When to Pronounce T as a Flap

[Music] in this video I want to explain when to pronounce T as a flap in American English the T is one of the sounds I get the most questions on is an English teacher that's because of all consonants this one is one of the most variable it will have a different pronunciation based on its location within a word or phrase and the sound surrounding it a couple of reminders before we get started please stick around until the end of the video there's a little activity at the very end that will really make you think and

don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven't already so you don't miss any of my new videos I post a new free lesson every Friday so when you learn to read you were likely taught that the letter T makes a sound as in the words table or teacher well this is only partly true sometimes it makes that sound like when the tea is found at the beginning of a word when you say it at the beginning of a word your tongue touches the alveolar Ridge right here the alveolar Ridge is the bony hard

area just behind your upper front teeth and then there is a very noticeable stop and then a burst of air as you say words like today or team now the flap T which you're likely to find in the middle of English words is a little bit different there is just a brief stop and no bursts of air in fact it sounds more like a D in English or perhaps an R in your native language not all languages but some consider this an R sound your native language may or may not listen for a moment and

think about it as I give you some sample words and expressions that have a flap T better photo city pata T now to pronounce the flap T your tongue quickly taps the alveolar Ridge again the alveolar Ridge is the bony area just behind your upper front teeth it's right here notice it in the following words and phrases water meeting whatever put away a lot of visitor what a beautiful day let me give you one simple rule for knowing when to use the flap T use a flap T when the T occurs between vowel sounds bowels

hour sounds spelled with the letters AE IOU and sometimes why for example later and pretty each of these words has a T sound that's between two vowel sounds and later the T is between the a and the herb and in pretty the T sound is between e and E now remember again that a written letter is not the same as a sound the words write and note both end in a written II but that e is silent so we cannot say that the T is between vowel sounds in those two words now there is an

exception to the between vowels rule if the vowel after the tea is stressed that means that with our voice we make that vowel loud long and higher in pitch in this case the tea is not a flap examples include a tend protect hotel and scientific you'll notice each of these words had a hard T in it rather than a flap and that's because the vowel sound after that T was a stressed vowel now let me leave you with something to think about each of the following words has more than one T sound attitude opportunity and

flight attendant determine which T's our regular T's and which T's our flaps in these words check your answers in the comment section below and leave me a comment letting me know how you did on this little quiz thanks for watching [Music]