The TH Sound in English - New and IMPROVED Lesson

Hey everyone.

It's Hadar.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Today, I'm going to share with you one of my most complete and

thorough lessons about the TH.

And yes, I know it's funny that I used the word 'thorough' to describe a TH lesson.

Anyway, I love teaching the TH sound.

First, because it's easy to understand with the right explanation and practice.

And it's easy to implement.

And then it gets my students usually great results.

Second, because I know that this is a sound that a lot of people struggle

with and feel self-conscious about.

And even though it's not crucial for your clarity for the most part, being

self-conscious about a certain sound is not something that helps you sound clear

and fluent, because you're obsessing over things that are not helping you

feel free, and clear, and confident.

So this is why I usually teach the TH right at the start of my programs.

In fact, this lesson is taken from my program New Sound.

New Sound is designed to help you reach a breakthrough in your English.

And it really covers all the elements that are required for you to transform

how you think, feel, and use English.

Most of it is based on pronunciation training.

Because I believe that it's so important to understand the external

part of English, so you can free yourself up and feel clear and

expressive so it's not in your way.

We go really deep into learning all the key sounds of American English.

And also, we go really deep into understanding prosody, which is

intonation, rhythm, stress, phrasing, breathing, tone of voice, voice.

So, all of these elements that make you a good communicator are important

to learn and to understand, and most importantly, to practice effectively.

So, as you will see, we will share with you a lesson about the TH.

It's a part of the entire lesson, because we actually start with a

self-assessment process, so you'll know what you need to focus on.

Because not everyone has the same needs.

And then we go into deeper practice and tackling challenges.

Today I'm going to share with you the explanation of the TH and a short

practice, which, I have no doubt, is going to help you significantly.

And you'll know how to keep on practicing it on your own.

If you need more help and you want to find out more about New Sound,

I'm going to put a link in the description so you can check it out.

When we release this video, doors are open for New Sound.

So you can go check out the program, and maybe you would consider joining us.

And if you're watching this when doors are closed, then you can get on the list to

be the first to know when we open doors.

All right, that's it.

I'm not going to make you wait any longer.

So let's watch and practice the TH lesson.

And I will see you on the other side.

Welcome to the TH sound.

The TH sound is a sound that is created with

the tip of the tongue, as in ‘think’ and ‘they’.

A lot of students are very aware of the sound,

but at the same time, they feel uncomfortable when using it or

they feel that it's a little too much or fake, or just strange.

Because if you don't have

the TH sound in your native language,

then it's going to be strange to speak with the tongue out.

However, if you practice it

consistently and the way I'm going to show you in this program,

then I guarantee that very soon you'll be able to make it your own

and feel comfortable, and the sound is going to be effortless for you.

Because the good thing about the TH

is that it's very clear how to pronounce it and how to use it.

So, it's really all about the muscles and all about developing those

new healthy speaking habits.

Now, when we talk about the pronunciation of the sounds, we want

to take into consideration three elements.

The first one is the manner of the sound,

then the placement, and then the voicing.

So, let's begin with the placement.

When pronouncing the TH sound, the tip of the tongue comes out

and touches the top teeth.

This is where the air or voice are blocked.

And that's the place of articulation.

So it's the tip of the tongue and the teeth.

In a second we're going to talk

about common challenges when pronouncing the TH sound.

But the most important thing

that you need to remember is that the tongue has to be out.

And there has to be contact between the tongue

and teeth to pronounce the TH sound.

Think

They

When it comes to manner, the TH is a fricative.

That means that the sound is not blocked.

The air is not blocked.

But it's released gradually. So it's restricted, right?

Think about it. We release air, but the air is restricted

because of the contact of the tongue and teeth.

So you let it out slowly,

almost like blowing out a candle.

It is not a stop sound, it's not stopped.

That would be a T or a D. But it's released gradually.

This is why it's a little longer than a stop sound,

for example, a D.

Listen: ‘they’ - ’day’

‘they’ - I can stretch it forever.

D, D, ‘day’. It's a lot shorter.

OK? So that's the idea of a fricative.

And when it comes to voicing, we have two different TH’s.

One is the voiceless TH, or as some people call it, the soft TH,

where it's just air coming out between the tongue and teeth.

Think

Versus a voiced TH, as in ‘they’.

Where it’s both air and sound.

The vocal cords are vibrating.

And if you put your hands here on your throat, try it.

Now let's release air. Just air.

And now add the vocal cords. Just sound.

Did you feel the vibrations? Good.

So that is your voice, and it actually changes the sound.

So we're not doing anything different here.

But it created a different sound.

think - they

Both are spelled with two letters - T and H - TH.

But they have two different phonetic symbols.

This is the phonetic symbol of the voiceless TH.

This is the phonetic symbol - the IPA of the voiced TH.

Now, before we practice it in words, let's talk about

common challenges that you might face when pronouncing this sound.

So we've already agreed that it's going to be

a little challenging for some people to stick the tongue out,

if that sound does not exist in their native language.

So, you might be wanting to pull the tongue back as you're pronouncing the TH.

And you may think that the tongue is out,

but ultimately, if it's inside, then this is a sound that you're going to get.

Did that sound like a TH?

Because I blocked the air,

it actually sounded more like a T sound than a TH.

thought

Now that my tongue is out, the sound is different. Listen again.

By the way, I may even stick the tongue out and still get the same quality.

That's because I pressed my tongue against the teeth really strongly,

and I did not allow the air to pass.

So, you need to remember two things.

If you don't hear that friction sound of the TH

that resembles an S or an F,

then your tongue is either inside - right behind the teeth - or outside,

but it's pressed so strongly against the teeth that the air is not coming out.

So make sure that the tongue is loose and relaxed.

And one more thing.

Think of the body of the tongue, and you want to make sure that it's down

because sometimes people stick the tongue out

and the body of the tongue is so high up, that it's blocking the air inside.

And you have no idea why you're pronouncing a T or a D instead of a TH.

’dey’ instead of ‘they’

So it has to do with what's happening inside the mouth as well.

Good. Now, another common challenge is that when people are not aware of sticking the tongue out

and you may want to create that friction sound.

But you'll keep the tongue inside.

’sink’

And then you're pronouncing an S sound instead of a TH sound.

‘sink’ instead of ‘think’.

So in that case, you want to make sure that the tip of the tongue comes out.

And you can do that by putting your finger right here.

And you might want to feel the tongue touching the finger.

Or you might want to use a mirror or your phone camera to see the tongue

actually coming out.

think

Now, if you're hearing the quality of the TH and you're not seeing the tip of the tongue,

maybe you're using your bottom lip to pronounce the TH:

as in ’vey’ instead of ’they’, or ‘fink’ instead of ‘think’.

And in that case, you might want to hold

your bottom lip with your finger for a little bit,

making sure that it's not coming up, and that the tongue is actually coming out.

Instead, ‘they’, ‘think’. Right?

It's all a matter of controlling your tongue and articulation organs,

becoming more aware of what your mouth is actually doing.

And when you're in control, then you're less likely

to go back into old habits, which is the pronunciation habits

that you've developed, like pronouncing an F or an S instead of a TH.

So as you can see, the TH can be substituted with several sounds, like a T or a D.

S or a Z - ‘zey’ instead of ‘they; or F or V.

It depends on your native language and your speaking habits.

But when you become aware of that and you understand what you tend to do,

it's a lot easier to change that and go into the right pronunciation.

Now, I want to remind you that it is possible for you to pronounce the TH.

Your tongue is not too short.

Your teeth are not too wide.

It has nothing to do with the structure of your mouth.

You're able to pronounce the TH.

If you find it challenging, it's only because you're going back to old

pronunciation habits, and to what's comfortable, and what's familiar,

because that's how you pronounce sounds in your native language.

OK? So it's just a matter of gaining control

over your tongue, over your articulation organs, becoming aware and being patient.

And doing it again and again and again

and doing it slowly, until you hear what you're looking for.

So now that you know how to pronounce the TH,

let's move on to practicing it in words, phrases, minimal pairs, and sentences.

OK, so let's begin with words.

We're going to start with words with voiceless TH.

Stick the tongue out, make sure the air passes.

And prolong the sound, do it with me.

Thanks. Thank you. Thanks.

Theory. What a great theory.

Theory. It's only in theory.

Stick the tongue out.

Feel the air passing.

If you hear ‘teory’, then you want to relax the tongue.

Stick it out a bit more: theory.

Now, that might be confusing with a Z sound in the middle.

And yes, it's a Z sound, even though it's spelled with an S.

So, if you feel that you're saying something like

‘southend’, like switching the sounds, so concentrate on the TH first.

Hold it out, ’thaw’ - long ‘aw’ sound, ’thaw’ and then bring the tongue

in for the Z sound:

‘z’nd’ - ’thaw-zn’d’.

thousand.

Let's review the words.

Very good. Now, moving on to voiced TH.

Feel the vibrations.

Now, you may see that it's spelled the same, and you might be asking yourself,

how would I know if it's a voiceless or a voiced TH?

So wait with that thought.

I'll answer it in a little bit.

the car

the people

The tongue comes out.

You hear the vibrations.

Now, with this word in particular, sometimes

you can cheat and put the tongue on the back of the teeth.

When you hold it out,

you may even feel tickles here.

If you don't, maybe the air is blocked somewhere,

so you want to see why.

the car, the people, the chair.

‘this’ - a voiced TH, an ‘i’ sound, and an S. ‘this’.

‘this’, right? We don't want

to hear ‘dis’ or ‘zis’.

this

Now, having said that, again, if you pronounce it more like

a D sound, because it's a function word, it's no big deal.

But for the sake of practice.

Right? It's not about mastering it

every time you speak English.

No, it's just for the sake of practice

to train your tongue to get to the right placement, in all the words.

After that, we'll learn where we can do all these shortcuts, because this is not

as important as ‘father’, or at least the TH in these words.

Can you hear the difference between the two?

These. We begin with a voiced TH.

But here we have high ‘ee’ sound.

‘These’ - ending with a Z sound.

this - these.

Now let's continue with phrases.

Now, this is where it gets interesting,

because this is an opportunity to see how we transition from the TH

to other sounds and vice versa.

Let me think about it.

So the ‘let me’ - we can reduce it to ‘lemme’.

Lemme think about it.

Let's do this thing.

Say it again. Let's do this thing.

What's the challenging part?

Where do you get stuck?

Probably the transition between the S and the TH, right?

Let's do this thing.

So make sure you bring the tongue in for the S and then you push it out

for the TH - ‘this-thing’. Right?

And you want to make sure that the tongue doesn't

stop in the middle and stops the air as well.

This thing. Make sure it's very smooth.

Let's move into sentences.

They need to think about the earth more

Notice that here the ’the’ is pronounced as ’thee’ - ‘thee earth’.

That's because there is a vowel right after. When there is a vowel,

we want to say the word ’the’ with an ‘ee’ sound,

so it's easier to connect: ‘thee-earth’.

When it's a consonant, then we reduce it: the car, the plane.

They need to think about the earth more.

Now let's practice minimal pairs: similar words

that the only thing that is different is that one sound - a TH and another sound.

For example, day - they.

So a lot of people might substitute the voiced TH with a D sound.

So we want to look into those pairs to, again, develop awareness

and to remind the brain that these are two different sounds: day - they.

Let's do it again. ‘day’ - ‘they’

And when you practice minimal pairs, make sure to always say the words first

and then the sentence.

They had a great day today.

They had a great day today.

sink - think

I think the ship is about to sink.

OK. That's it for now.

Massage your jaw a little bit. Do a lip trill.

Take a deep breath in, breathe out.

You did a fantastic job.

All right, that's it.

I hope you enjoyed it.

And I hope it was helpful, helped you understand how to simplify the TH sound.

If you want to find out more about New Sound and all the lessons that we

teach there, and how you can transform your English using my Pronunciation

Confidence Method, and all the lessons about pronunciation, I invite you to

click the link in the description.

If doors are closed, get on the list to be the first to know when we open doors.

Just so you know, the program is not just the videos.

We also offer a lot of coaching.

So you get to work with me, and with our coaches.

And you can even get feedback on your pronunciation videos.

So there's a lot that goes into it: a lot of speaking practice,

and practice groups, and Sprints.

So, it's a lot of fun.

You should check it out.

Anyway, I hope you'll have some time to put it into practice.

Remember, practice makes better.

So take what you've learned, and maybe make a list of all the TH words that

you often use, and just practice it everyday for 3 minutes, that's it.

I guarantee that you are going to feel the difference.

All right.

Take care.

Thank you so much for watching.

And I'll see you next week in the next video.