Pronunciation of regular plural nouns

Hi! I'm going to talk about how to pronounce the final –s sound for plural nouns.

Remember the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds? We talked about it in the first chapter.
Let's review.
When you put your hand on your throat, you feel a vibration with voiced sounds. Say zzzzzz. Feel that?
Now say ssssssssss. The virbration is gone. Your throat is quiet when you make voiceless sounds. If that
didn't work, try this. Cover your ears. Say zzzzzz. It should sound loud. Now say sssss. It's quiet. Feel the
difference?

The final –s sound is a voiceless essssss after voiceless sounds like t, p, and k.
Try making those sounds:
t
p
k
Those are quiet sounds. Your throat doesn't move. Let's practice saying some nouns that end with those
sounds:
sites
caps
backs

The final –s sound is a voiced zzzzzzzzzz after voiced sounds like d, b, g, and all vowels. Let's try those
sounds:
d
b
g
Did you feel your throat move? Now let's say some nouns that end with those sounds:
sides
cabs
bags

The final –s sound is very important for your pronunciation. If you don't pronounce it correctly, some
people may misunderstand you. Try saying these two words again:
backs
bags
The only difference in the sound of those two words is the final voiceless or voiced sound. If you try to
say bag with a voiceless final –s sound, people might hear backs instead.

For words that end in the letters –sh, –ch, –s, –z, and –x, we add a final –es, not just an –s. For all of
those sounds, as well as the –j sounds, we pronounce the words with an extra syllable –əz.

Let's practice:
di–shes
wa–tches
cla–sses
qu–izzes
pa–ges

Be careful! Never add an extra syllable to a noun that does not end in –sh, –ch, –s, –x, –z, or –j.
Notice how the singular word bag and the plural form bags both have only one syllable. Do not say bag–
ez.

Clear pronunciation takes a lot of time and practice. Keep working on it!