/ɑ:/ vs /ɜ:/ | Learn English Pronunciation Course #8 | Practice Minimal Pairs

Hello, students. This is fanny. Welcome to this English pronunciation video.

In today's video, I'm gonna focus on two important vowel sounds in English.

/ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/

They are very very important,

and they actually sound differently although they sound similar.

So let's take two example words.

The first word is ‘far’.

Can you hear this very deep sound /ɑ:/ ?

‘far’

And the second word is ‘fur’.

Can you hear the /ɜ:/ sound?

‘fur’

So ‘far’ and ‘fur’.

Now I know they sound very similar, but they are different.

And if you keep practicing with me, by the end of this video,

I promise you will hear and pronounce them correctly.

So keep watching.

Get ready, students.

I'm gonna help you make these sounds /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/ in English.

Because I want you to be able to hear the difference

and to pronounce them correctly.

It's important also to know the IPA spelling.

Always watch how I move my mouth.

And always repeat after me.

You can do this. So let's get started.

First, Let's learn how to make the sound, /ɑ:/

Now as you can see, when I say /ɑ:/, my mouth is round.

My tongue and my chin are very low. And it's a long sound.

It's very deep.

/ɑ:/

Please repeat after me.

/ɑ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɑ:/

Let's practice with the word, ‘far’.

Repeat after me.

‘far’

‘far’

‘far’

The sound /ɜ:/ is also a long vowel sound, very deep.

But my tongue is in the middle area of my mouth.

Repeat after me.

/ɜ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɜ:/

Let's practice with the word, ‘fur’.

Repeat after me.

‘fur’

‘fur’

‘fur’

Let's take minimal pairs these words that sound very similar,

but the vowel sounds are different.

Very good way to practice our vowel sounds.

First, just the sounds. Repeat after me,

and always watch how my mouth moves.

/ɑ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɜ:/

/ɑ:/

/ɜ:/

Let's now take two words, ‘far’ and ‘fur’.

Repeat after me.

‘far’

‘far’

‘far’

‘fur’

‘fur’

‘fur’

‘far’

‘fur’

‘far’

‘fur’

‘far’

‘fur’

Good guys.

Okay, guys. Let's now read minimal pairs together.

Now be careful watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

Let's get going.

‘ark’

‘irk’

‘bard’

‘bird’

‘bar’

‘burr’

‘barn’

‘burn’

‘bath’

‘birth’

‘blah’

‘blur’

‘card’

‘curd’

‘cart’

‘curt’

‘carve’

‘curve’

‘dart’

‘dirt’

‘far’

‘fir’

‘farm’

‘firm’

‘fast’

‘first’

‘guard’

‘gird’

‘ha’

‘her’

‘hard’

‘heard’

‘heart’

‘hurt’

‘parched’

‘perched’

‘pass’

‘purse’

‘pa’

‘per’

‘par’

‘purr’

‘park’

‘perk’

‘part’

‘pert’

‘sarge’

‘surge’

‘shark’

‘shirk’

‘star’

‘stir’

‘quark’

‘quirk’

Good guys. Let's move on.

Okay, guys. Let's continue practicing. I'm now gonna show you some words,

and I want you to read them with the proper vowel sound,

/ɑ:/ or /ɜ:/.

Let's get to it.

Let's start with our first word.

Do you say /bɑ:d/ or /bɜ:d/ ?

/bɜ:d/

Next word,

/pɑ:k/ or /pɜ:k/ ?

/pɜ:k/

Next word, /pɑ:t/ or /pɜ:t/ ?

It’s /pɑ:t/

Next word,

/kɑ:v/ or /kɜ:v/ ?

/kɜ:v/

Next word,

/stɑ:/ or /stɜ:/ ?

/stɑ:/

Then we have

/pɑ:s/ or /pɜ:s/ ?

It’s /pɑ:s/

Next word,

/hɑ:/ or /hɜ:/ ?

It’s /hɜ:/

Next word,

/pɑ:s/ or /pɜ:s/ ?

/pɜ:s/, of course.

Next word, /pɑ:k/ or /pɜ:k/ ?

Yes, this time it's /pɑ:k/.

And finally,

/stɑ:/ or /stɜ:/ ?

It’s /stɜ:/

That was so good, guys.

Let's continue on.

Okay, students.

Let's move on to sentences containing the sounds /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/ in English.

Pay attention and repeat after me.

Our first sentence is,

‘The bird was hurt in the park.’

Second sentence,

‘The heart beats hard and fast.’

And finally,

‘The barn burned on the farm.’

Excellent, students. Let's continue on.

That was excellent, guys.

You now have a better understanding

of these two English vowel sounds

/ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/.

Keep practicing. It takes a lot of speaking and listening

and some time to master these vowel sounds, but you can do it.

Also you can watch my other pronunciation videos.

They're really helpful if you want to improve your English skills.

So see you next time.

Thank you so much for watching my video, guys.

If you liked it, please show me your support. Click ‘like’, subscribe to the channel.

Put your comments below and share the video. See you!