How to pronounce words ending in S in English

Hi, my name is Emma, and today we are going to do a lesson on pronunciation.

So we're going to learn about -s endings and the three different ways you pronounce them.

So first off, when do we use an -s ending?

We use it for verbs in the present tense, third person singular, like likes, laughs,

loves, knows.

We also use -s's for possessives, its, as an example.

We use it for plural nouns, dogs, cats, horses.

And finally, we use it for contractions, its, is, it is.

So there are four different times we use -s endings.

Now they all follow the same pronunciation rule.

So whether it's a verb, whether it's a noun, whatever we're talking about, we use the same

pronunciation rules.

So I said before, there are three different ways to pronounce -s's, -s endings.

We have /s/, /z/, where there's a bit of a vibration in your throat.

So just to practice, /s/, the sound comes from your mouth, /s/.

Here, /z/, it comes from your throat, and this is a /z/ sound.

And finally, this is written in the phonetic alphabet, which is a sound alphabet, an alphabet

based on sound.

But this represents the sound /iz/, so almost /iz/.

Okay, so let's get started.

So to begin, I want you to listen to the way I pronounce the ends of these words.

So listen carefully, and think to yourself, should it go in the /s/ sound category, the

/z/, /z/, or the /iz/.

All right, so let's get started.

Likes, likes.

Which one?

Did you hear /s/, /z/, /iz/.

Likes, likes.

So it has an /s/ sound, likes, /iz/, /iz/.

Which one do you think?

/iz/, again.

It doesn't vibrate in your throat.

It comes from the mouth at the end, it's.

Number three, dogs, dogs.

So do you hear a /s/, /z/, or /iz/, dogs?

If you said /z/, a /z/ sound, you are correct, dogs.

Cats, cats.

So sometimes it's a little difficult to hear the ending.

I want you to try really hard, cats.

So listen to the difference, dogs, cats.

Do you hear the difference in the /s/ pronunciation?

And then we have horses, horses.

So this is a case of the /iz/ sound, horses, horses.

Laughs, laughs, laughs.

If you feel your throat, laughs, the ending, it doesn't vibrate, meaning it comes from

the mouth, so we know it's laughs.

There's no /z/ sound.

Dishes, dishes, knows, he knows.

So did you hear an /s/ sound or a /z/ sound?

It's a /z/ sound, knows, owns, owns, loves, loves, again, I know it's difficult maybe

to hear, but there's a /z/ sound at the end, loves, sports, sports, it's an /s/ sound,

sports.

Surprises, surprises, which one do you think, so it's like horses and dishes, surprises.

And finally, our example of a contraction, it's, it's.

So just like a snake, it's a /s/ sound, it's, it's, okay.

So I want you to repeat after me and try to focus on the sound of, the vibration of your

throat if it's a /z/ sound or if it comes from your mouth if it's a /s/ sound.

And listen again for what I say if it sounds like an /s/ or a /z/, likes, likes, it's,

it's, cats, cats, laughs, laughs, sports, sports, it's, it's.

So again, you hear a /s/ at the end of each of those.

Let's try these ones now.

So again, it's going to be a /z/ sound, dogs, knows, owns, loves.

So it's a /z/ sound and it comes from the throat.

And finally, the /iz/ sound.

This is going to be two syllables, horses, dishes, surprises.

So there's an added syllable with the /iz/.

Okay.

So next we're going to talk about how do I know when to make the /s/ sound, the /z/

sound, and the /iz/ sound.

Okay.

So now we are going to learn the rules of S endings and how to pronounce them.

So first we have /iz/.

So like I said before, this is the phonetic spelling.

So the International Phonetic Alphabet spelling.

And this is how it would look if you weren't using the phonetic alphabet.

So it's the /iz/ sound as in dishes.

So when do we use /iz/?

Well, if the word ends in an /s/ sound.

So up here I have two alphabets.

So if you know the International Phonetic Alphabet, follow this one.

If you don't know the International Phonetic Alphabet, then follow this one.

This is our regular alphabet.

Okay.

So in terms of /iz/ pronunciation, if a word ends with the sound /s/, like with an S sound,

then you would use /iz/.

If it ends in a Z sound, you use /iz/.

/sh/ sound as in dishes, you use /iz/, /shun/, you use /iz/, /ch/, and /dʒ/, like judges.

For S pronunciation, so that's like a snake pronunciation, if the word ends in a /p/ sound

as in P, so like jeep, the car you drive, a jeep, jeeps.

It ends in the S sound.

T, think beets, the food you eat, beets.

It has an S sound.

K, book, you hear it ends in a K sound, books.

F, we also use the S sound, and TH, mouths, your mouth, mouths.

Finally Z pronunciation.

So when do we use Z pronunciation?

So this is actually a longer list than the other two.

We use Z pronunciation when the word ends in a /b/ sound, like a B, /b/, a D sound,

a G sound, remember the example, dog, dogs, a V sound, love ends in a V sound, so loves,

it has a Z sound, TH again.

The difference with these two THs is with one TH, you don't feel a vibration, so it

comes from the mouth, while the other one, it's very similar, mouth's in the same position,

it comes from the throat.

So certain TH words use the Z, M, so groom, when you get married, there's a bride and

a groom, grooms has a Z sound, N, so words end with an N sound, ing, so singing, for

example, sing, sings, he sings a song, it's going to have a Z sound.

Finally L and R. Okay, so if you would like to practice this more, come check out our

quiz at www.engvid.com, thanks, take care.