Pronunciation – Practice the ‘th’ vs. /s/ & /z/ Sounds! (video)
Do you say /s/ and /z/ instead of ‘th’? This is a common pronunciation mistake!
This pronunciation practice lesson below will help you practice hearing & making the ‘th’ sounds.
(In the listening lesson “Let’s Go to The Ex!” I explain how to make the ‘th’ sounds.)
Part I – Minimal Pairs /θ/ and /s/
Part II – Words and Phrases with /θ/ and /s/
Part III – Words with /θ/
Part IV – Minimal Pairs /ð/ and /z/
Part V – Words and Phrases with /ð/ and /z/
Part VI – Words with /ð/
Part VII – Words, phrases and sentences with /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/
(This lesson was originally made for one of my Russian students. There are speakers of many other languages, however, that also make this mistake!)
Comments
Hi, Melanie. I’m from a foreign country and I’d like to know how can I exactly pronounce the number thirty. I’ve tried but I can’t. Thanks! U’ve helped me a lot.
Hi, Paula! You are not alone! A LOT of English learners struggle with ‘thirty’ (and ‘girl,’ ‘first,’…).
1. Make sure your tongue comes out between your teeth for the ‘th’ sound.
2. Don’t try to pronounce the ‘i’. In American English, the ‘ir’ together is the ‘vower r’ sound. It’s pronounced ‘er,’ so the first syllable ‘thir’ sounds the same as the ‘thur’ in ‘Thursday.’
(I talk briefly about the ‘er’ sound in this listening lesson: /listening-lesson-the-laundromat-podcast/)
3. In American English, the second ‘t’ is the ‘tapped t’ sound. I try to explain this sound in the listening lesson /listening-lesson-my-jack-o-lantern-podcast-and-video/ and in the pronunciation video: /pronunciation-how-to-say-names-of-social-media-sites-video/ (when I talk about Twitter).
I hope that helps! It will take a while, but it practice a little bit every day, it will get easier.
Good luck,
Melanie
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Hello Melanie !
How can i pronounce “th ” after “s” ? such as “was there”
Thank you .
Hi, Ahmed!
In “was there,” the -s is pronounced /z/ and the ‘th’ is the voiced sound. The ‘th’ sound is pronounced the same way as always, but your tongue just has to quickly move into the space between your top & lower teeth. It doesn’t need to come out as far as a regular ‘th’ sound, but you still need to make the sound.
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Hello Melanie!
I’m from a foreign country and I’d like pronounce exactly endind sound. Could you help me? Thank you so much!
Hi, Anna!
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean by “endind sound.” Can you be more specific?
Thanks,
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Hello Melanie,
I have a lot of problems with the pronunciation of the letter “s”, I don´t know exactly how it sounds . My mother language is spanish and our s sound is slightly different but enough to make my english sounds bad. Is ithere any video about it that you could recommend?
Thanks
Carmen
Hi, Carmen!
I’m so sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier. The /s/ sound is one of the easiest sounds to make in English. Just remember to keep your tongue flat on the bottom of your mouth, and keep the tip of the tongue behind your bottom teeth.
RachelsEnglish.com has great video lessons on each of the individual sounds. She definitely has a video lesson on the /s/ sound.
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