I'm trying to improve my speaking skills, but It's so difficult for me to pronounce some sounds quickly. I need to get used to a new way of pronunciation. This requires constant concentration on the process. Thanks a lot for the new knowledge!
Great video. Never seen it explained so well. As a Spanish/Portuguese speaker, it never made sense when teacher said t, as in better, sounds like d. Now I finally get it, that’s because you guys pronounce the d differently.
Excellent ! I always struggle with the pronunciation of flap d + r and particularly the word letter is a real thorn in my side ! Thank you so much for the perfect explanation ❤️✨
Hi Josh, I recently found your channel on TH-cam and I really enjoy it. Your videos help me a lot to improve my speaking skills. Thank you so much! I’m a student and I’ve learnt English for more than 10 years at school. But after watching your video, my friends and I realised that we’ve made a lot of mistakes for a long time. One of these is that we pronounce a word that ends with an unvoiced stop consonant (T, P, K) and voiced stop consonant (D, B, G) the same way because we thought they were the same thing, or we do not have the ability to pronounce them and we imitate them. - For example “I'd like to help you out” with stop D, we pronounce “Aight like to help you out” with stop T, or we even drop the D “I like to help you out”, and these are different from what is intended by us. - Also, it’s super hard for us to pronounce these words that ends with voiced stop consonant (D, B, G), when we don’t choose to release them clearly, we have to imitate them with unvoiced stop consonant (T, P, K) again (bad --> bat, rab --> rap, bag --> back), and they don’t sound right. - Another case with past tense “I begged for it”, we know there are 3 ways to pronounce the D: Released D, Deleted D (because it’s between 2 consonants) and Stop D. Because we really want to express ourselves clearly and smoothly, so I think the best way for us is to master the stop D. Please help us with the stop consonant (D, B, G)! The last thing, I hope you don’t mind. Could you help us to pronounce the Nasal plosion (eden, sudden, widen, burden, student, forbidden, garden, hidden, ordinary, extraordinary) and the Glottal stop (eaten, whiten, kitten, written, important, forgotten, curtain). We can’t differenciate them because they sound the same with non-native speakers ears, and again we pronounce all of them with the Glottal stop, we don’t know how to pronounce Nasal plosion at all. I’ve read somewhere that Nasal plosion is made from a stop D (keep the tongue tip up), then we immediately transition to an /n/ (lower the soft palate). There isn't a vowel in the final syllable when using nasal plosion - it's just and stop D + N. Could you help us to understand the two things clearly? Thank you so much.
The only difference between P/T/K and B/D/G is that B/D/G is voiced. What you do with your mouth is the same. I would focus on adding voice to these sounds (and maybe playing with the difference between voiced and voiceless in general). The stopped version is a bit more difficult, but it's the same idea. The only difference is that if you're doing a glottal stop (instead of a held stop), you need to let a little bit of voice push through the closing of the glottis, as I explained in this lesson. It'll sound like it's getting trapped in your nose. In the flow of real speech, this happens quite quickly, so slow it down first and practice it. The T/D/N are in the same position. Yes, these words use a stop D (either held or glottal, which sound a little different, bit it doesn't matter) + an N. We simply hold the same position and "release" into the nose (don't release your tongue), letting the sound continue to go through the nose for the N without pronouncing any vowel sound in between (the fully enunciated version of these words uses a non-stopped D, a vowel, and an N, but more commonly these words get reduced like this). The only physical change in the mouth that might happen is that I feel a *very* slight closing of my jaw as I start the N part when coming from a more open vowel sound (like AW or even UH), but the tongue itself doesn't move. After playing around with the jaw, I can tell you for certain that it's not necessary to close your jaw at all between the D and the N, it's just a by-product of coming from vowels that aren't already really high (EE or IH for example). Everything I just explained applies to the T words like "written", etc, but in addition, it's possible to not close into the T position. This is the alternate way to do a glottal stop T (which I think I talked about a little bit in the next lesson about the 4 T sounds). I won't explain all the details about that here, but the simple version is that you don't have to go into the T position in order to do the glottal stop of it (unlike all the other stops) and can simply close the glottis regardless of where you tongue is or how open your mouth is. This will be interpreted by natives as a glottal stop T. However, if you do the alternate version, you do still have to close into the N after it, so remember that. Ideally, there's no vowel sound in between if you do the alternative glottal stop T, but it's perfectly fine and normal for there to be a small little vowel sound that happens.
@@NativeEnglishHacks Hi Josh. After reading your detailed explain and replaying your videos about the stop consonants T & D so many times, I’m still a bit confused. In this video at 3:56, you said “...but release the AIR...so you might even hear a little coming from the nose when you release”, but you answered my question “you need to let a little bit of VOICE push through the closing of the glottis”. So I wonder you mean AIR or VOICE? You answered my question “The only difference is that if you're doing a GLOTTAL STOP (instead of a HELD STOP), you need to let a little bit of voice push through the closing of the glottis, as I explained in this lesson.” You didn’t mention the HELD STOP in your video, so I don’t know what differences between the GLOTTAL STOP and the HELD STOP for the voiced stop consonants B/G/D. I thought they were the same. Thank you so much for reading my question.
English breathes sounds out. This is why for the strong T/P/K, you can hear and feel a puff of air. We still need that for the voiced sounds, except the voice hides it. Put another way, you need to use a certain amount of force that comes from breathing out while making sounds in English. In the case of the stopped version of the voiced sounds D/B/G, when you stop them, the only way we know it's voiced and not voiceless is if we hear that bit of voice getting trapped in the nose. Think of "voiceless" as just air/breath and "voiced" as air/breath + sound (meaning vibration from your vocal cords). So "air" and "voice" are basically the same thing in the context of glottal stops for D/B/G because you can't have one without the other. Notice I said "push through". No air, no push. Held and glottal aren't exactly the same, but it often doesn't matter which you use. English pronunciation is very dynamic and often has more than one possible thing that can apply in a given situation. I'll be making a lesson for the difference later. But a held stop doesn't use the glottis. It does everything a normal stop consonant does, except you don't release the sound. With the glottal version, you cut the sound off using the glottis in addition to not releasing it
At 35:0 , you pronounced the flap /d/ at the end of the word "complicated" in a satisfying easy manner. Can you make a quick short on how you did it? Cuz it sounds different than the flap /d/ traditionally taught by you and other teachers. Also, the way you did that flap /d/ is the most ubiquitous and I think it is more important to talk about what happens during fast speech. You talked in one of your lives about how you do the flap /d/ in the word `modern `, and you said that you are almost touching the inner corners of the above premolars but you are not using your tip at all. I was instantly able to map such posture and produced it perfectly and it was an enlightening moment for me and made a whole set of words much easier in terms of pronunciation. These types of hacks done in fast speech the are most important and you should be focusing on them in the future.
This is groundbreaking knowledge for me! you make complex concepts easy to understand! wonder if you have a more in depth video on the stopped D Thanks for the great content!
Thanks for the comment. So glad I can help ☺ I don't have a more in-depth video yet, but I will be making a special lesson at some point about the dynamic range and flow of the T and D sounds (which explains why all the different kinds exist). I'll also be making some extra practice lessons for these things in the future, too ☺
Thanks for the video. As native Spanish speaker I don’t have problems with the flap D however it’s very difficult to master the stopped D. I will really appreciate an in-depth video on the strong D. Thanks for the information!!!
The consonant masterclass will be coming up in the somewhat near future and will help with that. But I recommend starting here: th-cam.com/video/i8Nd0sEo7CQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank you! This is what I wanted to know! To me it is still difficult to pronounce glottal sound ‘d’ at the end of words because we don’t have that sound in my country, but I will get used to it :)
As a Norwegian I was wondering if the rolling r was the continuation of a flapped d and now that's confirmed, thank you :) For me flapped d is often difficult and I turn it into a roling r. Or at least I feel like I'm doing it wrong and I loose confidence. But at least when I now it's the same as the start of a rolling r, I think this could help my confidence.
Yes, but the L-colored O before it can make it a little difficult to flap, so we might just do a weak D. I'll make a short video saying this sentence a few different ways tomorrow (going to bed now).
@@NativeEnglishHacks Dear coach.I have problems with pronunciation /t/ in the followings. Could you help me? 1/ lilt a song == is it flap /d/? 2/ lilt the song == is it dropped /t/ or unreleased /t/? 3/ is it a ball? Yes, it is. == it is unreleased /t/ bcz "is" here is stressed. Is it right? No, it isn't == it is unreleased /t/ in "it"bcz "isn't" here is stressed. it is unreleased /t/ in 'isn't" due to cluster "nt". is it right? 4/ Robert's opinion == is it unreleased /t/ or dropped /t/? 5/ It isn't a star == /t/ in "it" is unreleased /t/ bcz "isn't" is stressed. " isn't a" there are 2 pronunciations - dropped /t/ and linking /n/ and /ə/ - true /t/ and linking /t/ and /ə/ Is it right? Could you please help me? Thanks a lot.
These are really good questions and perfect examples of why you need to focus on your ears. I think I'll make a special lesson around these questions. And don't worry, I still plan to make the short video for the other question. My live stream starts in 10 minutes and I've been very busy today, but I should be able to make that short video sometime this evening :)
Hello English hacks :) Could you help me make a difference between : -you raise that kid/ you raised that kid -they just open the door/ they just opened the door I struggled to make the stop d after N and S as these are already alveolar sounds. I know how to link N or S with th but when there are 3 consonnants it seems impossible to me 😭. Best regards,
Unfortunately, I didn't quite have time to get the video response posted today (it's 11 PM here now), but I've recorded them and just need to edit them tomorrow. However, I will say now that you actually don't stop the d sound here due to the exact difficulty that you're describing, but we do have a special linking rule that you can use with the "dental D" version of the voiced TH sound to blend the D and TH. This makes it much easier and smoother. You'll see what I mean in the video :) Note that the "dental D" version of the voiced TH is something most other teachers don't talk about. I covered the basics of it in the TH lesson, in case you missed it: th-cam.com/video/RPxUrQ57P88/w-d-xo.html
I had to cover this in two parts to keep them under a minute each. Let me know if you have any other questions :) th-cam.com/video/Zl6GpWO3JhQ/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/z919Y1xCJTA/w-d-xo.html
Your videos have been really useful thanks 🤩.I do have one last question, I won’t bother you after that: what about the t between S and Th: they cross the road/they crossed the road. I know that the ed ending in cross has a t sound, and it is my last problem in linking 3 consonnants. The S-T-Th is tricky as well.
Very detailed video my friend, you really disect the sounds with a surgical knife. Let me ask, that flapped d can happen when I say "I don't know"? linking the I with don't /airon/. Or if I say "show me what you're made of" the final "made of" linked as /meirov/?
Transcriptions aside, the short answer is yes. In "made of", 100%. For "don't", technically the D isn't supposed to flap at the start of a stressed syllable (the negative in the contraction makes it stressed), but in reality, it can still happen, it's just perhaps less likely.
I have another "new" question :) I'm not sure it could be called another type of "d" consonant sound or linking issues, but can you explain about 'd-dropping' phenomenon? like "sandwich" or "he and I" "and said" "hands".. etc. Is there any rules?
The first thing I want to mention is that I don't call this another type of D sound like some other teachers might. Why? Because it's dropped. If it's dropped, it's not pronounced, meaning that there is no D sound anymore and the letter is now just spelling with a silent letter. It can't be classified as a D sound if there's no sound. Second, the fully enunciated version of words like these is with a D sound, with the exception of "nds" because we don't have the time to clearly push out the D after the N while smoothly transitioning to the S. There is technically a very small difference in sound between having the D there and not, but they sound almost identical and it doesnt matter at all. So that's one rule, which also applies to "nts". Next, notice that all these examples use "nd". The "s" at the end will cancel out the D sound due to the physical mechanics in the mouth in combination with N. But without the S, things are more dynamic. The full pronunciation is possible ("sandwich" and "and", for example, pronounced with a D), but in combination with the N at the end of a syllable, it becomes optional. "And" is special because it can reduce all the way down to just "n". But what about "hand"? Well, this D is more likely to be pronounced (softly or as a stop) because it's at the end of a content word. Now, if there's a vowel to connect to, like "He put his hand up", the D can connect to the next word or the D can drop and the N can connect to the next word. This is an extention of the "nt + vowel" linking rule in which the T almost always disappears, except the ND version is a little less likely to do this. This is why I want to teach you all more about the dynamic range of flow of real speech based on specific sounds and patterns. But remember, always focus on your ears. Rules will only get you so far and many rules can be absorbed by careful noticing through lots of exposure and/or high volume iterations of targeted things ☺
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much!! I had to read this several times to understand(I might need more! Haha) but don't worry, now I got it. And I'm willing to come back and read it again as often as it's needed :) Again, thank you!!
@@NativeEnglishHacks So, when you said that with an "nd+consonant(non-S)" combination it is possible to pronounce that "d" if we're not enunciating , you mean that it is also possible to dropping it, isn't it? And..., I've been thinking about your answer and, at the end of the day, I don't really understand if we can say that there's a general rule that allows us to dropping the d in any "consonant+d+consonant" combination all the time when we're not enunciating (even if, for example, the first consonant is not an "n" [or maybe all the combinatios of 3 consonants that have a "d" between the other 2 also have an "n" as the first consonant🤔🤔🤔 idk, plis help me with this])
Wow, I was so looking for someone who would explain glottal stop with 'd' sound. These days I've got hooked on the pronunciation of 'Aladdin'. I think in that movie, I'm almost pretty sure Jasmine pronounced 'Aladdin' with glottal d sound, like 'uh-lah-?n'. I've asked many native speakers, but they say it's not like t in mountain which is a complete glottal stop, but in Aladdin, there's a soft voiced 'd' before the glottal stop. It's one of the most difficult explanation I've ever heard!!! Hard to understand.. d and the glottal stop? Can you make this clear please?
Do you have a link to a clip of her saying it? I can analyze what she's doing and explain it if I hear it. Otherwise I can't be sure because many if the "rules" in English pronunciation have common variations in real speech
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much. I will cut the video and upload that clip in my channel temporarily and will link to you later. Or if I can send you the clip to your email, I will happily do it.
Ok, round two. TH-cam didn't post my response the first time, so hopefully I don't forget any details here. I can clearly and confidently tell you that those natives are wrong (not surprising if none of them are actual pronunciation teachers, but even some teachers explain things in a way that I think is just confusing). The "D" sound here is pretty much the same as the "T" in "mountain". It might possibly get stopped a little lighter, and it's going to sound a little different because the voiceless stops have a clear cutoff, whereas the voiced stops briefly get caught in nose. It's physically impossible to do a soft/weak "D" and then stop it because it's already been released. What these natives are trying to say is that they hear the "D", but it seems they're confusing the voice in the stop for a released "D" sound. Also, it's important to remember that English (especially American English) has a very dynamic and contextual pronunciation, meaning that we don't always hit the exact same sound in the exact same way 100% of the time. It's completely possible to fully enunciate the word "Aladdin" and use a soft/weak "D" sound (but NO stop): uh-LAH-dihn. It's not likely that we'll say it that way, but it can and will happen at times, usually for clarity or maybe emphasis (or it could just come out that way, but again, very unlikely). The same is true for the word "mountain". The fully enunciated version is MOWN-tihn/tuhn with a soft/weak "T" sound, and for whatever reason, you will hear it that way on occasion, but it's very unlikely. I hope this helps clear things up. If not, let me know! :)
I was taught that t and d between two vowels should be pronounced as flap t and flap d. The word “produce” has a d between two vowels but it’s not pronounced as flap d, it’s pronounced as regular d, is that right? What about a sentence “I need to do it”? I know that “need to” becomes “needa”. When saying “to do it” cause there’s a d between two vowels, can I use the flap d?
Not sure if there are multiple versions, but in the one I just listened to (with Dua Lipa), the first "cold" has no D, the second one is a soft/weak D. The stop is the default at the end if it doesn't link to anything, but it's always possible to pronounce a weak D instead. The word "cold" (and many other words with "old") sometimes drop the D completely. In this case it's likely due to the K sound in the second "cold", which is also a stop consonant (not being stopped, just the category of consonant type). Real speech gets a little messier than the basic rules sometimes. This is another reason we want to focus on our ears to really hear what's happening and just use the basic rules as a general guide that usually applies.
Hi Josh, quick question: You mentioned in your T video that you can make a glottal stop with the tongue position anywhere in the mouth (except P and K positions) and natives will interpret that as a T sound. Does this apply to the D sound aswell? But adding a little bit more of voice, like you mentioned in your B and G videos? Thanks man, your videos are really helpful.
No, it only works for the T as far as I can tell. I just played with it a bit and even if I try to add voice, it ends up sounding more like a glottal T to me.
Great video! I am helping a language partner with some of these things, and I wonder if you have any videos, and if not, some advice on words that end with /nd/ like “sound”
@@NativeEnglishHacks Yes, I think one issue is that it's not possible to use a stop D ending on words that end with nd, so it forces the release of the d, which then is a bit hard to control, especially if the voicing of the n is stopped before the d is produced. Maybe there's nothing to be seen here, but I've been more than a bit astonished at your videos before and started noticing pronunciation things that I was really unaware of before.
It is possible to stop, just a but awkward. And there are many cases where the D might just get dropped, especially if the next sound is a vowel. But one thing you should avoid is stopping the N before the D. It should all flow together, especially since the N and the D share the same position. If the D does get pronounced, which is always possible just not always the most likely, you simply create a weak D by releasing the N/D position and redirecting the breath back through the mouth
@@NativeEnglishHacks in the cases where the d gets dropped, are you referring to linking, as in "end on" becoming "en don"? Or some case where the d truly disappears? Thank you for your replies, btw! It is a rare treat to have any kind of dialogue with someone of your caliber on TH-cam.
No, in a case like en-don, the D isn't dropping, it's linking. Dropping means the sound disappears completely. In this particular case, the "normal" pronunciation would be EHN-dawn, but if you're speaking a bit faster you can drop the D: EH-nawn And no problem, though I don't know if my caliber is quite so high haha. I appreciate it, though 🙂
Hmmm, interesting. Could be interference from your native language. You can hear that in music sometimes, but in actual speech it wouldn't sound right, at least not to me. Can you provide some specific links to clips and whatnot where you hear it that way?
What you hear will likely depend on your native language. I definitely wouldn't transcribe it as wa-rer. It's just a special reference note for those who use a trilled R or something similar in their language in order to make things easier. And as I said, it's not exactly the same. If you don't hear it as a trilled R, that's fine ☺
@@NativeEnglishHacks so is it ok to produce d sound by touching it slightly back in the mouth than usual? Like In the combination r+d in the word 'order', tongue is already way far back in the mouth for 'r' and bringing it back to the normal position of 'd' takes a long time.
That's good! But there's an extra trick to the combination in "order". It's difficult to describe, though. We can address this at the next live stream if you want
That's a good question. We'll definitely explore that in the consonant masterclass that ties the consonants to the mouth posture. Playing with it a bit right now, if it is more relaxed, it doesn't seem to be too much more relaxed. But I'll be looking more into all that soon for the masterclass
@@NativeEnglishHacks and Biden. At first I thought it was a stop D , but my friends said the d in Biden was actually pronounced, so I was a tad confused. I think stop sounds and glottal sounds are essentially the same, right ? Is there any difference between a stop T and a stop D? Ridden and written ? Would you mind making a short pronouncing those words? Most non natives would enunciate them with an aspirated D. @@NativeEnglishHacks
Hmmm... Well, there is no D sound in "bags" or "rubs", only "kids". But, yes, in "kids", it's 'unreleased'. I wouldn't describe it that way, though, because I think it's a slightly inaccurate way to look at it. You're pushing the Z sound THROUGH the D position (the S here is a Z), so yes, you're not releasing the D in the normal way in which we push the sound out and hear a D sound, but it is still being released and the Z sound takes over instead.
No, you go into the D position and immediately push the Z through. It's like you're trying to make the Z sound, but starting from the closed position of D. It's possible to do a very quick hold on the D (not a full glottal stop), but that's not required.
@@NativeEnglishHacks you will start by stopping the airflow by putting the front of your tongue at alveolar ridge, no realeasing (but there is a sound) and go straight producing the z sound?
Correct, except there is no D sound because it's "unreleased". There might be the illusion of a D sound, but you just want to release the D POSITION (not the sound) and immediately start making a Z as you release the position (meaning as your tongue comes off of the ridge)
Thank you so much, professor ❤❤ One question about this sound ; are there really a lenis (d) and a fortis (d) in english like in german? The word (Dad) is pronounced [d̥æd̚] But what about the word (Idea)? Is it pronounced like [äɪ̯ˈd̥i.ɐ] or [äɪ̯ˈdi.ɐ]
It is very difficult for me to understand this sound as a [d]. I'm Brazilian and for me I hear this phoneme as an [r] in "caro" ['ka.ru]. It's not a difficult sound to play or imitate but I spent a lot of time figuring out what relationship there would be between the phonetic symbol [d] or [t] in many pronunciation keys used in dictionaries. For example, in "parachute" /ˈper.ə.ʃuːt/ and "daddy" /ˈdæd.i/ even though the phonetic transcription of the Cambridge dictionary shows two different phonemes I hear them as being the same sound in both cases. Same goes for me in "utility" /juːˈtɪl.ə.t̬i/. I don't have this difficulty with a British accent.
I'm trying to improve my speaking skills, but It's so difficult for me to pronounce some sounds quickly. I need to get used to a new way of pronunciation. This requires constant concentration on the process. Thanks a lot for the new knowledge!
Why this guy does not have 1 million subscribers already ? Great content !
Thanks 🙃
Great video. Never seen it explained so well.
As a Spanish/Portuguese speaker, it never made sense when teacher said t, as in better, sounds like d. Now I finally get it, that’s because you guys pronounce the d differently.
Excellent ! I always struggle with the pronunciation of flap d + r and particularly the word letter is a real thorn in my side ! Thank you so much for the perfect explanation ❤️✨
See the most recent lesson about R and mouth posture. There's updated info on the flapped-D
@@NativeEnglishHacks Sure ! thanks Josh !
Thanks Josh! I really appreciate these informative videos :)
My pleasure ☺
This video made thoughts clear in my head about this letter especially the part "you decide" thank you so much bro
Hi Josh,
I recently found your channel on TH-cam and I really enjoy it. Your videos help me a lot to improve my speaking skills. Thank you so much!
I’m a student and I’ve learnt English for more than 10 years at school. But after watching your video, my friends and I realised that we’ve made a lot of mistakes for a long time.
One of these is that we pronounce a word that ends with an unvoiced stop consonant (T, P, K) and voiced stop consonant (D, B, G) the same way because we thought they were the same thing, or we do not have the ability to pronounce them and we imitate them.
- For example “I'd like to help you out” with stop D, we pronounce “Aight like to help you out” with stop T, or we even drop the D “I like to help you out”, and these are different from what is intended by us.
- Also, it’s super hard for us to pronounce these words that ends with voiced stop consonant (D, B, G), when we don’t choose to release them clearly, we have to imitate them with unvoiced stop consonant (T, P, K) again (bad --> bat, rab --> rap, bag --> back), and they don’t sound right.
- Another case with past tense “I begged for it”, we know there are 3 ways to pronounce the D: Released D, Deleted D (because it’s between 2 consonants) and Stop D. Because we really want to express ourselves clearly and smoothly, so I think the best way for us is to master the stop D.
Please help us with the stop consonant (D, B, G)!
The last thing, I hope you don’t mind. Could you help us to pronounce the Nasal plosion (eden, sudden, widen, burden, student, forbidden, garden, hidden, ordinary, extraordinary) and the Glottal stop (eaten, whiten, kitten, written, important, forgotten, curtain). We can’t differenciate them because they sound the same with non-native speakers ears, and again we pronounce all of them with the Glottal stop, we don’t know how to pronounce Nasal plosion at all. I’ve read somewhere that Nasal plosion is made from a stop D (keep the tongue tip up), then we immediately transition to an /n/ (lower the soft palate). There isn't a vowel in the final syllable when using nasal plosion - it's just and stop D + N. Could you help us to understand the two things
clearly? Thank you so much.
The only difference between P/T/K and B/D/G is that B/D/G is voiced. What you do with your mouth is the same. I would focus on adding voice to these sounds (and maybe playing with the difference between voiced and voiceless in general). The stopped version is a bit more difficult, but it's the same idea. The only difference is that if you're doing a glottal stop (instead of a held stop), you need to let a little bit of voice push through the closing of the glottis, as I explained in this lesson. It'll sound like it's getting trapped in your nose. In the flow of real speech, this happens quite quickly, so slow it down first and practice it.
The T/D/N are in the same position. Yes, these words use a stop D (either held or glottal, which sound a little different, bit it doesn't matter) + an N. We simply hold the same position and "release" into the nose (don't release your tongue), letting the sound continue to go through the nose for the N without pronouncing any vowel sound in between (the fully enunciated version of these words uses a non-stopped D, a vowel, and an N, but more commonly these words get reduced like this). The only physical change in the mouth that might happen is that I feel a *very* slight closing of my jaw as I start the N part when coming from a more open vowel sound (like AW or even UH), but the tongue itself doesn't move. After playing around with the jaw, I can tell you for certain that it's not necessary to close your jaw at all between the D and the N, it's just a by-product of coming from vowels that aren't already really high (EE or IH for example).
Everything I just explained applies to the T words like "written", etc, but in addition, it's possible to not close into the T position. This is the alternate way to do a glottal stop T (which I think I talked about a little bit in the next lesson about the 4 T sounds). I won't explain all the details about that here, but the simple version is that you don't have to go into the T position in order to do the glottal stop of it (unlike all the other stops) and can simply close the glottis regardless of where you tongue is or how open your mouth is. This will be interpreted by natives as a glottal stop T. However, if you do the alternate version, you do still have to close into the N after it, so remember that. Ideally, there's no vowel sound in between if you do the alternative glottal stop T, but it's perfectly fine and normal for there to be a small little vowel sound that happens.
@@NativeEnglishHacks
Hi Josh.
After reading your detailed explain and replaying your videos about the stop consonants T & D so many times, I’m still a bit confused.
In this video at 3:56, you said “...but release the AIR...so you might even hear a little coming from the nose when you release”, but you answered my question “you need to let a little bit of VOICE push through the closing of the glottis”. So I wonder you mean AIR or VOICE?
You answered my question “The only difference is that if you're doing a GLOTTAL STOP (instead of a HELD STOP), you need to let a little bit of voice push through the closing of the glottis, as I explained in this lesson.”
You didn’t mention the HELD STOP in your video, so I don’t know what differences between the GLOTTAL STOP and the HELD STOP for the voiced stop consonants B/G/D. I thought they were the same.
Thank you so much for reading my question.
English breathes sounds out. This is why for the strong T/P/K, you can hear and feel a puff of air. We still need that for the voiced sounds, except the voice hides it. Put another way, you need to use a certain amount of force that comes from breathing out while making sounds in English. In the case of the stopped version of the voiced sounds D/B/G, when you stop them, the only way we know it's voiced and not voiceless is if we hear that bit of voice getting trapped in the nose. Think of "voiceless" as just air/breath and "voiced" as air/breath + sound (meaning vibration from your vocal cords). So "air" and "voice" are basically the same thing in the context of glottal stops for D/B/G because you can't have one without the other. Notice I said "push through". No air, no push.
Held and glottal aren't exactly the same, but it often doesn't matter which you use. English pronunciation is very dynamic and often has more than one possible thing that can apply in a given situation. I'll be making a lesson for the difference later. But a held stop doesn't use the glottis. It does everything a normal stop consonant does, except you don't release the sound. With the glottal version, you cut the sound off using the glottis in addition to not releasing it
Thank you so much! You're the best!
Thank you very much ❤
At 35:0 , you pronounced the flap /d/ at the end of the word "complicated" in a satisfying easy manner. Can you make a quick short on how you did it? Cuz it sounds different than the flap /d/ traditionally taught by you and other teachers. Also, the way you did that flap /d/ is the most ubiquitous and I think it is more important to talk about what happens during fast speech.
You talked in one of your lives about how you do the flap /d/ in the word `modern `, and you said that you are almost touching the inner corners of the above premolars but you are not using your tip at all. I was instantly able to map such posture and produced it perfectly and it was an enlightening moment for me and made a whole set of words much easier in terms of pronunciation. These types of hacks done in fast speech the are most important and you should be focusing on them in the future.
Amazing explanation. So helpful. Josh, thank you so much!
☺
@@NativeEnglishHacks can you help me?
With what specifically?
@@NativeEnglishHacks Im from Iraq
I want your advice to learn English well because I am a first-stage university student, Department of English Language
This is groundbreaking knowledge for me! you make complex concepts easy to understand! wonder if you have a more in depth video on the stopped D
Thanks for the great content!
Thanks for the comment. So glad I can help ☺ I don't have a more in-depth video yet, but I will be making a special lesson at some point about the dynamic range and flow of the T and D sounds (which explains why all the different kinds exist). I'll also be making some extra practice lessons for these things in the future, too ☺
Hi I hope you are having a good time 😊. I just wanted to say your shadow videos help me So I really appreciate it 🙏
Thanks for the video. As native Spanish speaker I don’t have problems with the flap D however it’s very difficult to master the stopped D. I will really appreciate an in-depth video on the strong D. Thanks for the information!!!
The consonant masterclass will be coming up in the somewhat near future and will help with that. But I recommend starting here: th-cam.com/video/i8Nd0sEo7CQ/w-d-xo.html
@@NativeEnglishHacks thanks! Looking forward the new video 😊
You are BRILLIANT!!!!!!!
Thank you! This is what I wanted to know! To me it is still difficult to pronounce glottal sound ‘d’ at the end of words because we don’t have that sound in my country, but I will get used to it :)
Glad I could give you the information you were looking for! ☺
I think it is the most difficult sound to recognize and pronounce in English
It can be tough, but it's not impossible 🙂
@@NativeEnglishHacks yeah haha I know it now
Inglês com séries
Thanks a lot! It was is very very helpful!
Great!
Impressive explanation.
As a Norwegian I was wondering if the rolling r was the continuation of a flapped d and now that's confirmed, thank you :) For me flapped d is often difficult and I turn it into a roling r. Or at least I feel like I'm doing it wrong and I loose confidence. But at least when I now it's the same as the start of a rolling r, I think this could help my confidence.
More important is posture. See next lesson, posting within next 12 hours (Phase 2, part 1)
Oh my goodness 😍 how long does it take to sound like an American person????????? It is about practicing more?????
Mastering any accent takes some time. English doesn't make it easy haha. Start with mouth posture: th-cam.com/video/KAcYzAU-Pyw/w-d-xo.html
You are awesome.. thank you..
Dear coach. " How old are you?" How do you pronounce /d/ here? Is it flap d? Thanks so much
Yes, but the L-colored O before it can make it a little difficult to flap, so we might just do a weak D. I'll make a short video saying this sentence a few different ways tomorrow (going to bed now).
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to it. Good night
@@NativeEnglishHacks
Dear coach.I have problems with pronunciation /t/ in the followings. Could you help me?
1/ lilt a song == is it flap /d/?
2/ lilt the song == is it dropped /t/ or unreleased /t/?
3/ is it a ball?
Yes, it is. == it is unreleased /t/ bcz "is" here is stressed. Is it right?
No, it isn't == it is unreleased /t/ in "it"bcz "isn't" here is stressed.
it is unreleased /t/ in 'isn't" due to cluster "nt". is it right?
4/ Robert's opinion == is it unreleased /t/ or dropped /t/?
5/ It isn't a star == /t/ in "it" is unreleased /t/ bcz "isn't" is stressed.
" isn't a" there are 2 pronunciations
- dropped /t/ and linking /n/ and /ə/
- true /t/ and linking /t/ and /ə/
Is it right? Could you please help me? Thanks a lot.
These are really good questions and perfect examples of why you need to focus on your ears. I think I'll make a special lesson around these questions. And don't worry, I still plan to make the short video for the other question. My live stream starts in 10 minutes and I've been very busy today, but I should be able to make that short video sometime this evening :)
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much. I am looking forward to your videos.
Is the word 'today' an exception? -day definitely comes at the start of a stressed syllable but I still hear it flapped
Hello English hacks :) Could you help me make a difference between :
-you raise that kid/ you raised that kid
-they just open the door/ they just opened the door
I struggled to make the stop d after N and S as these are already alveolar sounds. I know how to link N or S with th but when there are 3 consonnants it seems impossible to me 😭.
Best regards,
Great question! I'll make a short video answering this a little later today ☺
Unfortunately, I didn't quite have time to get the video response posted today (it's 11 PM here now), but I've recorded them and just need to edit them tomorrow. However, I will say now that you actually don't stop the d sound here due to the exact difficulty that you're describing, but we do have a special linking rule that you can use with the "dental D" version of the voiced TH sound to blend the D and TH. This makes it much easier and smoother. You'll see what I mean in the video :)
Note that the "dental D" version of the voiced TH is something most other teachers don't talk about. I covered the basics of it in the TH lesson, in case you missed it: th-cam.com/video/RPxUrQ57P88/w-d-xo.html
I had to cover this in two parts to keep them under a minute each. Let me know if you have any other questions :)
th-cam.com/video/Zl6GpWO3JhQ/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/z919Y1xCJTA/w-d-xo.html
Your videos have been really useful thanks 🤩.I do have one last question, I won’t bother you after that: what about the t between S and Th: they cross the road/they crossed the road. I know that the ed ending in cross has a t sound, and it is my last problem in linking 3 consonnants. The S-T-Th is tricky as well.
I wonder if we change it into a dental d too (s-t-th), I know that in a fast speech , you can delete a consonnant.
When d is pronounced as z is there any rule of d
Very detailed video my friend, you really disect the sounds with a surgical knife. Let me ask, that flapped d can happen when I say "I don't know"? linking the I with don't /airon/. Or if I say "show me what you're made of" the final "made of" linked as /meirov/?
Transcriptions aside, the short answer is yes. In "made of", 100%. For "don't", technically the D isn't supposed to flap at the start of a stressed syllable (the negative in the contraction makes it stressed), but in reality, it can still happen, it's just perhaps less likely.
Thanks for your answer. Sorry for the transcription, I don't have the phonetic alphabet on my keyboard, that's why I wrote "made of" as /meidof/.
@tellmenow20 No worries. I don't recommend the IPA anyway. I just wanted to mention that to avoid any confusion in my agreement.
I have another "new" question :) I'm not sure it could be called another type of "d" consonant sound or linking issues, but can you explain about 'd-dropping' phenomenon? like "sandwich" or "he and I" "and said" "hands".. etc. Is there any rules?
The first thing I want to mention is that I don't call this another type of D sound like some other teachers might. Why? Because it's dropped. If it's dropped, it's not pronounced, meaning that there is no D sound anymore and the letter is now just spelling with a silent letter. It can't be classified as a D sound if there's no sound.
Second, the fully enunciated version of words like these is with a D sound, with the exception of "nds" because we don't have the time to clearly push out the D after the N while smoothly transitioning to the S. There is technically a very small difference in sound between having the D there and not, but they sound almost identical and it doesnt matter at all. So that's one rule, which also applies to "nts".
Next, notice that all these examples use "nd". The "s" at the end will cancel out the D sound due to the physical mechanics in the mouth in combination with N. But without the S, things are more dynamic. The full pronunciation is possible ("sandwich" and "and", for example, pronounced with a D), but in combination with the N at the end of a syllable, it becomes optional. "And" is special because it can reduce all the way down to just "n".
But what about "hand"? Well, this D is more likely to be pronounced (softly or as a stop) because it's at the end of a content word. Now, if there's a vowel to connect to, like "He put his hand up", the D can connect to the next word or the D can drop and the N can connect to the next word. This is an extention of the "nt + vowel" linking rule in which the T almost always disappears, except the ND version is a little less likely to do this.
This is why I want to teach you all more about the dynamic range of flow of real speech based on specific sounds and patterns. But remember, always focus on your ears. Rules will only get you so far and many rules can be absorbed by careful noticing through lots of exposure and/or high volume iterations of targeted things ☺
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much!! I had to read this several times to understand(I might need more! Haha) but don't worry, now I got it. And I'm willing to come back and read it again as often as it's needed :) Again, thank you!!
No problem! And sorry if it's a bit confusing. It's a lot of information.
@@NativeEnglishHacks hello :) Can I just use the nd+vowel=n+vowel rule always and still sound naturall?
@@NativeEnglishHacks So, when you said that with an "nd+consonant(non-S)" combination it is possible to pronounce that "d" if we're not enunciating , you mean that it is also possible to dropping it, isn't it?
And..., I've been thinking about your answer and, at the end of the day, I don't really understand if we can say that there's a general rule that allows us to dropping the d in any "consonant+d+consonant" combination all the time when we're not enunciating (even if, for example, the first consonant is not an "n" [or maybe all the combinatios of 3 consonants that have a "d" between the other 2 also have an "n" as the first consonant🤔🤔🤔 idk, plis help me with this])
Wow, I was so looking for someone who would explain glottal stop with 'd' sound. These days I've got hooked on the pronunciation of 'Aladdin'. I think in that movie, I'm almost pretty sure Jasmine pronounced 'Aladdin' with glottal d sound, like 'uh-lah-?n'. I've asked many native speakers, but they say it's not like t in mountain which is a complete glottal stop, but in Aladdin, there's a soft voiced 'd' before the glottal stop. It's one of the most difficult explanation I've ever heard!!! Hard to understand.. d and the glottal stop? Can you make this clear please?
Do you have a link to a clip of her saying it? I can analyze what she's doing and explain it if I hear it. Otherwise I can't be sure because many if the "rules" in English pronunciation have common variations in real speech
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you so much. I will cut the video and upload that clip in my channel temporarily and will link to you later. Or if I can send you the clip to your email, I will happily do it.
Email is fine ☺ You can find it in my about section of the channel
Ok, round two. TH-cam didn't post my response the first time, so hopefully I don't forget any details here.
I can clearly and confidently tell you that those natives are wrong (not surprising if none of them are actual pronunciation teachers, but even some teachers explain things in a way that I think is just confusing). The "D" sound here is pretty much the same as the "T" in "mountain". It might possibly get stopped a little lighter, and it's going to sound a little different because the voiceless stops have a clear cutoff, whereas the voiced stops briefly get caught in nose. It's physically impossible to do a soft/weak "D" and then stop it because it's already been released. What these natives are trying to say is that they hear the "D", but it seems they're confusing the voice in the stop for a released "D" sound.
Also, it's important to remember that English (especially American English) has a very dynamic and contextual pronunciation, meaning that we don't always hit the exact same sound in the exact same way 100% of the time. It's completely possible to fully enunciate the word "Aladdin" and use a soft/weak "D" sound (but NO stop): uh-LAH-dihn. It's not likely that we'll say it that way, but it can and will happen at times, usually for clarity or maybe emphasis (or it could just come out that way, but again, very unlikely). The same is true for the word "mountain". The fully enunciated version is MOWN-tihn/tuhn with a soft/weak "T" sound, and for whatever reason, you will hear it that way on occasion, but it's very unlikely.
I hope this helps clear things up. If not, let me know! :)
@@NativeEnglishHacks wow!!! Thank you so much!!! 'Thank you' doesn't even cut it!! You are my hero!! :)
I was taught that t and d between two vowels should be pronounced as flap t and flap d. The word “produce” has a d between two vowels but it’s not pronounced as flap d, it’s pronounced as regular d, is that right?
What about a sentence “I need to do it”? I know that “need to” becomes “needa”. When saying “to do it” cause there’s a d between two vowels, can I use the flap d?
I answered this near the beginning of this live stream: th-cam.com/video/XzYLxr2fsns/w-d-xo.html
This glottal stop d sometimes I can't hear natives pronounce it as in the Elton John's song when he say "cold, cold heart.
Not sure if there are multiple versions, but in the one I just listened to (with Dua Lipa), the first "cold" has no D, the second one is a soft/weak D. The stop is the default at the end if it doesn't link to anything, but it's always possible to pronounce a weak D instead. The word "cold" (and many other words with "old") sometimes drop the D completely. In this case it's likely due to the K sound in the second "cold", which is also a stop consonant (not being stopped, just the category of consonant type). Real speech gets a little messier than the basic rules sometimes. This is another reason we want to focus on our ears to really hear what's happening and just use the basic rules as a general guide that usually applies.
@@NativeEnglishHacks thank you so much! By the way, I like Dua Lipa's version better
Ohh, it is really good for me
Hi Josh, quick question: You mentioned in your T video that you can make a glottal stop with the tongue position anywhere in the mouth (except P and K positions) and natives will interpret that as a T sound. Does this apply to the D sound aswell? But adding a little bit more of voice, like you mentioned in your B and G videos? Thanks man, your videos are really helpful.
No, it only works for the T as far as I can tell. I just played with it a bit and even if I try to add voice, it ends up sounding more like a glottal T to me.
@@NativeEnglishHacks Thank you for answering so quick :). I'll take note of that.
Great video! I am helping a language partner with some of these things, and I wonder if you have any videos, and if not, some advice on words that end with /nd/ like “sound”
In what way? Can you give me some examples of the specific issue? Fully enunciated, it's just the N sound + the D sound.
@@NativeEnglishHacks Yes, I think one issue is that it's not possible to use a stop D ending on words that end with nd, so it forces the release of the d, which then is a bit hard to control, especially if the voicing of the n is stopped before the d is produced.
Maybe there's nothing to be seen here, but I've been more than a bit astonished at your videos before and started noticing pronunciation things that I was really unaware of before.
It is possible to stop, just a but awkward. And there are many cases where the D might just get dropped, especially if the next sound is a vowel. But one thing you should avoid is stopping the N before the D. It should all flow together, especially since the N and the D share the same position.
If the D does get pronounced, which is always possible just not always the most likely, you simply create a weak D by releasing the N/D position and redirecting the breath back through the mouth
@@NativeEnglishHacks in the cases where the d gets dropped, are you referring to linking, as in "end on" becoming "en don"? Or some case where the d truly disappears?
Thank you for your replies, btw! It is a rare treat to have any kind of dialogue with someone of your caliber on TH-cam.
No, in a case like en-don, the D isn't dropping, it's linking. Dropping means the sound disappears completely. In this particular case, the "normal" pronunciation would be EHN-dawn, but if you're speaking a bit faster you can drop the D: EH-nawn
And no problem, though I don't know if my caliber is quite so high haha. I appreciate it, though 🙂
Very often I listen to letter d like /dz/ sound. "I Dzon' know"
Hmmm, interesting. Could be interference from your native language. You can hear that in music sometimes, but in actual speech it wouldn't sound right, at least not to me. Can you provide some specific links to clips and whatnot where you hear it that way?
Does that mean it's 'wa-rer' not 'wa-der'?. I definitely don't hear flap d as trilled r
What you hear will likely depend on your native language. I definitely wouldn't transcribe it as wa-rer. It's just a special reference note for those who use a trilled R or something similar in their language in order to make things easier. And as I said, it's not exactly the same. If you don't hear it as a trilled R, that's fine ☺
@@NativeEnglishHacks so is it ok to produce d sound by touching it slightly back in the mouth than usual?
Like In the combination r+d in the word 'order', tongue is already way far back in the mouth for 'r' and bringing it back to the normal position of 'd' takes a long time.
Maybe. It depends. This is one of the more complicated points. I'd have to actually hear what you're doing
@@NativeEnglishHacks oh yes!! I am definitely not making an 'Indian d' as you said in this video.
That's good! But there's an extra trick to the combination in "order". It's difficult to describe, though. We can address this at the next live stream if you want
So in Flap D the toungue is like more relaxed right? Like in normal D there's a little bit of tension to maintain a slight curve
That's a good question. We'll definitely explore that in the consonant masterclass that ties the consonants to the mouth posture. Playing with it a bit right now, if it is more relaxed, it doesn't seem to be too much more relaxed. But I'll be looking more into all that soon for the masterclass
@@NativeEnglishHacks happy to hear that
2:46 da da or guh guh. haha. whatever he said there, thats how my d sounds like
Now you know how to change it to sound more American :)
What about sudden, didn't, ridden and hidden? Are they all flap Ds?
Either flaps or nasal plosives/held stops. Both are possible and common. If over-enunciating for a special reason, they can be regular weak D's
@@NativeEnglishHacks and Biden. At first I thought it was a stop D , but my friends said the d in Biden was actually pronounced, so I was a tad confused. I think stop sounds and glottal sounds are essentially the same, right ?
Is there any difference between a stop T and a stop D? Ridden and written ?
Would you mind making a short pronouncing those words? Most non natives would enunciate them with an aspirated D. @@NativeEnglishHacks
I need to make a lesson talking about glottal stops vs held stop, so I'll just do that next and include examples
@@NativeEnglishHacks thanks a million
Are the d sounds in the words 'kids', 'bags' and 'rubs' all unrealeased?
Hmmm... Well, there is no D sound in "bags" or "rubs", only "kids". But, yes, in "kids", it's 'unreleased'. I wouldn't describe it that way, though, because I think it's a slightly inaccurate way to look at it. You're pushing the Z sound THROUGH the D position (the S here is a Z), so yes, you're not releasing the D in the normal way in which we push the sound out and hear a D sound, but it is still being released and the Z sound takes over instead.
@@NativeEnglishHacks it is like you had stopped the d sound?
No, you go into the D position and immediately push the Z through. It's like you're trying to make the Z sound, but starting from the closed position of D. It's possible to do a very quick hold on the D (not a full glottal stop), but that's not required.
@@NativeEnglishHacks you will start by stopping the airflow by putting the front of your tongue at alveolar ridge, no realeasing (but there is a sound) and go straight producing the z sound?
Correct, except there is no D sound because it's "unreleased". There might be the illusion of a D sound, but you just want to release the D POSITION (not the sound) and immediately start making a Z as you release the position (meaning as your tongue comes off of the ridge)
🙏💝💐💐💐
Thank you so much, professor ❤❤
One question about this sound ; are there really a lenis (d) and a fortis (d) in english like in german?
The word (Dad) is pronounced [d̥æd̚]
But what about the word (Idea)?
Is it pronounced like [äɪ̯ˈd̥i.ɐ] or [äɪ̯ˈdi.ɐ]
It is very difficult for me to understand this sound as a [d]. I'm Brazilian and for me I hear this phoneme as an [r] in "caro" ['ka.ru]. It's not a difficult sound to play or imitate but I spent a lot of time figuring out what relationship there would be between the phonetic symbol [d] or [t] in many pronunciation keys used in dictionaries. For example, in "parachute" /ˈper.ə.ʃuːt/ and "daddy" /ˈdæd.i/ even though the phonetic transcription of the Cambridge dictionary shows two different phonemes I hear them as being the same sound in both cases. Same goes for me in "utility" /juːˈtɪl.ə.t̬i/. I don't have this difficulty with a British accent.