English Pronunciation, Lesson 20 - F and V Sounds (2024)

EnglishPronunciation, Lesson 20

In English, the Fand Vsounds are often studied together because they are produced in the samepart of the mouth. They both are consonant fricativestoo. What doesthat mean? Read on to find out.

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Consonant Fricatives

A consonantis any letter inthe alphabet that is not a vowel (vowels = a, e, i, o, u). Fricativesareconsonants that are formed by stopping the air flow somewhere in thevocal tract, and then forcing the air through to produce a frictionsound.With the Fand Vsounds, the air is stopped by pushing the bottom lip and top teethtogether. The air is then pushed through to create the sound.

There are 9 fricatives in the English language: v sound, fsound,voiced th sound, unvoiced th sound, z sound, s sound, zh sound, shsound, and h sound. (Wewill discuss these sounds in later lessons.)

The voiceless F sound(IPAsymbol: f) is produced bystopping and releasing air between the bottom lip and the front side ofthe topteeth.

This soundcan be found in English words such as friend, for, laugh, after, life,phone, andstuff.

PronunciationTip: Donot curl your lip too far under your top teeth to make this sound.This is a common error many language students make. Thismakes itdifficult to connect the F sound to other sounds in a word.

ThevoicedV sound(IPAsymbol: v)is produced in almost the same way as the F sound. Hold your lips andteeth in the same position. The Vsound is different because it isvoiced, meaning you produce a sound with your vocal chords. It can befound in English words such aslove, knives, wolves, Valentine, andwave.

The only difference between these two sounds is that theF sound is a voiceless sound and the V sound is a voicedsound.

In the English language, we use many voiced sounds.That meansthat the vocal cordsvibrate when you say that letter. You can hear a voiced Vsound in words such as "vine"and "cave."

The letter Fis a voiceless sound because the vocalcords do not vibrate.Instead, we use a puff of air toproduce the sound. If you hold a piece of paper in front of your mouthwhen pronouncing a voiceless sound, the paper should move from the puffof air.

You can hear the voicelessF sound in words such as "for" and"wife."

Watch this short video from Rachel's English to hear and see thedifferences between the Fand Vsounds:

Have you watched it? Excellent! Now, let's practice saying each soundindividually.

Practice thevoiced V soundPractice the voiced Vsound by saying these words. Hold apiece of paper or your hand in front of your mouth to make sure you arevoicing the consonant and not using a puff of air. The paper should notmove.

• vacation
• five
• love
• knives
• wolves
• save
• van
• vine
• drive
• cave

Now practice thevoiceless F soundUsea piece of paper to practice the voiceless F sound. When yousay thissound, you should release a puff of air from your mouth that moves thepaper. Your vocal cords should not vibrate.

The F soundcan be spelled in four different ways: f, ff, ph, andsometimes gh.

• four
• wife
• knife
• life
• family
• stuff
  
  
• phone
• graph
• laugh
• enough

Finally,practice the sounds side-by-side

Challenge words:

These words are a littlemore difficult. They have both sounds. The V sounds are in blue.The Fsounds are in green:

• five
  
  
• favorite
  
  
• favor
• flavor
• forgive
• lifesaver
• leftover
• forgive

Now say these sentences out loud.

The V soundsare in blue.The Fsounds are in green:

2) I havefiveknivesandfourforks.

3) Will you phonebeforeyouvisitthefarm?

4) My familylovesto laughonvacation.

5) Savethe fourwolveswho liveinthe cave.

6) Pleaseforgivemeforforgettingthe leftoverfood!

Have you finished them all? Great job! Keep practicing untilyou can say them correctly!

Well done! You have completed this lesson.

Let's move on...

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