Lesson 1: Basic phonetics

Pronouciation Resources:

The letters of the alphabet:

• The basic vowel sounds in English (a, e, i, o, u)
  Play

  Mute

  Stream Type LIVE

  1x

  Playback Rate

  Picture-in-Picture

In English, there are 12 pure vowel sounds, and each of these sounds can be pronounced in multiple ways, depending on the word and the accent of the speaker. Here are the pure vowel sounds with some practical examples of how to pronounce them:

1. /i:/ as in “meet” or “key” This sound is pronounced with the tongue high and forward in the mouth, with the lips slightly spread.
   Play

   Mute

   Stream Type LIVE

   1x

   Playback Rate

   Picture-in-Picture

    

2. /ɪ/ as in “sit” or “hit” This sound is pronounced with the tongue in the middle of the mouth and the lips relaxed.
   Play

   Mute

   Stream Type LIVE

   1x

   Playback Rate

   Picture-in-Picture

    

3. /e/ as in “set” or “red” This sound is pronounced with the tongue in the middle of the mouth, with the lips slightly spread.
   Play

   Mute

   Stream Type LIVE

   1x

   Playback Rate

   Picture-in-Picture

    

4. /æ/ as in “cat” or “hat” This sound is pronounced with the tongue low in the mouth, with the lips slightly spread.
   Play

   Mute

   Stream Type LIVE

   1x

   Playback Rate

   Picture-in-Picture

    

5. /ɑ:/ as in “car” or “far” This sound is pronounced with the tongue low and back in the mouth, with the lips slightly spread.
6. /ɒ/ as in “not” or “hot” This sound is pronounced with the tongue low and back in the mouth, with the lips rounded.
7. /ʊ/ as in “book” or “look” This sound is pronounced with the tongue in the middle of the mouth, with the lips rounded.
8. /u:/ as in “blue” or “moon” This sound is pronounced with the tongue high and back in the mouth, with the lips rounded.
9. /ə/ as in “about” or “sofa” This sound is pronounced with the tongue in the middle of the mouth and the lips relaxed.
10. /eɪ/ as in “day” or “play” This sound is a diphthong, which means that it is made up of two vowel sounds. It starts with /e/ and ends with /ɪ/.
11. /ɔɪ/ as in “boy” or “toy” This sound is also a diphthong. It starts with /ɔ/ and ends with /ɪ/.
12. /aɪ/ as in “eye” or “fly” This sound is a diphthong, which starts with /a/ and ends with /ɪ/.

To improve your pronunciation of these vowel sounds, you may find it helpful to listen to native speakers of English and practice imitating their pronunciation. You can also use resources such as online pronunciation guides or mobile apps to help you practice the correct pronunciation of each vowel sound.

• The basic consonant sounds in English (b, c, d, f, etc.)

In English, there are 24 consonant sounds. Here are the consonant sounds with examples of words containing them:

1. /p/ sound as in “pat”
2. /b/ sound as in “bat”
3. /t/ sound as in “top”
4. /d/ sound as in “dog”
5. /k/ sound as in “cat”
6. /g/ sound as in “goat”
7. /f/ sound as in “fish”
8. /v/ sound as in “van”
9. /θ/ sound as in “think”
10. /ð/ sound as in “this”
11. /s/ sound as in “sit”
12. /z/ sound as in “zip”
13. /ʃ/ sound as in “shoe”
14. /ʒ/ sound as in “measure”
15. /h/ sound as in “hat”
16. /m/ sound as in “man”
17. /n/ sound as in “net”
18. /ŋ/ sound as in “king”
19. /l/ sound as in “lake”
20. /r/ sound as in “red”
21. /j/ sound as in “yes”
22. /w/ sound as in “win”
23. /ʔ/ sound as in “uh-oh” (glottal stop)
24. /tʃ/ sound as in “church”

When practicing these sounds, it is helpful to focus on the way the sound is produced in the mouth. For example, the /p/ sound is made by pressing the lips together and then releasing them, while the /s/ sound is made by pushing air through a narrow gap between the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

One way to practice these sounds is to say them slowly and clearly, paying attention to how your mouth feels as you make the sound. You can also practice saying words that contain these sounds, and pay attention to how the sound changes depending on its position in the word and the sounds that come before and after it.

Here are some tips on how to pronounce each of the 24 consonant sounds in English:

1. /p/: To make the /p/ sound, press your lips together and then release them to create a puff of air. This sound is unvoiced, meaning that your vocal cords do not vibrate when you make it.
2. /b/: This sound is similar to /p/, but is voiced, meaning that your vocal cords do vibrate. To make the /b/ sound, press your lips together and release them while also using your voice.
3. /t/: To make the /t/ sound, touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your upper front teeth, then release it to create a puff of air. This sound is unvoiced.
4. /d/: This sound is similar to /t/, but is voiced. To make the /d/ sound, touch the tip of your tongue to the same place as for /t/, but also use your voice.
5. /k/: To make the /k/ sound, touch the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and then release it to create a puff of air. This sound is unvoiced.
6. /g/: This sound is similar to /k/, but is voiced. To make the /g/ sound, touch the back of your tongue to the same place as for /k/, but also use your voice.
7. /f/: To make the /f/ sound, press your bottom lip against your top teeth and blow air out through the gap between them. This sound is unvoiced.
8. /v/: This sound is similar to /f/, but is voiced. To make the /v/ sound, press your bottom lip against your top teeth and also use your voice.
9. /θ/: To make the /θ/ sound, touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your top front teeth and blow air out through the gap between your tongue and teeth. This sound is unvoiced.
10. /ð/: This sound is similar to /θ/, but is voiced. To make the /ð/ sound, touch the tip of your tongue to the same place as for /θ/, but also use your voice.
11. /s/: To make the /s/ sound, push air out through a small gap between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. This sound is unvoiced.
12. /z/: This sound is similar to /s/, but is voiced. To make the /z/ sound, push air out through the same place as for /s/, but also use your voice.
13. /ʃ/: To make the /ʃ/ sound, pucker your lips and push air out through a small gap between them, while also pushing the middle of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth. This sound is unvoiced.
14. /ʒ/: This sound is similar to /ʃ/, but is voiced. To make the /ʒ/ sound, pucker your lips and also use your voice.
15. /h/: To make the /h/ sound, push air out through your open mouth while relaxing your lips and keeping your tongue low in your mouth. This sound is unvoiced.
16. /m/: To make the /m/ sound, press your lips together and let air flow out through your nose while also using your voice.
17. /n/: This sound is similar to /m/, but you don’t press your lips together. Instead, touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your upper front teeth and let air flow out through your nose while using your voice.

18. /ŋ/: To make the /ŋ/ sound, touch the back of your tongue to the roof of your mouth while letting air flow out through your nose. This sound is voiced.
19. /l/: To make the /l/ sound, touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your upper front teeth and let air flow out through your mouth while using your voice.
20. /r/: The /r/ sound in English has many different variations, depending on dialect and accent. In general, to make the /r/ sound, curl the sides of your tongue upward and backward so that the tip of your tongue is close to the roof of your mouth. Let air flow out through your mouth while using your voice.
21. /j/: To make the /j/ sound, position your tongue so that the back of it is touching the roof of your mouth and the middle of it is arched slightly downward. Let air flow out through a small gap between the middle of your tongue and the roof of your mouth while also using your voice.
22. /w/: To make the /w/ sound, pucker your lips into a tight circle and let air flow out through a small gap between them while also using your voice.
23. /ʔ/: This is called a glottal stop, and is not a distinct sound in many dialects of English, but is used in some. To make the glottal stop, briefly stop the flow of air in your throat by closing your vocal cords together.
24. /ʍ/: This sound is not used in all dialects of English, but it is used in some. To make the /ʍ/ sound, round your lips and then blow air out through a small gap between them while also using your voice.

• Let’s practice pronouncing words that use the vowel and consonant sounds seen above

Here are some words and expressions You can use to practice pronouncing the vowel and consonant sounds in North American English:

Vowel sounds:

• /i/ (as in “meet”): bee, see, he, she, key, me, we, believe, achieve
• /ɪ/ (as in “sit”): it, is, big, sit, tip, miss, fix, in, itchy, tricky
• /ɛ/ (as in “set”): met, let, net, pen, ten, yes, red, when, bed, head
• /æ/ (as in “cat”): cat, hat, mat, bat, bad, dad, black, bag, apple, happy
• /ɑ/ (as in “hot”): hot, not, pot, dog, top, stop, mom, rock, watch, chocolate
• /ʌ/ (as in “cut”): up, cup, run, sun, but, love, tough, flood, fun, jump
• /ʊ/ (as in “book”): good, put, foot, look, should, cook, could, pull, full, push
• /oʊ/ (as in “go”): go, no, so, old, boat, road, slow, show, know, coast
• /u/ (as in “blue”): do, who, you, blue, new, true, fruit, shoe, two, through
• /ə/ (as in “about”): about, sofa, potato, tomato, banana, umbrella, cinema, camera, idea, Africa

Video:

Consonant sounds:

• /p/ (as in “pat”): pat, pot, map, hope, top, shop, happy, sleep, stop, jump
• /b/ (as in “bat”): bat, bet, baby, web, job, rabbit, baby, club, rubber, absorb
• /t/ (as in “top”): top, tip, bet, seat, set, eat, water, little, it, late
• /d/ (as in “dog”): dog, day, bed, made, dad, ride, good, made, shadow, add
• /k/ (as in “cat”): cat, cut, kite, cake, cool, lock, black, back, quick, break
• /g/ (as in “goat”): goat (Leonel Messi), get, egg, big, bag, dog, good, again, go, log
• /f/ (as in “foot”): foot, phone, coffee, laugh, safe, photo, tough, life, off, enough
• /v/ (as in “vet”): vet, leave, love, save, very, give, over, live, weave, believe
• /θ/ (as in “think”): think, thank, bath, mouth, math, birthday, with, both, breath, path
• /ð/ (as in “then”): then, this, that, breathe, mother, the, with, them, bathe, weather
• /s/ (as in “sit”): sit, set, miss, bus, class, dress, face, race, ice, sister
• /z/ (as in “zip”): zip, zoo, nose, easy, was, does, roses, buzz, busy, puzzle
• /ʃ/ (as in “shop”): shop, shoe, push, wish, cash, nation, machine, action, sure, pressure
• /ʒ/ (as in “pleasure”): pleasure, vision, beige, garage, measure, casual, treasure, decision, division, illusion (Li “J” in French or Haitian Creole)

• /h/ (as in “hot”): hot, hello, happy, help, house, hour, behind, white, who, whole
• /m/ (as in “man”): man, me, mother, come, home, time, him, ham, summer, some
• /n/ (as in “no”): no, not, name, nice, one, win, can, ten, son, run
• /ŋ/ (as in “sing”): sing, song, finger, bring, ring, hang, long, thing, king, spring
• /l/ (as in “leg”): leg, love, little, live, ball, well, girl, will, full, tell
• /r/ (as in “red”): red, run, car, read, write, sorry, tree, break, more, around
• /w/ (as in “way”): way, we, win, wet, wall, how, yellow, power, down, town
• /j/ (as in “yes”): yes, you, year, yellow, use, union, beauty, argue, huge

Video: