Practice Your English Pronunciation /t/ vs /d/ Sounds | Course #20

In this video,

I'm going to focus on two initial

consonant sounds in English.

The /t/ sound and the /d/ sound.

They may be confusing

because they sound quite similar.

But they are very different.

And they are important sounds in the English language.

So I want you to be able to pronounce them correctly.

Let's start with two example words.

The first example word is the word

‘ten’ with a ‘t’ sound.

‘ten’

It's different from ‘den’ with a ‘d’ sound.

‘den’

So ‘ten’, ‘den’.

Can you hear the difference?

Well if you can't, practice with me.

By the end of this video,

I promise you you'll be able to pronounce them correctly.

Let's get started.

Before we learn about these initial consonant sounds

/t/ and /d/ in English,

please remember to check the I.P.A spelling - it's very useful.

You can also watch how I move my mouth,

and of course repeat after me in this video.

You can make those sounds.

Let's do it together.

First, let's learn how to produce this /t/ sound in English.

/t/

It's voiceless.

You're not using your voice. No vibration in your throat.

You're just going to push out some air.

You put your tongue against your top teeth

and you push out some air.

/t/

Please repeat after me.

/t/

/t/

/t/

Let's practice with the word ‘ten’.

Please repeat after me.

‘ten’

‘ten’

‘ten’

Good.

And now moving on to the /d/ sound.

The tongue is in the same place

as with the /t/ sound.

It's actually the same

but this /d/ sound is voiced.

You're going to use your voice

and your throat is going to vibrate.

So you put your tongue against your top teeth

but this time you don't push out some air

you produce a sound.

So, /d/.

Please repeat after me.

/d/

/d/

/d/

Let's practice with the word ‘den’.

Please repeat after me.

‘den’

‘den’

‘den’

Great.

Let's now practice using minimal pairs.

These words that are almost the same

but the sounds are different.

They're very good if you want to focus on

the differences between the sounds.

First let's focus on the sounds themselves.

Watch my mouth - repeat after me, please.

First the /t/ sound.

/t/

/t/

/t/

Now the /d/ sound.

/d/

/d/

/d/

Let's now do both. Please repeat after me.

/t/

/d/

/t/

/d/

/t/

/d/

Just a trick.

The /t/ sound is voiceless.

The /d/ sound is voiced.

If you really want to make sure that you can do it properly,

what you can do is you put your hand in front of your mouth…

If it's voiceless, it means that you're going to push out some air.

And you're going to feel some air on your hands.

/t/

You can actually feel the air on your hand.

If it's voiced, you won't.

But if it's voiced, if you put your hands on your throat, you can feel the vibration,

okay.

So you can do that to make sure that you pronounce correctly.

Let's now move on to our words.

Please repeat after me.

‘ten’

‘den’

‘ten’

‘den’

‘ten’

‘den’

Great job, guys.

Okay, guys.

Time to go through minimal pairs together.

Please watch how I move my mouth and repeat after me.

Let's go.

tab

dab

tail

dale

tame

dame

tamp

damp

tank

dank

tart

dart

teal

deal

team

deem

tear

dear

tech

deck

teed

deed

teen

dean

tell

dell

tent

dent

tick

Dick

tied

died

tie

die

tier

deer

till

dill

tin

din

tine

dine

tint

dint

tip

dip

tire

dire

to

do

toast

dosed

tock

dock

toe

doe

toes

dose

tomb

doom

ton

done

tongue

dung

torn

dawn

tote

dote

touch

Dutch

tough

duff

tout

doubt

town

down

train

drain

tresses

dresses

try

dry

tub

dub

tuck

duck

tug

dug

tummy

dummy

tusk

dusk

tux

ducks

tike

dike

tyre

dire

two

do

Great, guys.

Time now to practice with sentences

containing these consonant sounds.

Sentence number one:

‘Just dip the tip.’

Please repeat after me.

‘Just dip the tip.’

Sentence two:

‘The dummy hurt his tummy.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The dummy hurt his tummy.’

And finally:

‘Try to dry and drain the wet train.’

Please repeat after me.

‘Try to dry and drain the wet train.’

Good job.

Let's move on.

Let's now move on to listening practice.

I'm now going to show you two words.

I will say one of the two words,

and I want you to listen very carefully

and to tell me

if this word is, ‘a)’ or ‘b)’

Let's get started.

Let's start with our first two words.

Which word do I say?

‘a’ or ‘b’?

Listen.

‘tyre’

One more time.

‘tyre’

Word ‘a’, ‘tyre’.

‘b’ is ‘dire’.

What about this one?

‘dry’

‘dry’

It's word ‘b’ guys, ‘dry’.

Word ‘a’ is ‘try’.

‘dank’

‘dank’

It's word ‘b’, ‘dank’.

‘a’ is ‘tank’.

‘team’

‘team’

It's answer ‘a’, ‘team’.

‘b’ is ‘deem’.

Listen.

‘tear’

‘tear’

Is it ‘a’ or is it ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, ‘tear’.

‘b’ is ‘dear’.

‘dart’

‘dart’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘dart’.

‘a’ is ‘tart’.

‘tub’

‘tub’

Answer ‘a’ is correct, ‘tub’.

‘b’ is ‘dub’.

‘duck’

‘duck’

It's word ‘b’, ‘duck’.

Word ‘a’ is pronounced ‘tuck’.

‘tie’

‘tie’

‘a’ is correct guys, ‘tie’.

‘b’ would be ‘die’.

Finally.

Listen to me.

‘dung’

‘dung’

It's answer ‘b’, ‘dung’.

‘a’ is ‘tongue’.

Great job guys.

You now have a better understanding

of these two consonant sounds in English.

The /t/ and the /d/.

Obviously, you need to keep practicing.

It takes a lot of practice to master those sounds

but you can do it.

You will be able to pronounce them correctly

and you will train your ear

to hear the different sounds.

Make sure you watch my other pronunciation videos as well

if you want to improve your English skills.

See you next time.