This is the “Sounds American” channel.

In this video we’re going to talk about the American consonant sound /θ/,

as in the word “think.”

You can also hear this sound in words like

“thank,”

“bath,”

“author”

or “three.”

We’ll be using a special phonetic symbol - /θ/ - for this sound.

The English /θ/ sound occurs in very few world languages,

so it’s unfamiliar to the majority of non-native speakers.

Many non-native speakers often distort it or replace it with more familiar sounds,

such as /s/, /t/ or /f/.

Fortunately, this sound is not that hard to make.

Once you learn how to do it, it’s just a matter of practice.

So, let’s find out how to make the /θ/ sound.

This sound is all about the tip of your tongue.

Slightly open your mouth and put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth.

Note that the tip of your tongue may gently touch the bottom of your upper front teeth.

Now blow air over your tongue

making a noise with friction.

The stream of air should flow between your upper teeth and your tongue.

Note that the /θ/ is a voiceless fricative sound.

This means that it’s made from friction in the stream of air,

but not with your voice.

Let’s try saying it:

/θ/

/θ/

/θ/

Here are a few typical mistakes

that people make when pronouncing the /θ/ sound:

One

Keeping the mouth closed or “biting” the bottom lip.

The /θ/ gets distorted and sounds more like the /f/.

Make sure your mouth is slightly open and that your upper teeth don’t touch your lower lip.

Two.

Not pushing the tongue forward enough

or pressing the tongue against the upper front teeth.

This way you’ll make a sound in between the /s/, /z/ and the /θ/.

Put the tip of your tongue between your upper and bottom front teeth.

Three.

Stopping the airflow with the tip of the tongue.

The /θ/ gets distorted and sounds more like /t/ or /d/.

/θ/ is a continuous sound; so keep the airstream flowing.

You should be able to stretch out the /θ/.

like this:

/θ-θ-θ- θ/.

Now, let’s practice the /θ/ sound in some words.

You’ll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation.

Like this.

You’ll have a few seconds to pronounce the word.

[signal prompt to start speaking]

To achieve the best results,

repeat each word after the speaker

and try to practice as many words as possible.

Let’s begin.

Let’s pause for a second and check on how you’re making the /θ/ sound.

The tip of your tongue should be between your front teeth.

The sound is made from friction in the stream of air

flowing between your tongue and the teeth.

Let’s continue practicing.

You’re done! Congratulations!

Did you know that the combination of the letters “th”

may actually represent two sounds:

the voiceless consonant sound /θ/, as in the word “think,”

and the voiced consonant sound /ð/, as in the word “there”?

Here’s how you can check which sound to use:

“th” sounds as /θ/ at the beginning or at the end of the stem of content words.

For example, “theater,” or “health.”

“th” sounds as /ð/ at the beginning of function words.

For example, “this.”

Or between vowels in content words,

for example, “breathe.”

We’ll talk more about the voiced /ð/ sound in one of our future videos.

Don’t be shy, leave us a comment if you have any questions.

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