How to Make the TS Sound American English Pronunciation
Today I’m going to talk about the TS sound.
I’ve noticed, working with my students,
that many people have problems putting the
T into the TS sound. So, lit ends up sounding
like “less”. So what is the difference between
the S and the TS? A stop, the T stop. So,
to make the S, the tip of the tongue is forward,
here, ss, lightly touching behind the bottom
front teeth. Corners of the lips will be pulled
a little wide, teeth are closed, and the lips
are parted, letting out the sound. To make
the T, one would ordinarily lift the tongue
to the roof of the mouth, tt, and release.
However, in the TS sound, there’s actually
a short cut that the tongue does. Rather than
lifting the tip for the T, the tip stays down
here, ss, ss. And it’s further back, the
front part of the tongue, but not the tip,
that will raise and touch the roof of the
mouth, to cut off the air flow. Sst, sst.
So rather than the tip coming up, it’s simply
the front part raising. And still, that contact
with the roof of the mouth makes the stop
because it cuts off the airflow. So to work
on this sound, we’re actually going to begin
by practicing an S sound with a stop T at
the end rather than a TS sound. So the first
sound, the S. Ss, ss, tip of the tongue down
low. Sst, and the stop. Bringing the front
of the tongue to the roof of the mouth while
leaving the tip in its place. Sst, sst, sst,
sst. Practice that along with me. Sst, sst,
sst. So as the tongue moves up, it cuts off
the airflow. Now let’s practice alternating
the S with the stop T a little quicker this
time. Sst, etc. So to make the TS sound, it’s
simply starting with the stop T, and moving
into the S: ts, ts, ts, ts. So you want to
start with the front part of the tongue raised,
the tip down, and air in a cut-off manner.
Ts. You the pull the tongue back down with
the tip still forward, releasing the air out
for the S. So let’s take a look at the two
words from before. Let’s, and less. Let’s,
the tongue is raising in the front part, cutting
off the airflow. Let’s, and, less, less,
less. No stop in the sound. Let’s, less.
So as you’re practicing this, make sure
you hear that pause. Let’s. You might even
want to exaggerate it like that to make sure
you’re getting it in. The TS sound is very
common in English. It’s, what’s, let’s.
Also, any noun in plural form that ends in
a T, for example, cats. And the conjugation
of some verbs that end in a T, like sits.
So let’s look at some more examples. It’s
raining, it’s, ts, ts, it’s raining. That’s
what I said. Tha-ts-, that’s what I said.
He fights with his boss a lot. He fights,
ts, fights, he fights with his boss a lot.
That takes some guts, guts, that takes some
guts. Let’s go. Let’s, let’s go.
That’s ts, ts, that’s it, and thanks so much for
using Rachel’s English.