Speak English like a North American: How to pronounce P & B

Hi. I'm Ronnie. Do you have problems saying the difference between "b" and "p" in English?

Don't worry. It's okay. The reason why you have a problem with this is because in your

native language, you don't have a "b" sound or a "p" sound. It's okay. I'm here to help

you. I'm going to teach you the pronunciation of "b" and "p".

First of all, let's look at the written words. So, the "b", or the written letter, the "b"

like this is a capital or a big "b", and then we have the lowercase or the small "b". Then

we have the "p", capital "p" and lowercase "p". It is the same mouth movement that we're

going to make, so this is why it's confusing, but there's one huge difference, and the difference

is voiced and unvoiced. Now, a "b" sound will always be voiced. Voiced means that it will

vibrate in your throat. So, if you put your hand here and you make the "b" sound, it's

going to always vibrate in your vocal cords. So, try. Oh, that's fun. Do it at home. Don't

do this on the subway. People might think you're crazy.

If you're - want to say the word that's unvoiced, the letter that's unvoiced, it's "p", "p",

so any unvoiced letter, it's not going to vibrate. So, check this out. One is "p", "p".

"P" does not vibrate, but the "b", "b", "b" will vibrate. To make the sound, you put both

of your lips over your teeth and blow out air. It's like you're smoking with a "p",

but the "b", the only difference is you make your vocal cords vibrate. Voiced. "B", "b",

and "p". The best way to practice with these sounds that are difficult for you, we call

minimal pairs. So, minimal pairs are two words that have very, very similar pronunciation,

but we've got our problem. We've got the "b" sound and the "p" sound together. So, if you

practice them together, hopefully it will improve, or you will improve your English.

So, the first word, what we're going to do is we're going to go through the "b" sounds.

Now, when you do this, you can put your hand on your neck or your throat and make sure

that there's a vibration. So, if we say "b", "b", "b", try. Good. Do it again. "B", "b",

"b", "b". You should feel the vibration.

Next word we have is "big", "big", "buy", "base", "butt". Then, we also have the "b"

and the "p" at the end of the word. It's okay. Just make sure you vibrate the last part.

"Robe", now this one's in the middle, and then we have at the beginning, "bleed", "bleed".

So, I want you to practice the "b". Make sure that when you say it, your throat is moving

or vibrating. Excellent. Okay. When we say the "p", we don't have to vibrate or move

our vocal cords. It's more like you're blowing out air. So, we have "play", "play", "pig",

"pie", "pace", "put", "pup". Now, this - we have double - oh, double "p" so it's "pup".

"Rope" and then "plead". This one's a little bit difficult because you've got to get the

"l" as well, so it's "plead". So, I would like you to now practice the "p" sound. Remember,

do not vibrate your vocal cords when you do this. Great. Okay, so what we're going to

do now is we're going to put the two words together, and these are our minimal pairs.

We're going to say the words across like this so you can practice the sound and make sure

you're saying them differently. So, we're going to do this. "Bay", "ba-ba-ba-bay", and

"play". "Bay", "play". The next pair are "big" and "pig". "Big", "pig". "Buy", "pie". "Base",

"pace". "Butt", "put". I'll let you practice those.

When we have the sound at the end of the word, it's the same idea, you just have to make

sure you vibrate. So, we have "pub" and "pup". "Robe", "rope". At the beginning again, we

have "bleed" and "plead". You try now.

All right, on to something a little bit more difficult. This is the master level, if you're

ready. If I put these words into a sentence, this is where you're going to have to focus

and concentrate on actually vibrating or blowing the schmoke. So, repeat after me. "The big

pig played with the blade. The big pig played with the blade." So, again, the B sounds are

always going to be vibrated, and the P sounds are not going to have a vibration. Oh, delicious.

Next one. "I drank a beer on the pier. I drank a beer on the pier." So, we have two words

that are minimal pairs in a sentence. This one actually has four words that are minimal

pairs. This one's a little bit more difficult. I gave that to you first. Did you do it? Now,

"a pier" is like a dock. "A pier" is something that you can sit on and you're close to the

water, maybe the ocean or the lake, and you can enjoy a beer. Or you can't. Depends.

And the last one, we have "the bear"-that's right-"ate a pear". "Pear" is a fruit; it

is not red. Sometimes they're red. Looks like this. They can be this shape, or they can

also be round, depending on where you are. "The bear ate a pear." Do you think you can

do it? So, I want you to practice. Remember, the "b" sound-ba, ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba will always vibrate,

and the "p" sound-ba, ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bawill not vibrate.

If you're having problems with the "b" and the "p", send me a comment. Subscribe to my

channel; hit the bell, and you can get all of my lessons for free-wow-if you subscribe

to my channel.

My name's Ronnie.

I'm out of here.

Bye-bye.