Welcome back to the English Danny channel and my series on pronunciation. In the first part
of this series, I showed you how to pronounce initial consonant clusters. Now, I’m going to
show you some tips for pronouncing consonants in that come at the ends of words. Let’s start with
some easy ones in this video and then tackle some more tricky consonants in the next one.
This video is about final consonants that English learners often leave out.
These are consonant sounds indicated by the letters P, T, K,
B, D, G, and F. Some English learners will “drop” the final sound – but in English,
this is NOT a good technique because the meaning of a word can change.
For example, if you pronounce the word BOAT but leave off the “T” at the end, pronouncing it BO
you’re saying BOW. If you’re saying SOAP but leave off the “P” at the end, pronouncing it SOA,
you’re saying SO. Let me give a quick tip for making sure you keep these sounds IN your
pronunciation and a few practice words you can use on your own to improve.
Let’s start with P. First, this sound comes from putting your lips together like this
and pushing the air out. Puh puh puh. Here are some words that end with this sound.
Practice saying these words and emphasize the P sound at the end to help train yourself
NOT to drop the final sound. SOAP, ROPE, TOP, COP, SIP, LIP, UP, CUP
Now let’s try B. This sound is similar to the P sound with your lips put together. But now
you use your vocal cords here in your neck. With P it’s just the air but with B
you get your vocal cords going. B, B, B you
should feel vibration here in your neck, much more than with P.
Here are some practice words to use to emphasize the B sound at the end.
RUB, CLUB, JIB, GLIB, TUBE, RUBE, LAB, JAB
Now let’s try K. This sound comes from your lips held like this with your teeth open and
making the sound K, K, K. Here’s some practice words to emphasize the K sound at the end. SOCK,
CLOCK, PICK, TICK, BOOK, LOOK, DUKE, LUKE
Now let’s try G. This sound is similar to the K. It is similar like P
and B in that to make the G sound you get your vocal cords going.
So, make the K sound and then get the vibration going in your neck to make G, G, G.
Here are some practice words to use to emphasize the G sound at the end. GAG,
BRAG, BIG, DIG, JOG, BLOG, BUG, DRUG
Now let’s try T. Your mouth is held similar to K
but you bring your tongue up behind the back of your upper teeth to make the sound T, T, T.
Here’s some practice words to use to emphasize the T sound at the end. BOAT, FLOAT, FIT,
HIT, CAT, CHAT, BOOT, LOOT
Now let’s try D. This sound is a pair with T just like P, and B and K and G.
You use your vocal cords with the T sound to make D, D, D. Here are some practice words
to use to emphasize the D sound at the end. BAD, DAD, HOOD, WOOD, RUDE, DUDE, KID, LID
Here is our last letter for today, F. You make this one by bringing your lips together like this
to make F, F, F. You can emphasize this one by pushing air through like this FFFF. Here
are some practice words to use to emphasize the F sound at the end.
IF, CLIFF, OAF, LOAF, LAUGH, NAFF, BLUFF, FLUFF
Here’s a challenge sentence you can use to put all the sounds together:
I want soap on a rope and a jab in the lab
I will look at the book and brag about the gag
I can float in the boat and be rude to the dude
And I love to laugh at anything naff.
Practice these challenge sentences and your final consonant pronunciations and you should
hear improvement in your speaking and perhaps also your accent. I’ll see you in the next video.