Hello and welcome back to pronunciation with Emma, or welcome if you're brand new to my channel. In today's English pronunciation lesson you're going to learn how to pronounce all the vowel sounds in British English. We'll cover how to pronounce all the Mononpthongs, the Dipthongs and the Tripthongs in English, then at the end of this lesson we will practice 15 different vowel minimal pairs so you can hear the difference between very similar sounds and learn how to understand and pronounce them.
So, if you confuse sounds like ee and e or eh and ah or ah and aah then that section of the video will be very very useful for you! So, at the start of this video I said British English pronunciation but what does that mean? I basically mean Received Pronunciation and Modern Received pronunciation.
However, I will be making references to Northern accents as I'm from Yorkshire and there are some interesting vowel differences that you may like to know that will help you with your understanding, if you ever come and visit the UK. To help you improve your English pronunciation faster, I highly recommend you download today's free pdf the free pdf contains all of today's lesson notes as well as some extra activities to help you practice your pronunciation of the vowels in English, just click the link Down Below in the description to download your free pdf! Now, you may be struggling with English pronunciation and speaking more fluently which is completely normal the best way to tackle this problem is by taking one-to-one lessons with a qualified and experienced English teacher and the best platform to help you find your English teacher is Preply!
Preply has thousands of English tutors from around the world who can create tailored lessons to your level and goals it's so quick and easy to find a tutor who matches exactly what you're looking for saving you so much time. Just click the link in the description of this video to book your first lesson. Now it's time for today's lesson please make sure that you're in a quiet space where you can listen to this lesson carefully and speak aloud.
Feel free to also use a mirror so you can see your mouth and make sure you're doing the correct positions. Are you ready? Let's go!
Let's start with the Mononpthongs. There are 12 Monpthongs in English but in this lesson I'm going to show you 13 and I'll explain why in a moment. Let's start with the first vowel sound - this one is "ee", ee.
I like to call this one the smiley e because you smile as you say it. To make this sound make sure that you're smiling - "ee" so your lips are spread and your tongue is very flat. Try not to raise your tongue at the back and don't curl your tongue make sure it's very very flat.
If you find that the sides of your tongue here are touching your top teeth that's also completely normal okay keep it very very flat - ee, ee. And try to imagine that you're pronouncing the sound towards the front of the mouth so you're not saying like eh but "ee". It's towards the front of the mouth.
For example, eat eat, feel feel, see see. The next sound is "ih". This one I like to call the miserable ih because I'm not smiling this time - "ih".
So, with this sound make sure your mouth is a little bit more relaxed so we're not "ee", we're not smiling like the first sound but "ih" - it's more relaxed. With some students I say put your fingers like this and if you feel that your mouth, that your lips, are spreading past it like "ee" -then it means that you're doing the other sound, the one we just looked at. Make sure your lips stay inside - "ih".
Your jaw may also just drop down a little bit as well - ih, ih, ih. When it comes to the tongue placement, make sure the back of your tongue comes up just a little bit - "ih". For example - inside, inside.
Kitchen, kitchen. Now there are no words in English which end with "ih" what you'll find instead is they end with a shorter version of the sound we looked at before and this is going to be our third extra vowel, the one I mentioned that shouldn't be really here but I've included it as an extra sound. So, if you remember the first sound we looked at was "ee", it was smiley and very long, the third sound that we're going to look at is just a shorter version of that so we're still going to smile but we're going to make the vowel weaker.
Now, this shorter version this "i" sound does not appear in the British Phonemic chart and that's because it's just the same sound as the first vowel we looked at, but I've included it here because it's still an important sound for you to learn. This sound only really appears at the end of words in weak syllables, especially words that end in a "y". For example, "happy".
Some more examples are - coffee, coffee. Lucky, lucky. So, we're not using the first vowel we're not saying - "happee", "luckee", "coffeee".
It's not a long sound, we're still smiling but it's much shorter and the second one. The miserable "ih" isn't quite the same because it's more relaxed, we're not smiling, so if you use that in place of this sound here these words would sound like - "happih", "coffih", "luckih", and that sounds a little bit like you're from the North of England almost! That's a vowel sound that they use at the end of these sorts of words.
So, if you're interested in having more of a Northern twang to your accent or perhaps you maybe live in the North of England then you will definitely hear these and you can say them this way as well so you can say "happih", "coffih", "luckih" or "lockih" - we'll talk about that vowel the other vowel in a moment in "lucky". The next sound is "ouh". This time your lips are very round, round your lips like you're going to give a kiss, and imagine that the sound this time is further back in the mouth.
Your tongue is also going to come up a little bit at the back. Make sure that you are also not curling your tongue like this otherwise you get a sound like "ou", and that sounds like a sound used more in French, for example, so don't curl your tongue! Just raise it at the back and make sure your lips are nice and round - ouh, ouh.
For example - put, put. Into, into. Now, I might be saying that one a little bit weird and that's because we usually say "into" - we usually use an "ooh" sound, which I'm going to get to in a moment, however in Rapid Speech what you will hear is this word changes to "intouh" like, "I went into the building" - so, it becomes the short "ouh" sound when we use it quickly in Rapid Speech.
So, if you're thinking "Emma, it sounds weird when you say it there", like, yeah it does sound weird it's normally said as "into" when it's in a sentence. The next sound is "ooh". This one is very very similar to the "ouh" sound, and with my beginners I usually just say treat "ooh" and "ouh" as basically a long and short form of the same sound, but if you're wanting to be very, very specific they're technically not the same sound.
The reason why I teach beginners that they are just a long and short version of each other is because they don't usually cause that much confusion, and there's no way for you to really say a bad word, like, for example, with "ih" and "ee". But the difference here is that "ooh" is higher in the mouth, so you move your tongue just a little bit closer to the top of your mouth and make sure that the vowel is long - ooh, ooh. Make sure that you are not - do not!
- curl your tongue, just like the last sound. So, it's not "oou", "oou", okay, but "ooh". It's a lot more relaxed but your tongue does come up quite high - ooh.
For example, ooze, ooze. Unusual, unusual. Blue, blue.
The next sound is "eh". With this one you drop your jaw and you smile - eh, eh. Try to imagine as well that you're pronouncing this sound towards the front of the mouth - eh.
So it's here, eh. For example - every, every. Bed, bed.
The next sound is the famous Schwa Vowel Sound. This sound is completely relaxed, so if we think about the previous sound we were smiling and lowering our jaw - eh, eh - with this one we're not going to do anything, completely relaxed. I know that sounds so alien to some people cuz they're like "but it's a vowel, you must have to do something?
" - no, it's a completely relaxed central vowel - "euh". So, imagine you're pronouncing it in the middle of your mouth - euh, euh. For example - about, about.
Banana, banana. Doctor, doctor. The next sound is "uhh".
So, keep this very, very relaxed. This is very similar to the sound that we just looked at, it is a central relaxed vowel. So, imagine again you're pronouncing it in the centre of your mouth and keep everything very relaxed but just make the sound longer "uhh".
For example - early, early. Girl, girl. Fur, fur.
The next sound is "ohh". I want you to imagine that this is still quite relaxed like the "uhh", sound but we're going to round our mouth slightly. So, if we take an "uh" and round it it sounds like but we're going to pronounce it, instead of in the centre we're going to pronounce it further back in our mouth so we get "oh".
So, hear the difference - "ohh". For example - "always", "always". Born, born.
Core, core. So make sure the vowel is really long. The next sound is "ah".
Notice that this one is very open so your jaw drops all the way down - ah. And make sure you're opening your mouth wide as well, I want you to imagine with the sound that we're pronouncing it towards the front of the mouth so we're not saying "agh" at the back but we're saying it as ah, ah. Imagine it's here - ah.
And keep your tongue quite flat as well you may feel it go up a little bit at the back and that's completely normal. For example - apple, apple. Cat, cat.
The key thing here is that you're not smiling otherwise you're going to get the "eh" sound. So you got "eh", "eh", "ah, "ah". So make sure you're not smiling otherwise you're going to get the other sound "eh".
The next sound is again a central sound like the schwa we looked at. So think about the schwa, we relax our mouth "uh" but this time I want you to drop your jaw down a little bit more so it becomes "uh", "uh". For example - under, under.
So here we have the schwa at the end "duh" and then the "uh" sound in the first syllable - under, under. Stuff, stuff. So make sure you're dropping your jaw for this one "stu", "stuff".
This is a sound that I also had to learn because in the North of England in Yorkshire where I'm from this sound is not used, it doesn't exist we replace this "uh" sound with "oh" so "under" sounds like "onder" and stuff sounds like "stoff". So, be prepared for people to say things like "pob" and "boss" if you go to the North of England because "uh" just doesn't exist! The next sound is "ahh", "ahh".
So this sound I usually teach it as just being a longer version of the "uh" sound the that we just looked at but again if we're being more specific like we are in this video it's actually a tiny bit further back. So "uh" is very central and more relaxed in the mouth with just the jaw dropping down but "ahh" is pronounced a little bit further back in the mouth, it's also a longer sound as well. "ahh" - arm, arm.
Not um, um. So you can hear the difference here in the vowel length. "Ahhrm".
Here are some more words - start, start. Car, car. Again, I'm not pronouncing the "r" letters in these words so bear that in mind.
The next sound is "oh". To make this one make sure that your lips are rounded - o, o, o. And make sure that you're pronouncing it at the back of your mouth "oh".
For example, on on. Lot, lot. Now for the dipthongs!
There are eight dipthongs in English. Dipthongs are a combination of two vowel sounds together that sit in one syllable so when you pronounce a dipthong make sure that you're transitioning from one sound to the other, don't try to pronounce them as two separate vowel sounds try to connect them. Our first dipthong is "ei".
So we're gonna start with, e, e, e and move to an i - ei, ei. For example - eight, eight. Face, face.
Play, play. The next is "ai", ai so we're transitioning, it's not a i, for example ice, ice. Time, time.
Cry, cry. The next dipthong is my favourite one it's "oi". So, you're going to start with your lips very round "O" and then transition to an "i" - o i.
For example, oil, oil. Choice, choice. Boy, boy.
The next is "ow". So start very open "ow", then go into a kind of kissing face, "ow". Out, out.
Here are some more examples mouth, mouth so make sure you're transitioning between the vowels - mouth. Now, now. The next one is "Oh", "uooh" so we're starting from a very relaxed position "uh" and then moving to an "oo", "uooh", "Oh".
Now, this pronunciation is Received Pronunciation. Another way that you may hear this, which may be a little bit easier for you, is the Modern Received Pronunciation which is just slightly different. The Modern received Pronunciation is "uoh", "uoh".
So instead of starting from a very relaxed position oh you're going to open your mouth a little bit more and drop your jaw more - oh, oh. I'm teaching you both the Modern Received Pronunciation and the Received Pronunciation here because you're more likely to hear the Modern Received variant, so you're more likely to hear "oh" than you are "uooh" which is perceived as being a little bit more Posh. So let's practice the Modern Received Pronunciation version "oh" in some words - only, only.
Boat, Boat. No, no. And now the Received Pronunciation - only, only.
Boat, Boat. No, no. The next sound is "ieh" so we're starting from "ih" and relaxing "e".
For example - ear, ear. Earring, earring. Near, near.
The next sound is "eah", "eah". So we're moving from a smiley "eh" to a more relaxed schwa "eah". However what you will hear a lot of people do is instead of saying "eah", they will say "ehh".
So they take that first vowel and they just make it longer. For example, in the word "air", air, as in the air you breathe. Some other words are fairy, fairy - fairy, fairy.
Where, where - where, where. The difference is very, very subtle, but you will hear more people using the "ehh" variety [oh, there's a fly, *laughs*]. You will hear more people using the "ehh" variety than "eah" as "eah" is perceived as a little bit more Posh.
The next sound is "ooer", "ooer". Now depending on where you're from in the UK , or depending on where you are, you may hear this pronounced in different ways. So, in the north where I'm from a lot of people say it as "ooer".
So a lot of people say "shooer", "tooer", "looer", "cyooer". And it's a really strong "ooer" sound. However in Received Pronunciation it's a little bit softer so it sounds more like "shuer", "tuer", instead of "tooer", "cyooer" - it's not as strong.
Here are some more words to practice. You have - curious, curious. Pure pure.
Now one interesting thing that's happening with this "ooer" dip thong is that many people are starting to transition to pronouncing it more like "or", especially when it's at the end of words, so if you take words like "tour", "sure" and "cure" they can sound more like "tor", "shor" and "cyor", depending on the person. So, if you hear that keep that in mind that it's not a different word, it's just a different pronunciation of this dipthong. Next we're going to look at the tripthongs in English.
There are five tripthongs in English. Tripthongs are where we pronounce three vowel sounds together. They typically comprise of an existing dipthong, so an existing two sounds that go together with a schwa sound.
Some people say that tripthongs in English don't exist however we can't deny the fact that English does have words which have three vowel sounds together and sometimes this can be difficult for English Learners to pronounce so we're going to cover them in their own special tripthong unit in this lesson. Our first tripthong is "aiyuh", aiyuh. So, this is the combination of the dipthong "ai " with the schwa "uh", "aiyuh".
Now a really good question that one of my students asked me was Emma I can hear a little "Yuh" when you say this and you're not crazy you are hearing a "yuh", "aiyuh". And that's the transition between that "ih" and the schwa - "aiyuh". Let's practice in some words - iron, iron.
Diet, diet. Fire, fire, fire. The next is "aowuh" so we're going from "aow" and then relaxing to "uh" - aowuh, aowuh.
For example - hour, hour. Powerful, powerful. Tower, tower.
The next is "eiyuh", eiyuh. Again you're going to hear that "yuh" sound in there a little bit as well so you're not crazy for thinking there's a "yuh" in there if you do think that. So we say it like eiyuh, eiyuh.
For example - layered, layered. Player, player. The next is "oiyuh", oiiyuh.
So again that "yuh" is there, oiyuh, oiyuh. For example - loyal, loyal. Lawyer, lawyer.
And our last tripthong "ouwuh", ouuwuh, ouuwuh, ouwuh. Now of course if we're doing the Modern Receive Pronunciation, it changes slightly to "ohwuh" ohwuh, so ouwuh - ohwuh. For example - lower - lower or lowed - lowed.
Slower - slower, slowed - slowed. The difference there is so subtle so doesn't matter so much if you can't hear the difference between "ouwuh" and "ohwuh", okay, that's fine! Now we're going to talk about minimal pairs.
Minimal pairs in English are where you have two words where only one sound is different. So if you have difficulties with for example "ih" and "ee" or "ah" and "eh", don't worry in this section we're going to cover them you can also use the time stamps down below to find the sounds that you more easily confuse so you can go and watch those sections and practice those minimal pairs. We're going to start with the most commonly confused minimal pair which is "ee" and "ih" so the smiley "ee" and the miserable "ih".
Remember with the first one it's very spread very smiley and very long, ee, ee - sheep, sheep. But with "ih", it's very, very relaxed - ship, ship. So in this minimal pair we have: sheep, sheep - ship, ship.
Here are two more: leave, leave - live, live. Heat, heat - hit hit. The next minimal pair is "eh", "eh", a smiley eh, and "ah", "ah", so you're relaxing your mouth a little bit more but it's still very open.
"eh" is pronounced further forward in the mouth, "eh", while "ah" is pronounced further back and it's wider, with "ah" we don't smile. Let's have a look at these minimal pairs we have: bet, bet - bat, bat. Met, met - mat, mat.
Men, men - man, man. Next is "ouh" and "ooh". Now as I mentioned before with beginners I usually just say don't worry about getting these perfect, just make sure you're getting the length - that's the most important thing.
But if we're being very specific here, which we are in this video, make sure that you're doing the "ooh" sound a little bit more closed with your tongue higher up and remember we don't curl our tongue for "ouh" or "ooh", okay, we're not saying "ou" or "ouu", we're going to keep it more relaxed "ouh", "ohh". For example: full, full - fool, fool. Would, would - wooed, wooed.
Could, could - cooed, cooed. The next is "uh" and "ah". So remember "uh" is very very relaxed, we're just going to drop our jaw "uh", "uh".
While "ah" is a much more open vowel sound, and remember it's further back. "Oh" is more central, "ah" is further back - "oh", "ah". For example: luck, luck - lack, lack.
Cup, cup - cap, cap. Cut, cut - cat, cat. Next we have "oh" and "ough".
Now with my beginner students, I usually just say don't worry about these, one is long and one is short, it's the same sound, and that's because really the difference is so subtle, but actually with the "oh" sound your jaw drops down a little bit more so "oh" and "ough" are both pronounced at the back but "oh" is a little bit further down meaning, it's more open, that's what I want to say, it's not down in the mouth, it's more open, okay? So "oh", "ough" - "oh", "ough". For example: cot, cot - caught, caught.
So second one is much longer. Here are some more examples: not, not - naught, naught. Bot, bot - bought, bought.
Next we have "uooh" or "uoh" and and "ough". So the key difference here is with "uoh", I'm going to use the Modern Received Pronunciation here just for ease, but we have "o" the key thing is that you're moving your mouth - uoh, uoh, with the second sound "ough", it's just one straight long sound nothing moves, "uoh", "ough". For example: code, code - cord, cord.
Boat, boat - bought, bought. So, so - saw, saw. Next is "oh" versus "uoh".
Now again I'm going to teach the modern receive pronunciation version, "uoh", just for simplicity, and because you're more likely to hear "uoh" than "uooh". So "oh", is very short and it's just one sound "oh", while "uoh", "uoh". You're moving from "uh", to "ooh," so there's movement in your mouth with that second sound.
For example: bot, bot - boat, boat. Cot, cot - coat, coat. Not, not - note, note.
Next we have "eih" and "aih". "Eih" starts more smiley, "eih", while "aih" starts more open. Here are some examples: late, late - light, light.
Vain, vain - vine, vine. Maine, maine - mine, mine. Next we have "eh" and "euuh".
"Eh" is very short and make sure you're smiling, eh, eh, eh, eh, while "euuh" is completely relaxed, remember it's a central vowel, completely relaxed, and very long "euuh". For example: bed, bed - bird, bird. Head, head - heard, heard.
End, end - earned, earned. Next is "ih" and "eh". So with "ih" it's a bit more relaxed, remember it's the miserable, "ih", it's very miserable, so no smiling, and very short.
"Eh" is more open so drop the jaw more and make sure you're smiling, "eh", "eh". "Ih", "eh". For example: bit, bit - bet, bet.
Big, big - beg, beg. Sit, sit - set, set. Next is "uh" and "euuh".
Now "uh" is very relaxed, remember it's in the middle, but we just drop our jaw a little bit - uh, uh. While "euuh" is very relaxed and it's a very long sound - euuh, euuh. Here are some minimal pairs: cut, cut - curt, curt.
Luck, luck -lurk, lurk. Shut, shut - shirt, shirt. The next is "eh" and "eih".
"Eh" this one vowel sound make sure you're smiling "eh", while "aih", is a transition from "eh" to the miserable "ih", "eih". So make sure you're moving your mouth as you're doing this one - eh, eih. In minimal pairs we have: sell, sell - sail, sail.
Wet, wet - wait, wait. Let, let - late, late. Number 13 we're nearly at the end!
This time we have "ahh", "ahh", drop the jaw and "uhh" relax it's in the center "uhh" and completely relaxed, "ahh", "uhh", and they're both long sounds as well. For example: heart, heart - hurt, hurt. Barn, barn - burn, burn.
Star, star - stir, stir. Next we have "uh" and "ahh". Now "ahh" is a much longer sound, "uh" is also more central.
You just drop your jaw - uh, uh. While "ahh" is a little bit further back and it's much longer so you have: uh, ahh. Uh, ahh.
For example: cut , cut - cart, cart. Hum, hum - heart, heart. Come, come - calm , calm.
And our final minimal pair, we are nearly done with today's lesson, I can tell this video is going to be a beast! It's "euhh" and or "oughh". Keep it relaxed "oughh", round the mouth and remember it's at the back of the mouth "euhh" it's in the center it's very relaxed, "oughh" is at the back.
Now you can do this as the final set of minimal pairs: learn, learn - lawn, lawn. Work, work - walk, walk. Firm, firm - form, form.
Well done you have made it to the end of this English pronunciation lesson on all the vowels in English! Remember to practice what you've learned with the free downloadable PDF it is a monster PDF just like this lesson so if you've enjoyed today's lesson for sure you're going to love this PDF as well, to help you practice everything you have learned today! Remember if you'd like to improve your English pronunciation faster and you like corrections and feedback to make sure you're pronouncing these vowels correctly, go and book your first lesson on Preply, the link is down below in the description.
Your teacher will be able to help correct you, and ensure you're pronouncing all these vowel sounds correctly. Remember to use the code Emma to get 50% off your first lesson. If you've enjoyed this lesson and learned something new then please give this video a like, it helps me out so much.
If you would like more weekly videos to help you improve your British English pronunciation and listening skills then remember to subscribe to my channel. If you have made it this far in the video then thank you so so much for watching a big special thank you to you, let me know down in the comments what's your favourite animal my favourite animal. .
. I don't have one, I don't have a favourite animal. I don't think I have animals that I don't like more like insects I don't like, I don't like ticks, I don't like mosquitoes, and I don't like cockroaches - I hate cockroaches!
I really really hate them. But everything else I love. So let me know what your favourite animal is in the comments and I will see you in the next English pronunciation lesson!
Bye-bye.
