Because English is NOT a phonetic language, a word isn’t always pronounced the way it is spelled. This is partially because English has adapted words from many languages and made them part of English. Words can have the same spelling and different pronunciations (homophones), and words can have different spellings and the same pronunciation. (homonyms).
Desert is a homophone:
If you get lost in the desert, you may never survive. (DEZ-ert: an arid area)
Only cowards desert in the face of trouble. (de-ZERT: to abandon)
Meet/meat are homonyms.
I would like you to meet my mother. (MEET: to get to know, to make the acquaintance of)
Did you put plenty of meat in the stew? (MEET: the edible flesh of animals, birds, fish)
There are several letter sounds in English that may be difficult for non-native speakers to master. It isn't always easy to train your mouth and lips and tongue to make new sounds, but if you practice and practice, you will find it will become easier. We will try to help you in this lesson, but working with a native speaker--listening and repeating the sounds aloud is the best way to learn. When you are practicing, try to picture how your mouth and lips and tongue will form the sound. Listen for the intonation and stress on words and phrases when you are hearing English.
"T" really has four sounds depending on where it is in the word. Be careful and don't assume that if a word has a 't' in it that it will be pronounced the same as every other 't'. English isn't a phonetic language. That means that the spelling of a word isn't always a good indication on how the word is pronounced.
"T" pronounced as "T":
1. At the beginning of a word 't' has a sharp sound.
Table, talk, terrible, toy.
Terry taught tennis to Tom.
2. In combination with 's', 'c', 'r', 'l', and sometimes 'n', there is also that sharp, clear 't' sound.
Stop, construct, melt.
Stanley went to most current trainings.
3. With the past tense of some verbs, the 'ed' ending is pronounced as 't' (See "ed" endings.) This happens after an unvoiced consonant sound such as f, k, p, s, ch, sh, gh (when it has an 'f' sound)
kicked, rinsed, poofed, matched, hushed, hopped, laughed (Pronounced kickt, rinst, pooft, matcht, husht, hopt, laught)
"T" pronounced as "D":
1. When a 't' or a double 't' is in the middle of a word, or even a small 2-word phrase, you pronounce it as 'd'.
Better, wetter, got a, taught a, bit of, butter, lot of, crater, greeting. (Pronounced bedder, wedder, goda, taughda, bidof, budder, lodof, crader, greeding)
The kitty caught a fly. (The kiddy caughda fly.)
Please fill the bottle with water and give it to Betty. (Please fill the bod'l with wader and give it to Beddy)
"T" is silent:
1. When a word ends in 't', it is sometimes hard to hear the 't' sound.
Sat, pot, bought, gut, flat, pit, that, get.
What had Pat bought at the thrift shop? (remember that after an 'f' sound, the 't' is very clear)
2. When 'n' and 't' are close together in a word, the 't' will often not be heard because the position of the tongue and mouth are so much the same for these two sounds.
percentage (percen'j)
interstate (innerstate)
"T" is held:
This isn't exactly a 't'. When you have a 'tten' and 'tain' in a word, and sometimes 'tn', you don't make the sharp 't' sound. Because your mouth and tongue are so much the same when pronouncing 'n' and 't', the 't' sound almost disappears
Curtain, rotten, satin, bitten, gotten. (curt'n, rot'n, sat'n, bit'n, got'n)
Lissa has written to her friend today.
The satin dress was so old that it was rotten.
Tartan is a Scottish plaid. My kitten has a tartan blanket.
“THE” is the most common word in English, so it is important that you can pronounce the ‘th’ sound clearly. This sound doesn’t exist in some languages, so it can be tricky to learn. Many English pronouns, demonstrative adjectives, and some adverbs also begin with ‘th’:
this that these those they them their there then
When pronouncing ‘th’, stick the tip of your tongue between your upper and lower teeth. Keep the tongue stiff and with a quick movement stick it out a little, then draw it back.
Three thousand thistles were stuck in the thick of his thumb.
Thelma Thrip thinks that Thurston Thurley is over there.
When to say ‘thuh’ and when to say ‘thee’
With words beginning in consonant sounds, we pronounce ‘the’ as ‘thuh’, but when the word after ‘the’ begins with a vowel sound, we pronounce ‘the’ as ‘thee’ (long e).
the aardvark is said as thee aardvark
the ego is said as thee ego
the icicle is said as thee icicle
the orangutan is said as thee orangutan
the umbrella is said as thee umbrella
the unicorn is said as thuh unicorn ( begins with a consonant sound: ‘y’)
the horse is said as thuh house (begins with a consonant sound: ‘h’)
the hour is said as thee hour (begins with a vowel sound: ‘o’)
Remember: It is the sound that matters, NOT THE LETTER!
In some languages, especially the Romance languages, the consonant “R” is pronounced by touching the tongue behind the teeth. In American English, 'r' is like a vowel because it is made in the throat without the tongue touching anything. Try this: Open your mouth as if you were at the dentist’s. Say ‘ahhhhhhh’ dropping your jaw. Now without closing your mouth, curl your tongue up slightly. The ‘ahhhh’ changes to ‘r’! You will notice that in American English, some regions do not say the ‘r’ clearly. They might use an ‘ah’ sound. (In Boston, you ‘pahk the cah’. In the Deep South, you might be asked to ‘Pass the sugah.” Some places add ‘r’ to the end of some words. In parts of The East, ‘idea’ becomes ‘idear’.) In most of the country however, the ‘r’ is very strong and easily understood.
Roger Rabbit raided the refrigerator.
Red ribbons wound around the tree.
Rabid raccoons ripped Rob’s recliner.
There are two ways to pronounce ‘L’. When the ‘L’ is at the start or in the middle of a word, the tip of the tongue touches behind the teeth. This shouldn’t be too difficult to pronounce. Much trickier is pronouncing ‘L’ when it is at the end of a word. In some other languages, an ‘L’ is very sharp and short. This isn’t the case in English. To make your ‘L’ sound like a native speaker’s, you need to put a little ‘uh’ sound before it. Sometimes you need a little ‘uh’ sound after it also. TALL is pronounced Ta uh Luh. Since in English a native speaker tends to merge or link words, let this work for you too. If a word ending in ‘L’ is in front of one that begins with a vowel, just run them together: ‘Sheba was a taland (tall and) gracious lady.’
Lulu Lindahl loves Larry Lindgren.
Call a little later, Lilly.
Level our pool over there.