How to Pronounce D and DG Consonant Sounds | Learn English Pronunciation Course

Today, we are going to focus on two important English consonant sounds.

The /d/ sound and the /ʤ/ sound.

They may be confusing because they sound very similar but they are different.

And I want you to be able to hear the difference and to be able to pronounce them correctly.

So let's take two example words.

The first word is the word ‘dog’.

It's a very simple ‘d’ sound. ‘dog’

The second word is ‘jog’.

It's a /ʤ/ sound. ‘jog’

So ‘dog’,

‘jog’

I hope you can hear the difference.

Keep on watching. We're going to practice together.

And I promise you by the end of the video, you will understand the difference

and you will pronounce these two sounds correctly.

So let's get started.

Before we learn about the consonant sounds /d/ and /ʤ/ in English,

please try to know about the I.P.A spelling.

It's very important.

Also you can watch how I move my mouth

and obviously always try to repeat after me in this video.

Very important as well.

You can do this, guys. Let's do it together.

First, let's learn how to make the /d/ sound in English.

It's a voiced sound. You're going to use your voice - feel the vibration in your throat.

What you do is, you put your tongue behind your top teeth.

And you make your throat vibrate, you use your voice and you produce a sound.

/d/ Okay.

Please repeat after me.

/d/

Let's practice with the word ‘dog’.

Please repeat after me.

‘dog’

Good.

Let's now move on to the /ʤ/ sound.

It's voiced as well. You're also going to use your voice and feel the vibration in your throat.

But this time, your teeth should touch each other.

And you're going to place your tongue up there and it's not going to move.

And you're going to produce a sound. /ʤ/

Okay.

Please repeat after me.

/ʤ/

Let's use the word ‘jog’.

Please repeat after me.

‘jog’

Great.

Let's now practice minimal pairs.

These words are almost the same but the sounds are different.

They're very useful if you want to hear the different sounds in English.

First let's focus on our two sounds.

Please watch my mouth repeat after me.

/d/

/ʤ/

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

/d/

/ʤ/

/d/

/ʤ/

/d/

/ʤ/

Let's now use our words.

Please repeat after me.

‘dog’

‘jog’

‘dog’

‘jog’

‘dog’

‘jog’

Great job.

Okay, guys. We're now going to go through minimal pairs together.

Please remember to watch my mouth and to repeat after me.

bad

badge

barred

barge

bud

budge

charred

charge

dab

jab

dale

jail

dam

jam

dangle

jangle

day

jay

deans

jeans

deer

jeer

debt

jet

deep

jeep

dell

gel

dig

jig

dim

gym

din

gin

dissed

gist

dive

jive

do

Jew

dock

jock

door

jaw

dot

jot

doused

joust

dread

dredge

dug

jug

dump

jump

dunk

junk

dust

just

ford

forge

gored

gorge

head

hedge

led

ledge

mid

midge

paid

page

pled

pledge

purred

purge

raid

rage

rid

ridge

seed

siege

sled

sledge

wed

wedge

weighed

wage

Great, guys.

Well, guys. Time now to practice with sentences containing our consonant sounds.

First sentence:

‘The gym is dim.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The gym is dim.’

Sentence number two:

‘Her jeep drove in deep mud.’

Please repeat after me.

‘Her jeep drove in deep mud.’

And finally:

‘It's just dust on the desk.’

Please repeat after me.

‘It's just dust on the desk.’

Excellent. 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.

‘dunk’

One more time.

‘dunk’

It's word ‘a’ of course, ‘dunk’.

‘b’ would be ‘junk’.

What about this one?

‘wage’ ‘wage’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘wage’.

‘a’ is weighed.

‘purge’ ‘purge’

is ‘b’

‘a’ is ‘purred’.

Listen to me.

‘head’ ‘head’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘a’, ‘head’

‘b’ is ‘hedge’.

‘dive’ ‘dive’

It's ‘a’, ‘dive’.

‘b’ is ‘jive’.

‘jangle’ ‘jangle’

is ‘b’ guys, ‘jangle’.

‘a’ would be ‘dangle’.

What about this one?

‘bud’ ‘bud’

It's ‘a’, bud.

‘b’ is ‘budge’.

Listen to me.

‘barge’ ‘barge’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘barge’

‘a’ is ‘barred’.

‘dust’ ‘dust’

It's answer ‘a’, ‘dust’.

‘b’ is ‘just’.

Our last two words. Listen to me.

‘forge’ ‘forge’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘forge’.

‘a’ is pronounced ‘ford’.

That was excellent guys.

You now have a better understanding of the two consonant sounds /d/ and /ʤ/ in English.

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

but you can do it.

Keep practicing.

Keep training your ear to hear the differences between the sounds.

And obviously watch my other pronunciation videos.

I promise you they will help you improve your skills.

See you next time.

Thank you so much for watching, guys.

If you've liked it, show me your support,

click ‘like’, subscribe to the channel,

put your comments below, and share this video.

See you.