Pronouncing “th”

Just as with most of the other consonants, there are two types— voiced and unvoiced.

  • Most people tend to replace the unvoiced TH with S or T and the voiced one with Z or D.
  • Instead of thing, they say sing, or ting. Instead of that, they say zat or dat.
  • If these and those are pronounced with a D instead of a TH, it sounds like dese and dose, which is considered lower class in America.

I. TH Voiced As the most commonly used word in English is the word the, the Th is very important.

  • this
  • that
  • that
/
  • those
  • they
  • them
/
  • their
  • there
  • then

  • weather
/
  • other
/
  • smooth

  • than
/
  • clothe
/
  • they’re

  • these
/
  • either

TH (voiced)

The voiced TH is like a D, but instead of being in back of the teeth, it's 1/4 inch lower and forward, between the teeth.

To pronounce the Voiced TH, put the tip of your tongue between your top and bottom front teeth and vibrate your vocal cords, then pull your tongue back to pronounce the rest of the word.

II. TH (unvoiced)To pronounce the Unvoiced TH, put the tip of your tongue between your top and bottom front teeth and let air escape around your tongue, without your vocal cords vibrating.

thank, thin, think, thought, thump, therapy, bath, with, moth, path, youth

  • The unvoiced TH is like an S between the teeth.
  • To pronounce TH correctly, think of a snake's tongue.
  • You don't want to take a big relaxed tongue and push it far between your teeth and just leave it out there.
  • Make only a very quick, sharp little movement.
  • Keep the tip of your tongue very tense. It darts out between your teeth and snaps back very quickly.

VOA news article on pronouncing “th”. MP3 to download

Classroom Practice with TH

Exercise One

1. Have the students stick out their tongue.

2. Have them bite their tongue.

3. Have them practice correctly pronouncing "th"

4. T. says the tongue twister as fast as possible. Then slowly.

"These things that these things think, they're the things that these things think."

5. Have the students practice a bit individually, then recite to a partner, and write it down.

6. Practice at home

Exercise Two

How to pronounce the "TH" sound

There are two th sounds, voiced or buzzy (like in "this") and voiceless or whispered (like in "thing" ). You can feel the vocal chords vibrating when you place your fingers over your throat for the voiced th. You cannot feel any vibrations when you produce the voiceless th sound.
1. Begin saying d...d...d...

2. With each "d" stick you tongue further out until it is protruding from your mouth between your teeth.

3. The sound should change to the voiced th sound when the tongue is far enough out of your mouth.
4. To produce the voiceless th sound, begin repeating t...t...t... as you extend your tongue further and further through your teeth.

5. Eventually, the t sound will change to a th sound when the tongue is extended far enough outside the mouth and between the teeth.

Exercise Three

The “th” story:

Three terrible thieves threatened to throw thirty thousand stinging thistles through the thinly shielded thoroughfares of the thatch roofed theater.
Thankfully several quick thinking thespians thwarted the thieves with deft thrusts of their thallium swords in the thieves` thalamencephalons with thundering thumps.

Thus driven hither through the thalweg, those thoughtless thieves tried to thwart the thespians from tumbling the thistles into the Thames, causing the thieves fall in.
The Thames was frozen with thirteen—no—thirty thawing frozen ice floes and other things floating freely before thundering themselves down a roaring waterfall.
The thieves tried to flush themselves from the thalassography of the thalassian thickets, emerging rather weathered and withered from their marathon.
The thespians threatened the thieves with the thought of smothering in the Thames and suffering a terrible death bereft of theandric compassion and made them swear to never bother the thespians or their thatched theater again or risk being thumped in their thalamencephalons with thallium hatchets and be thrown in the thicket or the thawing ice floes of the Thames.