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

/v/

LISTEN

listen_to_-v-.mp3
File Size: 294 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/v/…/v/…/v/…/v/…

vase...view...
love...ever...

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
The sound /v/ is a voiced, labiodental, fricative consonant.
  • Press your upper teeth against your lower lip.
  • Breathe out and let air escape past your teeth.
  • Your vocal cords should vibrate.
 
The sound /v/ can be in these consonant clusters
  • Beginning of a Syllable
  • End of a Syllable
<
>
(none)
v_final_clusters.mp3
File Size: 104 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/lv/ (“lve”) - shelve
/lvz/ (“lves”) - themselves
/lvd/ ("lved") - delved
​/rv/ (“rve”) - carve
/rvz/ (“rves”) - serves​
/rvd/ ("rved") - starved

​​Spelling:
  • “v”/”ve” – vet, leave
  • “f” - of
​
​
​Grammar Tip:
The sound /v/ is present in the suffix “-ive.” This suffix may turn a verb into an adjective, or sometimes a noun.
grammar_-v-.mp3
File Size: 416 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

  • act --> active (adjective)
  • create --> creative (adjective)
  • decide --> decisive (adjective)
  • direct --> directive (noun)

COMPARE

Compare /v/ with /f/:
compare_v-f_1.mp3
File Size: 159 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/v/…/f/…/v/…/f/…/v/…/f/...

Both /v/ and /f/ are labiodental, fricative consonants. However, /v/ is voiced and /f/ is voiceless. When you pronounce /v/, your vocal cords should vibrate. At the end of a word, the vowel before /v/ will be longer than the vowel before /f/.

You can hear the difference between /v/ and /f/ in these words.

compare_v-f_words.mp3
File Size: 172 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

2. A. veer, B. fear
1. A. vine, B. fine
3. A. view, B. few
4. A. save, B. safe
6. A. believe, B. belief
​5. A. proves, B. proofs

Practice recognizing words with /v/ and /f/ by taking the quiz below.

​Now, compare /v/ with /w/:
compare_v-w_1.mp3
File Size: 172 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

/v/…/w/…/v/…/w/…/v/…/w/…

Both /v/ and /w/ are voiced consonants that involve lip movement. However, /v/ is a voiced labiodental consonant, and /w/ is a bilabial glide. When you pronounce /v/, your upper teeth should rub against your lower lip, but when you pronounce /v/ your lips should not touch your teeth.

You can hear the difference between /v/ and /f/ in these words.

compare_v-w__words2.mp3
File Size: 141 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. A. vest, B. west
2. A. vow, B. wow
3. A. veil, B. whale
​4. A. verse, B. worse​
​5. A. viper, B. wiper
​6. A. roving, B. rowing​

Practice recognizing words with /v/ and /w/ by taking the quiz below.

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:
words_with_-v-.mp3
File Size: 624 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. vest
2. very
3. veer
4. violin
5. visor
6. vendor
7. love
8. save
9. shelve
10. curve
11. above
12. believe
13. creative
14. over
15. heaven
16. moving
17. deliver

18. advice
19. convey
20. advantage

Now, practice /v/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.
sentences_with_-v-.mp3
File Size: 1318 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

1. travel – overseas – vacation
We will travel overseas on our vacation.

2. five – visitors – arrive
At five o’clock, our visitors will arrive.

3. vendor– seventh - souvenirs
The vendor on Seventh Street sells souvenirs.

4. of – relatives – love – volleyball
All of our relatives love volleyball.

5. approve – of - violent - behavior
I don’t approve of his violent behavior.

6. every – evening – drive – visit
​Every evening, I drive to visit my grandfather.

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:
Imagine you are planning a vacation to an island in the Caribbean. These are the activities you can do.
  • ​Go scuba diving
  • ​Drive along the beach
  • Attend a carnival
  • ​View the island from an airplane​
  • Watch an evening show
  • Shop for souvenirs from local vendors
  • Visit a volcano
  • Have dinner with native people
  • ​Go scuba diving
  • ​Drive along the beach
  • Attend a carnival
  • ​View the island from an airplane​
  • Watch an evening show
  • Shop for souvenirs from local vendors
  • Visit a volcano
  • Have dinner with native people

​Plan a one-day schedule for a vacation to the island. Choose activities that you would do at each of these times
  • 11:00 am
  • 12:00 pm
  • 5:00 pm
  • 7:00 pm
  • 11:00 pm

Record:
In your recording, explain what you will do at each time..

©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