11 Pronunciation Hacks

Simplify Your English, Make Your Life Easier

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We’ve collected 11 pronunciation hacks that are guaranteed to make

your English easier, simpler, and more fun! Practice and drill these
words and sentences out loud.

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Hack #1:
Don’t always pronounce the TH

The words ‘clothes’ and ‘months’ are commonly pronounced without

the TH sound.

● Clothes: Instead of klowthz /kloʊðz/,

say klowz /kloʊz/.

● Months: Instead of munths /mʌnθs/,

say muns/mʌns/.

Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● I need to wash my clothes.

● She bought new clothes for the party.

● He folded his clothes neatly.

● The clothes are hanging in the closet.

● Her birthday is in a few months.

● We’ve known each other for months now.

● The summer months here are usually hot.

● It’ll take several months to complete the project.

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Hack #2:
Don’t stick your tongue out fully for the TH in function words

When using function words such as ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’, and

‘them’, don’t stick your tongue out for the TH. Instead, place the tip of

your tongue lightly on the back of your teeth, as if you’re pronouncing a

D sound on your teeth.

⚡ Function words are words that have little meaning on their own.
They are reduced in spoken English and not fully pronounced.

Practice these function words in sentences:

● I don’t think this cake is the right cake for him.

● I’ve been thinking about them ever since I was at the party.

● I didn’t think that movie was really funny.

● Do you know who planted the flowers in that garden?

● Do people live in these houses?

● Who are these people? Do you know them?

● Those cookies smell amazing.

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Hack #3:
Drop the T/D sound between consonants in connected speech

The T or D sounds are often dropped when they are at the end of a word
in between two consonant sounds. For example:

● Instead of ‘just saying’, say: jus-saying

● Instead of ‘best thing’, say: bes-thing

● Instead of ‘stand with’, say: stan-with

● Instead of ‘next person’, say: neks-person

Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● I’m just saying that you could have helped them.

● It’s the best thing that ever happened.

● Let us stand with one another, united.

● It’s not the most common place to go on a first date.

● My next door neighbor has 9 cats.

● I was exhausted but I kept going.

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Hack #4:
Drop the H sound in unstressed pronouns

Unstressed pronouns are usually reduced in English. When an

unstressed pronoun starts with an H sound, speakers often don’t
pronounce it. Therefore, words like ‘her’, ‘him’, ‘hers’, and ‘his’ are
pronounced ‘er, ‘im, ‘erz, ‘iz.

Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● Tell her that she can go.

● Bring her along.

● Can you get him his bag?

● Does his brother know him?

● Everyone wants to have a smile like hers.

Hack #5:
You can drop the L sound in some words

The words ‘always’, ‘already’, and ‘alright’ are commonly pronounced

without the L sound at the end of the first syllable.

● always: Instead of aal-weiz/ɑlweɪz/,

say aa-weiz /ɑweɪz/.

● already: Instead of aal-redi /ɑlɹɛdi/,

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 say aa-redi/ɑɹɛdi/.

● alright: instead of aal-rait /ɑlɹaɪt/,

say aa-rait/ɑɹaɪt/.

Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● I always knew he was trouble.

● I’ll always love you.

● I already did my homework.

● She’s already there.

● The food was alright.

● Are you feeling alright?

Hack #6:
Don’t always pronounce the soft R

The soft R is an R sound that comes after a vowel, as in the words ‘car’,
‘forth’, ‘fair’, ‘cure’, ‘fear’, and ‘water’. When it appears in an unstressed
syllable, the soft R can sometimes be dropped.

● yesterday: instead of yes-t’r-dei, simply say: yes-tuh-dei.

● particularly: instead of p’r-ti-kyuw-l’r-lee, simply say:

puh-ti-kyuw-luh-lee.

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 ● comfortable: instead of kuhmf-t’r-b’l, simply say:

kuhmf-tuh-b’l.

● for: instead of for, simply say: f’r

Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● We met yesterday.

● They had a wonderful time yesterday.

● The coffee had a particularly rich aroma.

● I’m not comfortable doing this.

● It’s for them.

● Don’t do it for me.

⚡ There are three different types of R: Strong R, Soft R and Stir R.

Learn more about them here.

Hack #7:
Reduce and connect words

English has several common reductions in connected speech. For

example, the reduced form ‘wadaya’, means either ‘what are you’ or
‘what do you’.

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 Practice this reduction in sentences:

● Wadaya want?

● Wadaya know about it?

● Wadaya mean?

● Wadaya do for a living?

● Wadaya need?

● Wadaya doing?

● Wadaya gonna do?

● Wadaya eating?

● Wadaya working on?

● Wadaya waiting for?

Hack #8:
Connect a consonant to a vowel

When you connect words together, and one word ends in a consonant
and the next begins with a vowel, the consonant of the first word
becomes the beginning of the next word. For example:

● Make it: instead of meik-it, say: mei-kit.

● All over: instead of aal-ow-v’r, say: aa-low-v’r.

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 ● Love her: instead of luhv-h’r, say: luh-v’r.

● I’m only: instead of aim-own-lee, say: ai-mown-lee

Practice connected speech in sentences:

● Come over here.

● Just leave it.

● End it now.

● Let’s just call it a day.

● Would you like some fresh apples?

● I could ask you the same question.

Hack #9:
Don’t pronounce the B in words that end in MB

The letter B in words that end in MB is silent and should not be

pronounced. For example:

● climb: klaim /klaɪm/

● comb: kowm /koʊm/

● lamb: lam /læm/

● bomb: baam /bɑm/

● thumb: thum /θʌm/

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 Practice these pronunciations in sentences:

● This wall is too high to climb over.

● You need to comb your hair.

● The sheep had only one lamb.

● The bomb went off.

● I hit my thumb so badly.

● That was a dumb mistake.

● He brushed the crumbs off his shirt.

Hack #10:
Don’t pronounce the O in words that begin with WOR

The letter O in words that are spelled with the letter sequence WOR

represents the sound /ɜ/ as in the words ‘stir’, ‘burn’, and ‘learn’. To

pronounce this sound, move directly from the W sound to the R sound.

● work: w’rk /wɜɹk/

● worm: w’rm /wɜɹm/

● world: w’rld /wɜɹld/

● word: w’rd /wɜɹd/

● worse: w’rs /wɜɹs/

● worth: w’rth /wɜɹθ/

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 Practice these words in sentences:

● I have to go to work early tomorrow.

● She spotted a little worm in the garden.

● He dreams of traveling the world.

● ‘World’ is a difficult word.

● This painting is worth a lot of money.

Hack #11:
Reduce small function words and connect them to neighboring
words

Short, one-syllable function words like ‘or’, ‘and’, and ‘of’ are often
reduced in connected speech, which means that the vowel is reduced
to a schwa /ə/, and sometimes even a consonant or two may be
dropped and not be pronounced. These function words usually link to
the word that comes before or after them. For example:

● and: instead of and /ænd/, try using /ən/

Bread and butter: breadən-butter

● or: instead of or /ɔɹ/, try using ər /əɹ/

Black or white: blackər-white

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 ● of: instead of uhv /ʌv/, try using əv /əv/, or even just /ə/

Couple of weeks: coupləv-weeks, or couplə-weeks

Practice these reductions in sentences:

● There were 10 boys and girls in the yard.

● Apples and oranges don’t taste the same.

● I love rock and roll.

● Our summer camp is suitable for boys or girls of all ages.

● You can have soup or salad.

● They’re out of control.

● He’s kind of nice.

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