How to Pronounce ORDINAL NUMBERS American English
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to over the pronunciation of the
ordinal numbers 1-10: first, second, third,
and so on.
I’ve made a series of videos on How to pronounce
Cardinal numbers: 1, 2, 3. In this video we’ll
go over ordinal numbers.
First, first. It begins with the F consonant
sound, where the bottom lip will come up and
touch here, ff, ff, the bottom of the top
front teeth. Then we have the UR vowel. The
UR vowel gives some people trouble because
they think there needs to be a vowel sound
before an R consonant. But think of the UR
vowel as the vowel version of the R sound.
It’s always written in IPA with the R consonant
sound coming after it, but it’s just one sound,
rrr, fir-. The tongue draws up and back for
this, right up at the roof of the mouth, either
touching the roof of the mouth on the sides,
or the bottom/insides of the top teeth. So
you want to go straight from the F sound to
the R sound: fff-rrr. A good way to test this
is to make sure you’re not doing a big jaw
drop, that’s a sign that you’re trying to
put in a different kind of vowel sound, fir-.
Then we end with the ST consonant cluster.
So the teeth come together, the tongue tip
goes down, sss. A trick here is rather than
raising your tongue tip up for the T, you
can leave the tip down, then push the part
of the tongue just behind the tip to the roof
of the mouth, to cut off the air. To release
the T, and let the air flow continue, just
pull the tongue back down, first, first. Let
the teeth part a little bit for the air to
release. First.
The word ‘second’ begins with the S consonant
sound. Then the EH as in BED vowel, so the
jaw has to drop a good bit, se-, se-. The
next syllable is unstressed, so it will be
fast. SEH-knd, -knd, -knd. We have the K consonant
sound, and the schwa/N sound, so the N takes
over the schwa. You don’t need to worry
about making it a separate sound, and finally
the D sound. Second, second.
Third. This begins with the unvoiced TH sound,
so the tongue tip must come just through the
teeth. Th, th, third. Then we have the UR
vowel / R consonant sounds, just like in the
word FIRST. Fiiiiirst, thiiiiiird. So don’t
let your jaw drop. Then, a light D sound to
finish. Third, dd, third.
And now we’re at the point where they all
end in an unvoiced TH — until we get up
to twenty-first.
So, fourth begins with the F consonant, just
like ‘first’, where the bottom lip comes up and
lightly touches the bottom of the top front
teeth, ff. You have two options for the vowel
sound, either the AW as in LAW, or the OH
as in NO diphthong, which is what I use. At
any rate, unlike ‘first’, where we have the
UR vowel then the R sound, here we do need
some jaw drop to make the shape of either
the AW as in LAW vowel, or the OH as in NO
sound, before the tongue pulls back and up
for the R consonant sound, fourth. And then,
we finish with the unvoiced TH, where the
front part of the tongue comes just out of
the teeth, not too far, and air lightly passes
through. Fourth.
Fifth – we’ve got a lot of unvoiced consonants
in this one. We again start with the F consonant,
fff. Then the IH as in SIT vowel, where we
have a little bit of jaw drop, fi-, and the
tongue tip says down while the front part
of the tongue stretches up and forward towards
the front part of the roof of the mouth, fi-.
Then we have the F and unvoiced TH sounds,
fifth. This can be a little tricky. First,
you need to bring the bottom lip up to the
top teeth, ff, then, while you continue to
let air out, you drop the lip and let the
tip of the tongue through the teeth. FFTHFFTH.
Fifth, fifth. You might sometimes hear a native
speaker simplify this by dropping the F before
the TH: ‘fith’, ‘fith’.
Sixth – again, a lot of unvoiced consonants.
We start with the S sound, tongue tip down,
teeth together. SS. Then the IH as in SIT
vowel with a little jaw drop. Si-. Now we
have the K, S and TH sounds together. They
are all unvoiced, so we’re just passing air
through, no engagement of the vocal cords.
The K: tongue tip stays where it was for the
IH, lightly touching behind the bottom front
teeth. The back part of the tongue reaches
up and touches the soft palate here, the back
part of the roof of the mouth, and pulls away.
As it pulls away, the teeth come together,
again the tongue tips stays where it is for
the S. Then the tongue tip simply moves up
a bit so that it can come just though the
teeth. ksth. ksth. Just practice that on its
own, and don’t rush it, ksth. Sixth, sixth.
Seventh. Just like ‘second’, stress in on the
first syllable. So the second will shorter,
flatter, and lower in pitch, seventh. We begin
with the S consonant sound and EH vowel, just
like ‘second’, so make sure you’re dropping
your jaw enough for that EH vowel. Then we
have the V, which looks just like all these
F’s we’ve been talking about, only it’s voiced,
so the vocal chords are engaged, making a sound.
Sev-, seventh. Then we have the schwa/N sound,
And the N takes over the schwa, so you don’t
need to worry about making it a separate sound,
-ven, -ven, -ven. And finally, the unvoiced
TH. Usually, the tongue tip lifts to the roof
of the mouth for the N. But, a shortcut: You
can actually bring the tip of the tongue just
through the teeth and press the part just
behind it to the roof of the mouth for the
N. So not the tip. That way your tongue doesn’t
really need to change positions between those
two sounds. Seventh, seventh.
Eighth. – This one’s pretty simple. The AY
diphthong and the unvoiced TH. Eighth. The
biggest mistake my students make with the
AY diphthong is that they don’t drop their
jaw enough for the first sound. Eighth. And
of course, the unvoiced TH, where the tongue
tip comes through the teeth. Eighth, eighth.
Ninth. This begins with the N consonant sound.
The flat, top part of the tongue is up at
the roof of the mouth. NN. Then we have the
AI as in BUY diphthong, again a common issue
is not to drop the jaw enough. So make sure
you do, ni-. Then for the second half of the
diphthong, the tongue tip stays down while
the front part of the tongue stretches up
towards the front part of the roof of the
mouth, ni-, ni-. Then again the N / TH sound
just as in ‘seventh’. Ninth, ninth.
Tenth. We start here with a True T sound:
ttt. Tongue tip is at the roof of the mouth,
teeth are together, the air is stopped. Then
the tongue tip pulls down, the teeth part,
and the air is released. TTeh – the EH vowel,
just as in ‘second’ and ‘seventh’, we need
jaw drop, te-, te-. And then again, the NTH
ending. Tenth, tenth.
So there you have it, ordinal numbers 1-10.
We had a lot of consonant clusters, lots of
ending TH to practice. I hope this helps.
Practice your English. Make up a sentence
that includes an ordinal number. Record yourself
saying it, and post it as a video response
to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to watch.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English!