Consonants

Learn Consonants in English and practice clear pronunciation, sound contrasts, and simple consonant clusters.

Consonants

Consonants are speech sounds made when the air meets the lips, tongue, or teeth. English has many consonant sounds. You can learn them by feeling where your mouth closes or touches.

Voice

Some consonants are voiced. Your throat moves when you say them. Some consonants are voiceless. Your throat does not move when you say them.

Word	Notation	Description
bat	/b/	This sound is voiced. Your lips close and open.
pat	/p/	This sound is voiceless. Your lips close and open.
dog	/d/	This sound is voiced. Your tongue touches behind the teeth.
top	/t/	This sound is voiceless. Your tongue touches behind the teeth.
zoo	/z/	This sound is voiced. Air moves between the tongue and teeth.
sun	/s/	This sound is voiceless. Air moves between the tongue and teeth.

Lips

Some consonants use both lips. Some use the lower lip and the top teeth. These mouth places help you make clear sounds.

Word	Notation	Description
pen	/p/	This sound uses both lips. The air stops, then comes out.
man	/m/	This sound uses both lips. Air comes through the nose.
fan	/f/	This sound uses the lower lip and top teeth. Air moves out.
van	/v/	This sound uses the lower lip and top teeth. Your throat moves.

Tongue

Many consonants use the tongue. The tongue can touch behind the teeth, the top of the mouth, or stay low. The place changes the sound.

Word	Notation	Description
ten	/t/	This sound uses the tongue behind the teeth. The air stops, then comes out.
day	/d/	This sound uses the tongue behind the teeth. Your throat moves.
yes	/j/	This sound uses the front of the tongue near the top of the mouth.
red	/r/	This sound uses the tongue near the top of the mouth. It does not fully touch.
look	/l/	This sound uses the tongue behind the teeth. Air moves at the sides.

Pairs

Some consonants are very similar. The main difference is voice. You must hear and say the small difference between the two sounds.

Word	Notation	Description
pig	/p/	This sound matches /b/ in mouth place, but it is voiceless.
big	/b/	This sound matches /p/ in mouth place, but it is voiced.
tie	/t/	This sound matches /d/ in mouth place, but it is voiceless.
die	/d/	This sound matches /t/ in mouth place, but it is voiced.
safe	/s/	This sound matches /z/ in mouth place, but it is voiceless.
zebra	/z/	This sound matches /s/ in mouth place, but it is voiced.

Final Sounds

A consonant at the end of a word is important in English. It can change the word you hear. You need to say the last sound clearly.

Word	Notation	Description
cap	final /p/	The word ends with a voiceless lip sound.
cab	final /b/	The word ends with a voiced lip sound.
hat	final /t/	The word ends with a voiceless tongue sound.
had	final /d/	The word ends with a voiced tongue sound.
rice	final /s/	The word ends with a voiceless air sound.
rise	final /z/	The word ends with a voiced air sound.

Clusters

A consonant cluster is two or more consonants together. English has clusters at the beginning and end of words. Each consonant sound stays in the word.

Word	Notation	Description
stop	/st-/	This word begins with two consonant sounds together.
play	/pl-/	This word begins with two consonant sounds together.
green	/gr-/	This word begins with two consonant sounds together.
milk	/-lk/	This word ends with two consonant sounds together.
hand	/-nd/	This word ends with two consonant sounds together.
best	/-st/	This word ends with two consonant sounds together.

What You Can Do

You can now recognize many English consonant sounds. You can feel if a sound is voiced or voiceless, and you can use your lips, tongue, and teeth to make it. You can also hear final consonants and simple consonant clusters in words.