Practice Your English Pronunciation /f/ vs /v/ Sounds | Course #12

In this video, I'm going to focus on two consonant sounds.

The sounds /f/ and /v/.

So the ‘f’ sound and the ‘v’ sound.

They may sound similar but they are actually quite different.

And they are very important sounds in the English language

so I really want you to be able to hear the difference

and pronounce them correctly.

Let's take two example words.

The first word is the word ‘fan’.

Can you hear the /f/ sound?

‘fan’

The second word is ‘van’.

Can you hear the /v/ sound this time?

‘van’.

So ‘fan’ and ‘van’.

I know guys.

They sound really similar, but they are different.

And we're gonna practice together.

By the end of this video, you will be able to pronounce them correctly.

I promise.

So keep watching.

Before learning about the /f/ and /v/ sounds in English,

you need to focus on the IPA spelling.

It's very useful.

You can also watch how I move my mouth, and obviously you need to repeat after me in this video.

I know you can make those sounds guys so let's do it together now.

First, let's produce the /f/sound in English.

What you're going to do is - you're not going to use your voice.

It's a voiceless sound so no vibration in your throat.

You are going to place your teeth against your bottom lip

and you're going to push out some air through your teeth and your bottom lip.

So, /f/.

Okay, please watch my mouth and repeat after me.

/f/

Let's practice with the word ‘fan’.

Repeat after me.

fan

fan

fan

Good.

As for the/v/sound, it's exactly the same as the/f/sound.

But this time, you are going to use your voice.

It's a voiced sound so you are going to feel some vibration.

Okay

So /v/.

Can you please repeat after me.

/v/

Let's practice with the word ‘van’.

Please repeat after me.

van

van

van

Good.

Let's now practice with minimal pairs.

Words that sound very very much alike but the sounds are actually different.

They are very useful if you really want to hear the difference between the two sounds.

First, let's practice producing the sounds themselves.

Please repeat after me.

First, the/f/ sound.

/f/

Now the/v/ sound.

Repeat after me.

/v/

Let's now do both.

Repeat after me, guys.

/f/ /v/

Let's now take our words.

Repeat after me.

fan

van

fan

van

fan

van

Good, guys.

Okay, guys.

Let's now go through minimal pairs together.

Please watch me and how I move my mouth.

And repeat after me.

Let's do this.

belief

believe

calf

carve

fail

veil

fast

vast

fat

vat

fault

vault

fear

veer

fee

V

feel

veal

feign

vein

fender

vendor

ferry

very

file

vile

fine

vine

foul

vowel

grief

grieve

leaf

leave

life

live

proof

prove

safe

save

serf

serve

staff

starve

strife

strive

surf

serve

waif

waive

Great, guys.

Okay, students.

Let's now practice with a few sentences containing these consonant sounds.

The first sentence is, ‘The vendor sold me a new fender.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The vendor sold me a new fender.’

The second sentence.

‘Live a fast and vast life.’

Please repeat after me.

‘Live a fast and vast life.’

Good.

And finally, ‘Save your money in the safe.’

Please repeat after me.

‘Save your money in the safe.’

Good.

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.

So you have two words, ‘a’ and ‘b’.

Now which one do I say?

‘a’ or ‘b’?

Listen.

belief

One more time.

belief

Was this ‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, guys – ‘belief’.

‘b’ would be ‘believe’.

save

save

‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘b’, ‘save’.

‘a’ is ‘safe’.

carve

carve

It's ‘b’, ‘carve’.

‘a’ would be ‘calf’.

Now listen to me.

feel

feel

It's ‘a’, ‘feel’.

‘b’ is ‘veal’.

fender

fender

'a' or 'b'?

It's ‘a’, ‘fender’.

‘b’ would be ‘vendor’.

Listen to me, guys.

very

very

It's ‘b’, ‘very’.

‘a’ is pronounced ‘fairy’.

vine

vine

It's ‘b’, ‘vine’.

‘a’ is ‘fine’.

starve

starve

‘a’, ‘b’ - what do you think guys?

It's ‘b’, ‘starve’.

‘a’ would be pronounced ‘staff’.

strife

strife

It's ‘a’, ‘strife’.

‘b’ is ‘strive’.

And the last two words surf

surf

‘a’ ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, surf.

‘b’ would be ‘serve’.

You now understand the difference between these two consonant sounds.

The /f/ sound and the/v/sound in English.

Of course it takes a lot of listening and speaking practice to master these sounds,

but you can do it.

So keep practicing to be able to pronounce them correctly

and to train your ear to hear the differences between the sounds.

Also make sure to watch my other pronunciation videos

if you want to improve your English skills.

So see you next time.