Practice Your English Pronunciation /f/ vs th /θ/ Sounds | Course #21

Hello, guys.

My name is F@nny.

Welcome to this English pronunciation video.

In this video,

we are going to talk about

two very confusing consonant sounds -

The /f/ sound and the th /θ/ sound.

So /f/ and /θ/.

Now I know they may sound very similar

but they are actually different.

And they are two very important sounds

in the English language

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

Let's start with two example words.

The first example word that I have is ‘fin’ with an /f/ sound.

‘fin’

The second word is slightly different.

It's ‘thin’.

It's a th /θ/ sound.

‘thin’

So ‘fin’ and ‘thin’.

I know they may sound very similar but they are different.

We are going to practice together

and I promise you by the end of this video,

you will hear the difference.

Let's keep watching.

Before we learn about the consonant sounds /f/ and /θ/ in English,

you should know about the I.P.A spelling.

It's very important.

You can also watch me and how I move my mouth.

And obviously always try to repeat after me, guys.

I know you can make those sounds.

Let's do it now.

First, let's practice how to make the /f/ sound in English.

It's unvoiced.

So you're not going to use your voice.

No vibration in your throat.

You're going to put your teeth against your lower lip

and you're going to push out some air

through your teeth and your lower lip.

So… /f/

Please watch my mouth, repeat after me.

/f/

Let's practice with the word ‘fin’.

Repeat after me.

‘fin’

Good.

And now, let's learn how to produce the th /θ/ sound in English.

th /θ/

It's unvoiced.

No voice. No vibration in the throat, okay.

And what you're going to do is

you're going to put your tongue between your teeth

and push out some air.

/θ/

Please repeat after me.

/θ/

Let's practice with the word ‘thin’.

Please repeat after me.

‘thin’

Great, guys.

Let's now practice with minimal pairs.

These words that are very similar

but the sounds are actually different.

Super useful if you really want to hear the difference between two sounds.

First, let's focus on our sounds.

Please watch my mouth and repeat after me.

First, the /f/ sound.

/f/

And now the th /θ/ sounds.

/θ/

Now do both. Please repeat after me.

/f/

/θ/

/f/

/θ/

/f/

/θ/

And now let's take our words.

Please repeat after me.

‘fin’

‘thin’

‘fin’

‘thin’

‘fin’

‘thin’

Great.

Okay, students.

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

And I want you to look at how I move my mouth

and to repeat after me.

Let's go through this.

deaf

death

first

thirst

for

thaw

fort

thought

fought

thought

four

thaw

free

three

freeze

threes

fresh

thresh

frill

thrill

fro

throw

froze

throws

fret

threat

fug

thug

furred

third

oaf

oath

Very good, guys.

Okay, guys.

Time to practice with a few sentences containing our consonant sounds.

The first sentence is:

‘Get three free samples.’

Repeat after me.

‘Get three free samples.’

The second sentence:

‘I thought they fought.’

Please repeat after me.

‘I thought they fought.’

And finally:

‘Don't fret because there's no threat.’

Repeat after me.

‘Don't fret because there's no threat.’

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.

Let's start with our first words.

Word ‘a’, word ‘b’.

Which one do I say?

Listen to me.

‘furred’

One more time.

‘furred’

Is it ‘a’ or is it ‘b’?

It's ‘a’ guys, ‘furred’ with an ‘f’.

‘b’ would be ‘third’.

What about now? Listen to me.

‘froze’

It's ‘a’.

‘b’ is ‘throws’.

‘death’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘b’, ‘death’.

‘a’ would be pronounced ‘deaf’.

Listen to me.

‘thrill’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘thrill’.

‘a’ is ‘frill’.

Now which one do I say?

‘thirst’

It's answer ‘b’, ‘thirst’.

‘a’ is ‘first’.

What about this one?

‘fro’

It's ‘a’ guys, ‘fro’.

‘b’ is ‘throw’.

‘free’

It's answer ‘a’, ‘free’.

‘b’ is ‘three’.

Listen to me.

‘thought’

‘a’ or ‘b’?

It's ‘b’, ‘thought’.

‘a’ would be ‘fought’.

Now listen to me.

‘freeze’

It's answer ‘a’.

‘b’ is ‘threes’.

Finally.

‘oath’

It's ‘b’ guys, ‘oath’.

‘a’ would be ‘oaf’.

Great, guys.

You now understand these two different consonant sounds.

The /f/ sound and the th /θ/ sound in English.

Of course it takes a lot more practice to master these sounds,

so keep practicing.

You'll be able to pronounce these sounds correctly in a very short time

and you will train 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.