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/t/as in “top”

Consonant

How to pronounce /t/ in English

The /t/ sound is an alveolar, voiceless, stop consonant.

  • Voiceless
  • Stop
  • Alveolar

Note: Depending on its position in a word, /t/ is pronounced with a strong or slight puff of air, or without one at all.

Example words

Common mistakes

-ed endings

  • You added a syllable: "walk-id". After any sound except /t/ and /d/, -ed is just a consonant.

How to practise

  1. Decide which of the three sounds the ending takes, using the table.
  2. Only after /t/ or /d/ does -ed add a syllable. "Walked" is one syllable, not "walk-ed".
  3. Before a vowel, link the ending to the next word: "asked_about".

Easily confused words

  • walk · walked
  • play · played
  • want · wanted
  • stop · stopped
  • need · needed

Final clusters

  • A vowel slipped in between the consonants. Keep the whole cluster in one syllable.

How to practise

  1. Split the cluster and practise the parts: "desk" = "des" + "k".
  2. Join them again slowly, then speed up.
  3. Do not put a vowel between the consonants: "desk", never "des-kuh".

Easily confused words

  • guess · guest
  • miss · mist
  • ban · band
  • Ben · bend
  • bus · bust

N or NG, T or K

  • /n/ came out as /ŋ/: "thin" became "thing". Finish with the tongue tip up, not the back of the tongue.
  • /ŋ/ came out as /n/: "thing" became "thin". Keep the tip down and close with the back of the tongue.
  • /t/ came out as /k/: "bat" became "back". Close with the tongue tip.
  • /k/ came out as /t/. Close with the back of the tongue.

How to practise

  1. /n/ and /t/ use the tongue tip on the ridge behind your top teeth.
  2. /ŋ/ and /k/ use the back of the tongue against the soft palate, with the tip resting low.
  3. Check in a mirror: for /n/ you can see your tongue tip behind your top teeth.

Easily confused words

  • thin · thing
  • ran · rang
  • win · wing
  • bat · back
  • sit · sick

P, T, K puff

  • There was no puff, so it sounded like /b d g/. Push a short burst of air out as you open.

How to practise

  1. At the start of a stressed syllable, English /p t k/ come with a puff of air: [pʰ tʰ kʰ].
  2. Hold a thin piece of paper in front of your mouth: it should move on "pie", "tie", "kite".
  3. Without the puff, listeners hear /b d g/.

Easily confused words

  • pie · buy
  • pear · bear
  • tie · die
  • time · dime
  • coat · goat
  • cold · gold

Opening clusters

  • A vowel slipped in between the consonants. Glide straight from one to the next.

How to practise

  1. Build the word from the end of the cluster: "eat" → "treat" → "street".
  2. Keep the whole cluster in one syllable, with no gap between the consonants.
  3. Never add a vowel at the front or in the middle: "street", not "suh-treet".

Easily confused words

  • pay · play
  • rain · train
  • port · sport
  • cool · school
  • top · stop

Practise /t/ with Letty

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