How to Pronounce the “Th” Sound
The most challenging sound I get asked for help about is the “Th” sound. And what you’re about to read is going against popular belief and teaching. 🤪 It may assist with you relaxing more about this fabulous sound in American English. That’s my goal. It’s to help you reduce your stress about speaking English and teach you how to gain more confidence speaking English at work.
The first point is no one will EVER ask you which “Th” sound you voiced: voiced or voiceless. It’s a subtle difference between the two sounds. (place a video link here about voiced and voiceless sounds) If you can master the tongue position, you’ll be fine.
Thankfully, you have two options on how to pronounce the “Th” more easily: Option 1 is to stick the tip of your tongue between your teeth or option 2 is to place it right behind your upper teeth. Do not place the tip of your tongue on your alveolar ridge. The alveolar ridge is the arch directly behind your upper teeth. Before I ask you to record yourself, I need to mention one quick tip: If you want to produce the sound behind your upper teeth, then the tip of your tongue needs to be toward the bottom of your upper teeth.
You’re going to be speaking all fancy and everything. And that’s giving me the chills knowing your speaking skills will improve from practicing with me today.
Record yourself producing the Th between your teeth and then produce the “Th” by placing the tip of your tongue behind your upper teeth, but not on your alveolar ridge.
I didn’t come up with the latter tip. I heard it on American English Pronunciation Podcast.
Voiced “Th” Sound
Warning ⚠️
If you skip the step on sticking the tip of your tongue through your upper teeth or right behind your upper teeth, it’ll produce a different sound. You have to do one of these options in order to say it correctly. Let’s cover how to accomplish both of these. The first method, you’ll need to blow air over your tongue. This air will flow through the center of your tongue and not from the sides.
Steps to follow:
Place tip of your tongue through your teeth
Blow air through the center of your tongue
Use your voice
In the past, I never gave minimal pairs the time of day! I didn’t grasp the significance of practicing with these. Taking your time with minimal pairs makes you slow down and utilize the correct muscles or tongue movement in order to nail this sound.
Minimal pairs provide a purpose for helping you see the subtle difference between two words. Minimal paris are two words with a minor deviation in the first sound of the words. The deviation can occur in the initial or in the final position. (link detailed video about minimal pairs here)
Minimal pairs for voiced “Th”🔥
Voice these below:
/d/ /th/
Dough Though
Dan Than
Dirty Thirty
Dat That
You see what I mean? Pay attention to details such as where you’re placing your tongue. Down below, I wrote some real words gone bad.
Real words that are flawed:
Weather ❌ Weader
Bathing Suit ❌ Bading Suit
You’ve just said them, but they’re not in the American dictionary. If you don’t want to slip up and make the “D” sound, your tongue can’t touch your alveolar ridge. The reason why I use the “D” sound for mistakes is because it’s the sound that substituted for the voice “Th” sound in English. And I’m looking out for you as much as possible! You came here to get an understanding and you’re one step closer to voicing this sound in a way that’ll receive a chef’s kiss.
Voice less “Th"
The voiceless ‘Th” means you need to make the sound without using your voice. And non-native English speakers generally replace this sound with the “T” sound. One thing to remember before you begin comparing this list for the minimal pairs is that you must practice sticking your tongue out. Pay attention when it comes out to far and how that adjust the sound when it’s produced.
Play around with these words until your ears perk up and you love how smooth it sounds when you say these words.
Minimal Pairs for the voiceless “Th”:
/t/ /th/
Pat Path
Fort Fourth
Tug Thug
Torn Thorn
In order to produce this sound you need to:
1. Place tip of your tongue through your teeth
2. Blow air through the center of your tongue
3. Leave your voice off
To end the lesson, I posted a chart for you to practice more voiceless ‘Th” words individually.
This lesson may seem babyish, but one thing you need is a solid foundation with English sounds before you start presenting in meetings and getting your first speaking engagement. Most language learners believe it’s best to begin learning a long list of vocabulary, but I believe that’s a mistake. You need to understand the sounds in that specific language otherwise you’ll find yourself messing up often during conversations.
If you need someone to give you advice about this sound, I am right here. You can go to my homepage and send me audio up to one minute to get feedback. You can expect a response up to two business days once it has been submitted. And that’s all done for free. You can’t tell me that’s not a fabulous deal!!
Cheers to improving your pronunciation in 2024!🥂
LaDoris
American Pronunciation Coach🎙️
