American English Sounds
  • Home
  • Vowels
    • VOWEL CHART
    • Front >
      • /iy/ (see, keep)
      • /ɪ/ (sit, pick)
      • /ey/ (take, name)
      • /ɛ/ (pet, tell)
      • /æ/ (sat, past)
    • Central >
      • /ɜr/ (church, nurse)
      • /ər/ (mother, surprise)
      • /ʌ/ (cup, must)
      • /ə/ (about, undo)
      • /ɑ/ (stop, job)
    • Back >
      • /ʊ/ (good, put)
      • /uw/ (food, soon)
      • /ɔ/ (bought, lost)
      • /ow/ (low, coat)
    • Diphthongs >
      • /ɑɪ/ (light, pie)
      • /ɑʊ/ (cow, loud)
      • /ɔɪ/ (boy, voice)
  • Consonants
    • CONSONANT CHART
    • Lips (Bilabial) >
      • /p/ (peace, price)
      • /b/ (buy, brain)
      • /m/ (map, time)
      • /w/ (wait, win)
    • Lips-Teeth (Labio-dental) >
      • /f/ (fix, friend)
      • /v/ (vase, love)
    • Tongue-Teeth (Dental) >
      • /θ/ (thank, bath)
      • /ð/ (this, breathe)
    • Tongue-Gum Ridge (Alveolar) >
      • /t/ (take, stand)
      • /d/ (day, drive)
      • /s/ (sit, race)
      • /z/ (zoo, these)
      • /l/ (less, sleep)
      • /n/ (nice, man)
    • Tongue-Palate (Palatal) >
      • /ʃ/ (push, show)
      • /ʒ/ (measure, vision)
      • /tʃ/ (choose, match)
      • /dʒ/ (juice, edge)
      • /r/ (rose, borrow)
      • /y/ (yes, young)
    • Tongue-Soft Palate (Velar) >
      • /k/ (kiss, cat)
      • /g/ (gas, green)
      • /ŋ/ (hang, long)
    • Throat (Glottal) >
      • /h/ (help, hand)
  • Resources
    • Pronunciation Vocabulary
    • For Students
    • For Instructors

/d/

LISTEN

listen_to_-d-.mp3
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/d/.../d/.../d/.../d/...
​
day...drive...made...address

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
​
The sound /d/ is a voiced, alveolar, stop consonant.
  • Touch your alveolar ridge (the hard space behind your upper teeth) with the tip of your tongue.
  • Move your tongue sharply downward and let air out in a short burst.
  • Your vocal cords should vibrate.

The sound /d/ can be in these consonant clusters:
  • Beginning of a Syllable
  • End of a Syllable
<
>
d_initial_clusters.mp3
File Size: 71 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

​​/dr/ - drink
/dw/ - dwell
d_final_clusters.mp3
File Size: 908 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/rd/ ("rd" / "red") - hard, feared
/ld/ ("ld" / "led" / "lled') - told, piled, filled
/nd/ ("nd" / "ned" "nned")  - land, rained, planned​
/md/ ("med" / "mmed" / "mbed") - claimed, hummed, combed
/lmd/ ("lmed") - calmed
/rmd/ ("med") - har
med
/bd/ ("bed" / "bbed") - cubed, robbed
/gd/ ("gged") - hugged
/vd/ ("ved") - loved
​
​​/zd/ ("zed" / "sed") - amazed, raised

/ðd/ ('thed") - breathed
​
/dʒd/ ("ged" / "dged") - raged, judged

/dz/ ("ds" / "des") - roads, grades
/rdz/ ("rds") - cords
/ldz/ ("lds") - builds
/ndz/ ("nds") - frie​nds

​Spelling:
  • "d" - had, avoid
  • "de" - made, reside
  • "dd" - sudden, address
  • "ed" - loved, feared

Grammar Tip:
​
The “-ed” ending is used to mark most past tense verbs, some past participles, and some participial adjectives. The “-ed” ending is pronounced /d/ after a vowel or a voiced consonant.
grammar_-d-_1.mp3
File Size: 124 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

  • loved
  • called
  • amazed
  • tried ​
​

​The "-ed" ending is pronounced 
/əd/ after the sounds /t/ or /d/.
grammar_-d-_2.mp3
File Size: 116 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

  • ​handed
  • wanted
  • interested
  • loaded

COMPARE

Compare /d/ with /t/:
compare_d-t_1.mp3
File Size: 126 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/d/.../t/.../d/.../t/.../d/.../t/...

These are both alveolar, stop consonants. However, /d/ is a voiced consonant and /t/ is a voiceless consonant. When you pronounce /t/, your vocal cords should vibrate.

You can hear the difference between /d/ and /t/ in these words.
compare_d-t_words.mp3
File Size: 208 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. A. dip, B. tip
2. A. drunk​, B. trunk
3. A. pad, B. pat
4. A. mend, B. meant
5. A. burned, B. burnt
6. 
A. rending, B. renting

Practice recognizing words with /d/ and /t/ by taking the quiz below.

Compare Word Forms:
As extra practice, take the quiz below. You will listen to sentences with or without a verb that ends in "-ed" and identify which sentence you hear.

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:
words_with_-d-.mp3
File Size: 601 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. dot
2. dear
3. drink
4. draw
5. dresser
6. sad 
7. tend
8. birds
9. learned
10. loved
11. judged
12. understand
13. divided
14. address
15. redo
16. thunder
17. medicine
18. bundle
19. mandatory
20. dedicated  

​Now, practice /d/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.
sentences_with_-d-.mp3
File Size: 1986 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. doctors - diagnose - kinds - diseases
Doctors diagnose all kinds of diseases.

2. did - decide - dessert
Did you decide what you want for dessert?

3. children - dressing - different
Children love dressing up as different ​characters.

4. send - include - address
When you send the invitations, include your address.

5. burned - dish - dinner
I burned the dish I was cooking for dinner.

6. heard - bad - Monday
​I heard the bad news on Monday.

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:
  • Male 1 (US Midwest - St Louis) - words, sentences
  • Male 2 (US Midwest - Iowa) - words, sentences
  • Male 3 (US Midwest) - words, sentences
  • Female 1 (US Northeast) - words, sentences
  • Female 2 (US Southeast) - words, sentences

USE IT!

​​Practice the task below. Then, record yourself completing that task. Give your recording to a teacher or an English-speaking friend for feedback.

Prepare:​
Think about the last time you prepared for a big test. What did you do to prepare? 
​​
  • Memorized information
  • Analyzed examples
  • Studied your notes
  • Reviewed old exams​
  • Stayed up all night
  • ​Discussed questions with a teacher
  • Completed a practice test
  • Joined a study group
  • Hired a tutor
  • Memorized information
  • Analyzed examples
  • Studied your notes
  • Reviewed old exams​
  • Stayed up all night​
  • ​Discussed questions with a teacher
  • Completed a practice test
  • Joined a study group
  • Hired a tutor

Record:
In your recording, describe what you did to prepare for the test. Then, explain which preparations were most helpful.

©2018-2021, Christine Wingate
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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  • Home
  • Vowels
    • VOWEL CHART
    • Front >
      • /iy/ (see, keep)
      • /ɪ/ (sit, pick)
      • /ey/ (take, name)
      • /ɛ/ (pet, tell)
      • /æ/ (sat, past)
    • Central >
      • /ɜr/ (church, nurse)
      • /ər/ (mother, surprise)
      • /ʌ/ (cup, must)
      • /ə/ (about, undo)
      • /ɑ/ (stop, job)
    • Back >
      • /ʊ/ (good, put)
      • /uw/ (food, soon)
      • /ɔ/ (bought, lost)
      • /ow/ (low, coat)
    • Diphthongs >
      • /ɑɪ/ (light, pie)
      • /ɑʊ/ (cow, loud)
      • /ɔɪ/ (boy, voice)
  • Consonants
    • CONSONANT CHART
    • Lips (Bilabial) >
      • /p/ (peace, price)
      • /b/ (buy, brain)
      • /m/ (map, time)
      • /w/ (wait, win)
    • Lips-Teeth (Labio-dental) >
      • /f/ (fix, friend)
      • /v/ (vase, love)
    • Tongue-Teeth (Dental) >
      • /θ/ (thank, bath)
      • /ð/ (this, breathe)
    • Tongue-Gum Ridge (Alveolar) >
      • /t/ (take, stand)
      • /d/ (day, drive)
      • /s/ (sit, race)
      • /z/ (zoo, these)
      • /l/ (less, sleep)
      • /n/ (nice, man)
    • Tongue-Palate (Palatal) >
      • /ʃ/ (push, show)
      • /ʒ/ (measure, vision)
      • /tʃ/ (choose, match)
      • /dʒ/ (juice, edge)
      • /r/ (rose, borrow)
      • /y/ (yes, young)
    • Tongue-Soft Palate (Velar) >
      • /k/ (kiss, cat)
      • /g/ (gas, green)
      • /ŋ/ (hang, long)
    • Throat (Glottal) >
      • /h/ (help, hand)
  • Resources
    • Pronunciation Vocabulary
    • For Students
    • For Instructors