Practice Your English Pronunciation final /t/ vs /d/ Sounds | Course #27

And in this video,

I'm going to focus on two final consonant sounds.

The sounds /t/ and /d/.

They can be confusing.

They sound quite the same but they are different.

And they are very important sounds in English

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

Let's take two example words first.

My first word is the word ‘bat’

with a final /t/ sound.

‘bat’

It's different from my second word.

‘bad'

With a final /d/ sound.

‘bad’

So, ‘bat’, ‘bad’

Can you hear the difference?

Well practice with me.

By the end of this video,

you will hear the difference

and you will be able to pronounce these sounds correctly.

Let's get started.

Before we get into the final consonant sounds ‘t’ /t/ and ‘d’ /d/ in English,

always check the I.P.A spelling, guys.

It's very useful.

You can also watch how I move my mouth.

And always remember to repeat after me.

You can make these sounds.

Let's do it together.

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

It's a voiceless sound.

You're not going to use your voice.

No vibration in the throat.

What you're going to do is -

you're going to place your tongue against your top teeth,

and you're going to push out some air, okay.

/t/

Please repeat after me.

/t/

Let's practice with the word ‘bat’.

Please repeat after me.

‘bat’

Great.

And now moving on to the final /d/ sound.

It's exactly the same.

Same position of the tongue.

Same thing but you're not going to push out some air.

This time, you're going to use your voice.

You're going to make a sound, okay.

So, /d/.

Please repeat after me.

/d/

Let's practice with the word, 'bad'.

Please repeat after me.

‘bad’

Good.

Let's now practice with minimal pairs.

The words are almost the same

but the sound is different.

They're very good if you want to focus on the different sounds in English.

First let's practice the sounds.

The /t/ sound.

/t/

Repeat after me.

/t/

And now the /d/ sound.

Please repeat after me.

/d/

Let's do it together. Now, remember, guys.

Don't forget the trick…

You know the hand…

When you say /t/,

you've got to feel some air on your hand.

When you say /d/, no air, okay.

So make sure that you pronounce them correctly.

So… /t/

/d/

/t/

/d/

/t/

/d/

Let's now use our words.

Please repeat after me.

‘bat’

‘bad’

‘bat’

‘bad’

‘bat’

‘bad’

Great.

Okay, students.

Let's now review minimal pairs together.

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

ant

and

at

add

beat

bead

bent

bend

bet

bed

blurt

blurred

bought

board

bright

bride

but

bud

cart

card

cat

cad

clot

clod

cot

cod

cute

queued

debt

dead

eight

aid

faint

feigned

fat

fad

fate

fade

feet

feed

float

flowed

font

fond

gloat

glowed

goat

goad

got

god

grit

grid

hat

had

haunt

horned

heart

hard

heat

heed

height

hide

hit

hid

hurt

heard

kit

kid

mat

mad

meant

mend

meat

mead

moat

mode

mount

mound

neat

need

not

nod

oat

owed

pant

panned

pat

pad

peat

peed

pert

purred

plate

played

plot

plod

port

poured

pot

pod

punt

punned

quit

quid

root

rude

sat

sad

scant

scanned

sent

send

set

said

sheet

she’d

slight

slide

slit

slid

sight

side

site

sighed

skit

skid

spent

spend

spite

spied

spurt

spurred

state

stayed

stunt

stunned

sought

sawed

tart

tarred

tent

tend

tight

tied

tint

tinned

trot

trod

weight

weighed

write

ride

Excellent, guys.

Okay, students.

It's now time to practice with sentences

containing our consonant sounds.

My first sentence is:

‘The cat was tied tight.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The cat was tied tight.’

Second sentence:

‘I am fond of that font.’

Please repeat after me.

‘I am fond of that font.’

And finally:

‘The bright bride and the cute groom queued.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The bright bride and the cute groom queued.’

Perfect, guys.

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?

Word ‘a’ or word ‘b’?

Listen very carefully, guys.

‘heard’

One more time.

‘heard’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

What do you think?

‘b’ is the right answer, ‘heard’.

The word ‘a’ is ‘hurt’.

Listen to me.

‘kit’

‘kit’

‘a’ is correct, ‘kit’.

‘b’ is ‘kid’.

‘ride’

‘ride’

The correct answer is ‘b’ guys, ‘ride’.

The answer ‘a’ would be ‘write’.

‘skit’

‘skit’

‘a’ is correct, ‘skit’.

‘b’ is ‘skid’.

Listen.

‘cute’

‘cute’

‘a’ ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, ‘cute’.

‘b’ is ‘queued’.

‘dead’

‘dead’

‘b’ is correct, ‘dead’

‘a’ is .debt’.

‘aid’

‘aid’

‘b’ as well, ‘aid’.

‘a’ is ‘eight’.

‘spend’

‘spend’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘spend’ ‘a’ is ‘spent’

‘cart’

‘cart’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, ‘cart’.

‘b’ is ‘card’.

And finally.

‘weighed’

‘weighed’

‘b’ is correct guys, ‘weighed’.

‘a’ is pronounced ‘wait’.

Great practice students.

You now understand these final consonant sounds in English.

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

Please keep practicing.

It takes a lot of speaking

and listening practice to be able to master these sounds

but you can do it.

You will be able to pronounce them correctly

and you will hear the differences between the sounds

because you will train your ear as well.

And obviously, watch my other pronunciation videos.

I promise you they will help you improve your skills.

See you next time.