Practice Your English Pronunciation /f/ vs /p/ Sounds | Course #23

In this video,

I’m going to focus on two initial consonant sounds in English.

The ‘f’ sound.

And the ‘p’ sound.

Let’s take two example words.

You'll understand what I mean.

The first word is the word ‘fan’ with an ‘f’ sound.

‘fan’

The second word is ‘pan’ with a ‘p’ sound.

So ‘fan’ and ‘pan’.

I know to some of you they sound very similar,

but they are quite different.

And they are very important sounds in English.

So practice with me

because I want you to be able

to pronounce these sounds correctly.

Let's get started.

Well, guys.

Before we get into the ‘f’ and ‘p’ sounds in English,

remember to check the I.P.A. spelling.

It's very important.

Also you can watch how I move my mouth

and please try to repeat after me when I ask you to.

You can make these sounds, guys.

Let's do it together now.

Let's now practice making this initial ‘f’ consonant sound in English.

So /f/

It's voiceless.

You are not going to use your voice.

No vibration in your throat.

What you're going to do is,

you're going to place your top teeth against your bottom lip,

and you're going to push out some air.

So, /f/.

Please repeat after me.

/f/

Let's practice with the word ‘fan’.

Please repeat after me.

‘fan’

Great.

Moving on now to the ‘p’ sound’.

So, /p/.

So it's voiceless as well.

No voice, no vibration in your throat.

Your lips are going to touch each other

and you're going to push out some air with your lips.

So, /p/.

Please repeat after me.

/p/

Let's use the word ‘pan’.

Please repeat after me, guys.

‘pan’

Great.

Let's now practice using minimal pairs.

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

And they're very useful if you really want to focus

on the difference between sounds in English.

But first, let's focus on our sounds themselves.

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

First, the ‘f’ sound.

/f/

And now the ‘p’ sound.

Repeat after me.

/p/

Let's now do both.

Please repeat after me.

/f/

/p/

/f/

/p/

/f/

/p/

Let's now bring our words.

Please repeat after me.

‘fan’

‘pan’

‘fan’

‘pan’

‘fan’

‘pan’

Great job.

Okay, guys.

Let's now go through minimal pairs together.

Watch how I move my mouth

and please repeat after me.

Let's go.

face

pace

faced

paste

facts

packs

fad

pad

fail

pale

faint

paint

fair

pair

fang

pang

fart

part

fashion

passion

fast

past

fat

pat

fate

pate

fear

peer

feed

peed

feel

peel

feet

peat

felt

pelt

fen

pen

fence

pence

fend

penned

few

pew

fig

pig

file

pile

fill

pill

fin

pin

finch

pinch

find

pined

fine

pine

firm

perm

first

pursed

fit

pit

fix

picks

flak

plaque

flank

plank

fleas

please

flight

plight

fled

pled

flee

plea

fleet

pleat

flop

plop

flume

plume

flunk

plunk

flush

plush

flux

plucks

Excellent, guys.

Time now to practice with sentences using these consonant sounds.

Sentence number one:

‘Put that file on the work pile.’

Please guys repeat after me.

‘Put that file on the work pile.’

Sentence number two :

‘I put the fork in the fresh pork.’

Please repeat after me.

‘I put the fork in the fresh pork.’

And finally:

‘The fit pig ate the fig in the pit.’

Please repeat after me.

‘The fit pig ate the fig in the pit.’

Good job, 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 one do I say?

‘a’ or ‘b’?

Listen to me.

‘fries’

One more time.

‘fries’

Which one is it?

It's ‘a’, ‘fries’.

‘b’ would be pronounced ‘prize’.

What about this one?

‘ply’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘ply’.

‘a’ would be ‘fly’.

‘pour’

It's ‘b’, ‘pour’.

‘a’ would be ‘four’.

‘paid’

Answer ‘a’ is correct, ‘paid’.

‘b’ is ‘fade’.

‘fund’

It's ‘a’, ‘fund’.

‘b’ is ‘punned’.

‘fold’

It's ‘a’, ‘fold’.

‘b’ is ‘polled’.

‘phrase’

It's answer ‘a’ again, ‘phrase’.

‘b’ is ‘praise’.

'funk'

Answer ‘a’, ‘funk’.

‘b’ is ‘punk’.

What about this one?

‘prose’

It's ‘b’, ‘prose’.

‘a’ is ‘froze’.

And finally.

‘per’

is ‘b’, ‘per’.

‘a’ would be ‘fur’.

That was great, guys.

You now have a better understanding of these two initial consonant sounds in English.

The /f/ sound and the /p/ sound.

Keep practicing.

It takes a lot of practice to master these sounds

to be able to pronounce them correctly

and to train your ear to hear the differences.

And obviously watch my other pronunciation videos.

I promise you they will help you improve your skills.

See you next time.