Lesson summary
Video transcript
How do pronounce this word here? It’s vice. Vice. Can c really make an s sound in English? Let’s find out.
What’s up guys? My name is Shane and this is part 4 of the pronunciation practice series. If you haven’t seen part 3, you can watch it up here.
In the past 3 videos we have looked at the 26 letters in the English alphabet. In part 1 we looked at the vowels and in part 2 and 3 we looked at the consonants.
But today we look at some extra sounds that sometimes cause some problems for English learners such as th, ch and sh. And make sure you watch until the end of the video because we have a quiz to test your understanding.
Okay let’s get started.
C sound
If you watched part 2 of this series, you will remember that this letter is called c. and the sound it makes it c. c. the same sound as k. but sometimes the letter c can always make the same sound as s. which is a sss sound. Ss.
Remember in the intro we had this word here? And it’s pronounced vice. Vice. This word here has a c but it’s actually pronounced as an s. vice.
TH sound
Look at this sound here. How do we pronounce it? Many students pronounce it as D. D. But it is not D. We pronounce this sound like this. Th. Th. If you look at my tongue, it is here. Th. Th.
This is very important. When you’re making the th sound, your tongue has to be touching your top teeth. And when you make the sound, you try and push air out. Th. Th. Now you try. Th.
Some example words are think. Think. Now you try. Think. Thin. Thin. Now you try. And thousand. Thousand. Now you try.
And when th comes at the end of a word, It’s pronounced exactly the same. So have a look at this word. How do you pronounce it? Is it clot or cloth? it’s cloth. Cloth. Now you try. Cloth.
What about this word? It’s pronounced tooth. Tooth. And remember, when we pronounce that th sound, your tongue has to be here. Tooth. Now you try. Tooth. And another example word is path. Path. Now you try. Path.
What about this word? It’s pronounced th right? Th. No, it’s actually pronounced the. The. Th has two sounds it can normally make. The first one is called unvoiced, like this. Th. Th. So if you put your hand on your throat, and say th, you will not feel your throat moving.
But the second way to pronounce th is voiced. That means your throat will vibrate. It will move. So if you put your hand on your throat and say th, th, you will feel your throat moving. So it’s the same sound but in the first sound, we don’t turn our voice on. Th.
But in the second way to pronounce it, we turn our voice on. Th. Th. Now you try. Th. If you’re having trouble making your throat vibrate, here’s a little trick that you can try. Put your hand on your throat and say aaaa. Is your throat vibrating? Yes. It should be.
So try that again and start by saying aaa and then change your mouth position to say the th sound. Let me show you. Aaaaaathhhhh. But when you’re doing this, make sure your throat does not stop vibrating. So it should be like this. Aaaaathhhh. It shouldn’t be like this. Aaaathh.
Because you are making the first th sound here which is unvoiced. So just remember, th has two sounds. The first sound is unvoiced. Th. Th. Your throat does not vibrate. And the second one is voiced. It means your throat will vibrate. Th.
SH sound
How do we pronounce this word? It’s share. Share. When we say the sh sound in English, your tongue does not touch the top of your mouth. No. Also, your lips should come out just a little bit. Like this. Share. Share. Now you try. Share.
Let’s look at some other words. My name has an sh sound. So we pronounce my name like this. Shane. Shane. Shane. Now you try. Shane.
Another example word could be show. Show. Now you try. Show.
CH sound
Okay what about this word? It’s share, right? Share. No. we pronounce ch like this. Chair. Chair. When we say ch, the first thing you need to do is to pretend you’re going to say t. t. the t sound in English.
And when you say the t sound in English, where is your tongue? Your tongue is touching the top of your mouth and then the next thing you need to do is say sh.
To say that sh sound. Sh. So number one, put your tongue up and number two, say sh. The sh sound. Ch. Ch. Ch. Don’t worry if you can’t do this on your first try, just keep trying and you will be able to do it.
Just remember, your tongue should be touching the top of your mouth. This is very important, now let’s have a look at some example words. Change. Change. Now you try. Change.
Another example word could be chew. Chew. Same again. Your tongue must be touching the top of your mouth and then you say the sh. The sh sound. Chew. Chew. Now you try. Chew.
WH sound
How do we say this word? Is it what or hwat? What or hwat? Both are acceptable but some people would say that the second way is a little bit old fashioned. Most people in 2020, not all, but most people will say w. w. what. So that wh sound is just a w sound. W.
let’s have a look at some example words. Whether. Whether. When. When. Whale. Whale. Whirlwind. Whirlwind.
NG sound
How do we pronounce this word? It’s pronounced ring. Ring. When we have that ng sound, we need to make the very back of our tongue touch the top of our mouth. Ng. ng. Now you try. Ng.
And also, when we make this sound, it actually comes out of our nose. So listen here. Ng and ng. You can see when I block my nose, the sound sounds very funny, right? So this ng sound actually comes from your nose.
Let’s have a look at a few example words. Working. Working. Now you try. Working. The next one. Long. Long. Now you try. Long. The next one. King. King. Now you try. King.
Quiz
Now we have learned some new sounds in English so let’s have a little quiz to check your understanding. I will show you a sound and I want you to pronounce the sound and tell me an example word. First sound. Th. Voiced. Th voiced. And we pronounce this sound as th. Th. Remember, your throat must vibrate. And an example word could be that.
The second sound. Sh. Sh. And we pronounce it as sh. Sh. Remember with this sound, your tongue does not touch the top of your mouth. And an example word could be shop.
And the third sound. Wh. Wh. We pronounce this sound as w. w. Or you can pronounce it as hw. Hw. But remember, most people normally just say w. w. and an example word could be what. What.
And the next sound. Ng. ng. This sound is pronounced as ng. ng. Remember, this sound comes from your nose and when you’re making this sound, your, the back of your tongue should touch the top of your mouth. Ng. and an example word could be ring. Ring.
And the next sound is ch. Ch. This sound is pronounced as ch. Ch. Remember when you say this sound, you need to put your tongue at the top of your mouth like you are going to say a t sound. But then you actually say an sh sound. So it sounds like this. Ch. Ch. An example word could be chair. Chair.
Now I will say a owrd and I want you to tell me what you head. Number 1. Chair. Chair. I said chair. C h a I r.
number two. Share. Share. I said share. S h a r e.
number three. They. They. I said they. T h e y.
number four. When. When. I said when. W h e n. and the last one. ring. Ring. I said ring. R I n g.
And that is the end of the lesson today. If you’re interested in more beginner videos, you can check out this video right here. And if you haven’t subscribed already, make sure you subscribe right now so you don’t miss any videos that can help you understand English like a native speaker.
If you have any questions, please comment down below. If you learned something today, please hit like and share this with your friends who are earning English so they can understand how to make English sounds correctly.
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