Pronunciation of consonants at the end of words

 

Many learners fail to pronounce well consonants or groups of consonants at the end of words, mostly speakers of languages with few combinations of consonant sounds (Japanese, Chinese or Spanish).   Here's a list with the most common combinations.

Remember: final D's sound almost as hard as T's (stopped > ssstop't)

One consonant	Consonant +s	Consonant + hard consonant	Two consonants + s
cat	cats
stop	stops	stopped
walk	walks	walked
god	gods
job	jobs	robbed
bag	bags	bagged
live	lives	lift	lifts
love	loves	loved
bath	baths	bathed
call	calls	adult	adults
teacher	teachers	work	works
name	names	named
coin	coins	point	points
house	houses /_sis/	list	lists
wash	washes /_shis/	washed
face	faces /_sis/	faced
watch	watches /_chis/	watched
change	changes /_dshis/	changed
freeze	freezes /_dsis/
tax	taxes /_ksis/	sixth	sixths

If you fail to pronounce them correctly, try these two tricks:
- Pronounce the words slowly, make the consonants very long, and a pause between hard consonants (stopped > ssstop'd). Then do it faster.
- Add a vowel sound at the end (stopped > ssstop'de). Then remove it.

Pronunciation of vowels in English. Diphthong and flat sounds.

Learners find a lot of trouble to pronounce new words in English. There are few consistent rules and a lot of  exception. However, there are certain patterns that can help you get your pronunciation right in most cases. The following rule will help you to figure out how to read vowels in new words you still don't know.

Reading vowels: Diphthong and flat sounds.

Vowels are often read like diphthongs, the same way they are spelt in the alphabet, like for instance these words: make for A, these for E, like for I, phone for O, music for U.

Otherwise, they are read like flat sounds, the same way they are read in man for A, get for E, did for I, not for O, but for U.

Below there is a list of words split by syllables. You will see how vowels at the end of syllables are read like diphthongs, whereas the rest are read like flat sounds.

Dipthong A: pla-ce, ca-se, ma-ke, ta-ke, sa-me, la-ter, pa-per, pla-te, ta-ble, Sta-tes
Flat A: and, back, can, had, that, man, hand, fact, ask, last, af-ter, mat-ter, as-sist, at-tach, ban-ner, man-ner, af-ford, ad-dress, ad-dittion

Dipthong E:  re-ceive, be-fore, le-gal, the-se, re-port, se-rious, de-pend, re-pair, be-cause
Flat E: get, her, tell, then, well, when, yes, next, less, yet, get-ting, hel-lo, bel-ly, let-ter, mes-sage, bet-ter, ef-fect, sel-ler, yel-low

Dipthong I: li-ke, ti-me, li-fe, ni-ce,  fi-ne, qui-te, kni-fe, I-reland, Chi-na, ti-ger
Flat I: did, him, his, think, this, will, with, thing, big, still, lit-tle, dif-ferent, sin-ce, kil-ler, win-ner, mir-ror, big-ger, bit-ter, vil-lage, din-ner

Dipthong O: o-ver, tho-se, ho-tel, ho-me, pho-ne, so-cial, no-tice, Ro-me, jo-ke, ho-pe
Flat O: from, got, not, long, front, wrong, lot, job, boss, shop, on-ly, of-fice, bot-tle, cof-fee, col-lege, hos-tel, poc-ket, hot-ter,  Tom-my, com-pany

Dipthong U: u-se, stu-dent, mu-sic, U-nited, pu-re, hu-man, mu-te, cu-te, cu-re, U-niversity
Flat U: but,  just, cup, much, must, stuff, lunch, cut, luck, duck, un-der, Dub-lin, bub-ble, but-ter, cur-ry, sum-mer, sub-ject, num-ber, Rus-sia

Although there are exceptions to this pattern, it is still very consistent. It's the best way to figure out how to read vowels a word you don't know, therefore I would recommend that you practice until you master it.

Pronunciation of vowels in English. Diphthong and flat sounds.

Learners find a lot of trouble to pronounce new words in English. There are few consistent rules and a lot of  exception. However, there are certain patterns that can help you get your pronunciation right in most cases. The following rule will help you to figure out how to read vowels in new words you still don't know.

Reading vowels: Diphthong and flat sounds.

Vowels are often read like diphthongs, the same way they are spelt in the alphabet, like for instance these words: make for A, these for E, like for I, phone for O, music for U.

Otherwise, they are read like flat sounds, the same way they are read in man for A, get for E, did for I, not for O, but for U.

Below there is a list of words split by syllables. You will see how vowels at the end of syllables are read like diphthongs, whereas the rest are read like flat sounds.

Dipthong A: pla-ce, ca-se, ma-ke, ta-ke, sa-me, la-ter, pa-per, pla-te, ta-ble, Sta-tes
Flat A: and, back, can, had, that, man, hand, fact, ask, last, af-ter, mat-ter, as-sist, at-tach, ban-ner, man-ner, af-ford, ad-dress, ad-dittion

Dipthong E:  re-ceive, be-fore, le-gal, the-se, re-port, se-rious, de-pend, re-pair, be-cause
Flat E: get, her, tell, then, well, when, yes, next, less, yet, get-ting, hel-lo, bel-ly, let-ter, mes-sage, bet-ter, ef-fect, sel-ler, yel-low

Dipthong I: li-ke, ti-me, li-fe, ni-ce,  fi-ne, qui-te, kni-fe, I-reland, Chi-na, ti-ger
Flat I: did, him, his, think, this, will, with, thing, big, still, lit-tle, dif-ferent, sin-ce, kil-ler, win-ner, mir-ror, big-ger, bit-ter, vil-lage, din-ner

Dipthong O: o-ver, tho-se, ho-tel, ho-me, pho-ne, so-cial, no-tice, Ro-me, jo-ke, ho-pe
Flat O: from, got, not, long, front, wrong, lot, job, boss, shop, on-ly, of-fice, bot-tle, cof-fee, col-lege, hos-tel, poc-ket, hot-ter,  Tom-my, com-pany

Dipthong U: u-se, stu-dent, mu-sic, U-nited, ru-les, hu-man, mu-te, cu-te, ru-de, U-niversity
Flat U: but,  just, cup, much, must, stuff, lunch, cut, luck, duck, un-der, Dub-lin, bub-ble, but-ter, cur-ry, sum-mer, sub-ject, num-ber, Rus-sia

Although there are exceptions to this pattern, it is still very consistent. It's the best way to figure out how to read vowels a word you don't know, therefore I would recommend that you practice until you master it.