How to Pronounce TH after N or Z American English
I recently got an email from someone
asking me to clarify a few points on
pronunciation specifically some
consonants followed by th such as s and
n this person says because their
position in the mouth is so different
from that of the th sometimes I find it
difficult to shift from one to the other
for example can you return them where is
the car also do you pronounce the th at
all times or are there exceptions like
when you talk fast because sometimes
when an American is talking I hear a th
sound but I don’t actually see the
tongue go through the teeth this is a
great question and thank you for your
email let’s start with the first sample
you gave and that is an N followed by a
th in the sample sentence can you return
them now in this case the th of them is
voiced so make sure that you’re
continuing to make noise with your vocal
cords so how does the tongue move can
you return them the tongue to make the N
has the position of this part of the
tongue raising and touching the roof of
the mouth about here hmm
then so in order to see them through the
teeth it’s just a subtle movement of
pulling the tip from here down through
the teeth can you return them can you
return them this second example where’s
the car has the voiced is followed by
the voiced th and I do notice when I say
this phrase that my tongue does not come
through my teeth where’s the car rather
the tongue presses against the teeth
this part of the tongue presses right
where the teeth come together without
actually coming through where’s the car
this would only work on a voiced sound
for the unvoiced th the tongue must come
through the difference in tongue
position between the
and consonant sound is very slight the
tongue on is behind almost closed teeth
very lightly touching or almost touching
for the th the tongue comes through the
teeth or in my case in this particular
phrase presses against the closed teeth
so the tongue the tip of the tongue just
has an extremely slight movement forward
this is the car where’s the car thanks
for your email