Your Mouth, Tongue & Breath

Basic · Getting Started

Every sound is made by your mouth doing a specific physical action: where your tongue touches, how round your lips are, and whether your vocal cords vibrate. Once you know the action, you can make any sound on purpose instead of by luck.

Two ideas unlock most consonants. First, "voiced" vs "voiceless": put a hand on your throat — /z/ buzzes (voiced), /s/ hisses (voiceless). Second, place: where the air is blocked (lips, teeth, or the ridge behind your teeth).

Voiced vs voiceless test

Hand on throat → vibration = VOICED (b, d, g, v, z). No vibration = VOICELESS (p, t, k, f, s).

Rules & examples

  1. Voiced sounds vibrate your vocal cords; voiceless ones do not.

    Many consonants come in pairs that differ only by this vibration.

    • /s/ (hiss) vs /z/ (buzz)
    • /f/ vs /v/
    • /p/ vs /b/
  2. Lip and tongue position changes the sound.

    Rounded lips, spread lips, tongue forward or back — each creates a different sound.

    • /w/ = round lips (wet)
    • /iː/ = spread lips, like a smile (see)
  3. Breath (aspiration) matters for p, t, k at the start of words.

    A small puff of air helps these sounds in English. Hold a tissue near your mouth — it should move on "pen".

    • pen, top, cat (with a puff of air)

Tips to remember

  • Use a mirror to watch your lips and tongue while copying a native speaker.
  • For the voiced/voiceless pairs, keep everything the same and only switch the "buzz" on or off.
  • Exaggerate a new sound at first — big, slow movements build the muscle memory, then you can relax it.