
Let’s look at these sounds up close and in slow motion.
The teeth lightly touch, tongue tip is down, and you can see a lot of the tongue through
the teeth.
Sip.
Again, teeth lightly touch, the tongue tip is pointed down.
Miss.
The tongue tip stays down as the teeth come together.
Fizz.
This time, you’ll see the tongue tip point up before the teeth close.
And up.
The S and Z sounds: sip, miss, fizz.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Note: the letter S can make the [z] sound.
Some
Must
Less
Zip
Cousin
Easy
The SH and ZH consonant sounds.
These two sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position.
SH is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth.
And ZH is voiced, meaning you make a sound with the vocal cords, zh.
To make these sounds, the teeth come together.
The corners of the lips come in and the lips flare.
The tongue lifts so the front/middle part of the tongue is very close to the roof of
the mouth, but not touching it.
The tongue tip points forward but doesn’t touch anything.
Let’s look at these sounds up close and in slow motion.
The lips flare and the teeth come together.
In the word ‘shop’, the ‘sh’ is at the beginning of the word.
In the word ‘wish’, it’s at the end.
In the word ‘Asia’, the ‘zh’ sound is in the middle.
The mouth position is always the same: teeth together, lips flare.
The SH and ZH consonants.
Shop, wish, Asia.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
should
special
wash
measure
garage
Usual
The H consonant sound.
This sound is simply made, hh, by passing air through a very slightly constricted passage,
either between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, hh, or in the throat, hh.
This is an unvoiced consonant.
Part the lips and press the tongue down in the back just a little.
If you don’t constrict the air passage at all, there’s no sound.
If you lift the back of your tongue and constrict too much, hhh, you’ll feel the vibration
of the soft palate bouncing on the tongue.
This is too heavy.
Hh.
The lips and jaw don’t affect this sound, so your mouth can be in position for the next
sound when you’re making the H.
For example, the word how, how.
The lips, jaw, and tongue take the beginning position of the 'ow' as in 'now' diphthong,
hh-, how.
Let’s look up close and in slow motion.
The sound by itself: the jaw is relaxed and the lips part.
The word ‘hi’: there’s nothing to see at the beginning of this word.
The H sound happens without changing what the lips do for the AI as in BUY diphthong.
The word who’: Again, there’s nothing to see at the beginning of this word.
The H sound happens without changing what the lips do for the next sound, the OO as
in BOO vowel.
This sound is most common at the beginning of a word, and never occurs at the end of
a word in American English, but the letter H does.
The H sound: hi, who.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Hope
History
Ahead
Behind
Here
Somehow
The L consonant sound.
This sound is especially difficult.
There are actually two kinds of L’s, and they’re not made the same way.
But, if you look up a word in the dictionary, there is only one International Phonetic Alphabet
Symbol for both kinds of L. In this video, you’ll learn when to make which kind of
L.
First, the Light L sound.
This is what most people think of when they think of an L. The L is a ‘Light L’ when
it comes before the vowel or diphthong in a syllable.
For example, let’s, flake, release.
There are two different ways native speakers make this sound.
One way is to lift the tongue so the tip is touching the roof of the mouth, just behind
the front teeth.
This is not the same as the T, D, and N tongue positions, where the tongue lifts so the top
is touching the roof of the mouth.
This is the tip.
Another way native speakers make this sound looks like the TH, with the tongue tip touching
the bottom of the top front teeth.
The contact with the teeth is more firm than the TH sound, pushing up on the top teeth.
The tongue is not as loose or relaxed in the L as it is in the TH.
Let’s look at the Light L up close and in slow motion.
Here is one way to make the L, with the tongue tip coming through the teeth to press up on
the bottom of the top front teeth.
Here is the second way to make the Light L: the tip at the roof of the mouth just behind
the teeth.
Here’s the word ‘lack’.
The tongue comes through the teeth to make the Light L.
The word ‘slow’.
The Light L is made with the tongue tip at the roof of the mouth.
The second kind of L is the Dark L. This is the sound that happens when the L comes after
the vowel or diphthong in a word or syllable, like ‘real’ or ‘Google’.
This sound has two parts, but many Americans leave out the second part in most cases.
You should too, it makes it easier to pronounce.
The first and most important part of the Dark L is the ‘dark’ sound.
This defines the dark L. To make this sound, you don’t lift your tongue tip.
Instead, it’s down, touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
The back part of the tongue pulls back towards the throat.
You can see there isn’t much jaw drop, and the lips are relaxed.
Uuhl.
You should feel the vibration in the throat and not the face, uuhl.
The back part of the tongue presses down or shifts back.
This is an important part of the sound.
Uuhl, uuhl.
Most Americans will stop there when making the Dark L -- ‘real’, ‘Google’, ‘thoughtful’
-- unless they’re linking into a word that that begins with an L or a sound with a similar
position like N, T, or D. In that case, go ahead to make the second part of the dark L.
The second part of the Dark L is the Light L: bring your tongue tip up to the roof of
the mouth or through the teeth.
Some native speakers make the full Dark L, both parts, all the time.
What’s important is the ‘dark’ sound.
Make it with the back of the tongue.
And make sure you never leave that part out, uuhl, uuhl.
Again, the Dark L has two parts.
The first and most important part: the tongue pulls back or presses down in the back.
The second part, which is often left out: either option for the Light L. Here, the option
with the tongue tip at the roof of the mouth is pictured.
Let’s look at the Dark L up close and in slow motion.
The word ‘feel’.
The tongue tip arches in the front for the EE vowel.
Watch as the tongue lowers in the back.
Now the tongue is lowed, pulling back a little bit in the back.
It’s hard to see because of the lips, but the tip of the tongue is still forward.
Notice that lips are relaxed.
The word ‘recall’.
The dark part is made with the back of the tongue as the jaw closes.
This time, the dark L does end with the second part, the Light L. The tongue tip quickly
comes through the teeth.
Lips are relaxed.
The relaxation of the lips is important in the Dark L. Many non-native speakers want
to round or flare the lips, which brings the sound forward and changes it.
But the dark sound is made back here.
Leave the lips relaxed so the sound can be made in the back of the mouth.
When you look at the International Phonetic Alphabet transcription for a word in a dictionary,
you’ll just see one symbol, whether it’s a Light L or a Dark L. It’s up to you to
know when to make a Dark L: when the L sound comes at the end of a syllable.
Remember, we’re talking about sounds and not letters.
In the example ‘Google’, you see the letter E after the L. E is a vowel.
But when you look at the phonetic transcription of the word, the last SOUND is the L. So the
L in ‘Google’ is a Dark L. Uuhl, uuhl, Google.
If you integrate a good Dark L sound into your speech, it will help you sound more American.
The Light L: lack, slow
The Dark L: feel, recall
Example Words.
Repeat with me:
Love
Hello
Flat
Feel
Table
People
The M consonant sound.
This sound is simply made by pressing the lips together lightly, mm, while making a
sound with the vocal cords.
So, this is a voiced consonant, mm.
The teeth may begin to part a little in preparation for the next sound, mm, which will pull the
lips a little bit, mm.
Because the soft palate is lowered, air comes up through the nasal passages.
This makes it a ‘nasal consonant’.
You can feel the vibration in your nose, mm.
There are only three nasal sounds in American English: nn, ng, mm.
Let’s look at this sound up close and in slow motion.
The word ‘mom’.
Lips press together as the jaw drops a little bit.
Another M at the end, lips press together.
Summer.
Lips press together.
The M consonant.
Mom, summer.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Make
My
Forming
Dim
Mistake
Game
The N consonant sound.
To make this sound, the jaw drops a little, and the lips part, nn.
The front, flat part of the tongue goes to the roof of the mouth.
Make sure to keep your tongue wide as you do that.
The soft palate is lowered.
Air comes up through the nasal passages.
This makes it a ‘nasal consonant’.
You can feel the vibration in your nose.
Nn.
There are only three nasal sounds in American English: nn, ng, mm.
It’s very important that the tongue be relaxed.
If there’s tension in the back of the tongue, it will sound somewhat like the NG sound,
ng, even if the front of the tongue is in the right position.
One thing that will help relaxation is to think about keeping the tongue really wide,
nn, nn.
Let’s look up close and in slow motion.
The N sound.
Lips relaxed, tongue wide and lifted to the roof of the mouth.
If you see any darkness on the sides of the tongue when you practice, that means there
is tension in the tongue.
Try to release that tension and keep the tongue wide.
The word ‘no’.
Tongue soft, relaxed, and wide.
The word ‘snag’.
Front of the tongue to roof of mouth.
The word ‘on’: wide tongue to the roof of the mouth to finish the word.
The N consonant sound: no, snag, on.
Example words.
Repeat with me:
Nice
One
Number
Woman
Win
Any
End
The NG consonant sound.
To make this sound, the jaw drops a little bit, ng.
The lips part, and the back part of the tongue stretches all the way up to the soft palate.
The tongue tip is forward.
Because the soft palate is lowered, air comes up through the nasal passages.
This makes it a ‘nasal consonant’.
You can feel the vibration in your nose.
Ng.
There are only three nasal sounds in American English: nn, ng, mm.
Let’s study it up close and in slow motion.
A relaxed, lowered jaw.
Since this sound is made at the back of the mouth, it’s hard to get a clear picture
of it.
The tongue lifts in the back, while the tip stays down and forward.
The word ‘ring’.
The tongue lifts in the back, while the tip stays down and forward.
Lips are relaxed.
The word ‘along’.
Since the tongue is low for the vowel before, it’s easier to see the tongue lift in the
back.
And now it’s lifted in the back, with relaxed lips.
The word ‘finger’.
Again, the tongue lifts in the back, while the tip stays down and forward.
This sound can occur in the middle or at the end of a word in American English, but not
at the beginning.
The NG consonant: ring, along, finger.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Anger
Song
Wing
English
Single
Beginning
The W sound.
To make this sound, ww, ww, the lips form a tight circle, ww.
The back part of the tongue stretches up, towards the soft palate, while the front of
the tongue lightly touches the back of the bottom front teeth.
To give this sound the right quality, you have to close the vocal cords to get this
sound: ww, which we add to the sound, ww.
You release the vocal cords as you release the lips, coming out of the W sound, ww.
Let’s look at the sound up close and in slow motion.
With the tight circle for the lips, you can’t see the tongue at all.
But it lifts in the back.
The word ‘why’.
A tight circle for the lips.
The word ‘west’.
Again, a tight circle for the lips.
The word ‘unwind’.
Here the W is in the middle of the word.
We still take the time to bring the lips into a tight circle.
This sound is most common at the beginning of words.
It doesn’t occur at the end of any words, though the letter W does.
The W consonant: why, west, unwind
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Water
Welcome
Rework
Away
Between
Will
The Y consonant.
To make the Y sound, the jaw drops a little bit, yy.
The lips may be relaxed, or they may begin to take the position of the next sound.
The tongue tip is down, lightly touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
The middle part of the tongue lifts and touches the roof of the mouth.
It pushes forward against the roof of the mouth before pulling away.
As we push the tongue forward on the roof of the mouth, we close the vocal cords to
get this sound: yy, which we add to the sound.
Yy, yy.
We release them the same time we release the tongue.
Relaxed jaw drop, and the lips are relaxed.
The tongue tip is down while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof
of the mouth.
The word ‘yes’.
The tongue tip is down while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof
of the mouth.
The tongue releases into the EH as in BED vowel.
The word ‘youth’.
Notice how the lips begin to round for the next sound, the OO as in BOO vowel.
‘Yell’.
The tongue tip is down while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof
of the mouth, releasing into the EH as in BED vowel.
This sound is most common at the beginning of words.
It doesn’t occur at the end of any words, though the letter Y does.
The Y sound: yes, youth, yell.
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Yeah
Unusual
Senior
You
Yesterday
Yellow
I’m so glad you’ve taken the time to watch video, really understanding the mouth positions
for the sounds of American English can help you gain greater clarity in spoken English.
We also have a compilation video on all the vowel and diphthong sounds.
I’ll put a link to that video in the video description.
For now, keep your learning with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications
on.
I love being your English teacher.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.