How to Pronounce “TH” Sounds

If you speak English as your second language or you are in the process of learning English right now, you might find some sounds in the language are harder to say than others. One of these sounds is “TH.” It’s spelled as TH, but it is pronounced as a voiceless sound in American English. By this, I mean that the sound is just air coming out.

As a licensed speech pathologist, I noticed many of my clients have trouble correctly pronouncing “TH” words. I wanted to touch on why people struggle with this sound and provide guidance on correctly pronouncing “TH” in a sentence.

Why do people struggle to pronounce “TH” sounds?

Some people learning English have trouble with this sound because it does not exist in their primary language. In other languages, it may exist in spelling, but it is pronounced in a completely different way. With enough practice, anyone can learn to enunciate “TH” sounds.

The Ways the “Th” Sound is Mispronounced

Now, some people have trouble with this sound because it doesn’t exist in their language or if it does exist in spelling, it might be pronounced in a different way. So some of the ways that people mispronounce the “TH” sound can be like:

• An “F” so instead of saying “think” or “thumb” they might say “fink” or “fumb”
• Another way it might be mispronounced is with an “S” sound in the beginning so we would have “sink” instead of “think” and “some” instead of “thumb”
• The last way that I find people mispronouncing this sound would be pronouncing it as a “T” so we would have “tink” instead of “think” and “tum” instead of “thumb”

Unvoiced vs. Voiced “TH” Sounds

There are two main differences between “TH” sounds. An unvoiced “TH” means only air passes through the mouth. Words like “thing” and “thin” have unvoiced “TH” sounds. A voiced “TH” sound means you make a sound with your vocal cords. “Than” and “they” are voiced “TH” words.

When we talk about the voiced “TH” sound, some of the common mistakes I find people are making:

• Substitute a “Z” for the “TH” so they might say “zuh” instead of “the” and “zeez” or “zat” instead of “these” and “that”
• Another way might be to pronounce it with a “V.” They say “vuh” instead of “the” and “vat” instead of “that”
• And the last way is that they might be saying it like a “D” sound so they say “duh” instead of “the” and “dat” instead of “that”

How to pronounce “TH” sounds correctly

Correctly pronouncing “TH” all comes down to tongue placement. Let your tongue sit between your teeth and stick it out just a little bit. You don’t want to stick it out too much, or you could end up looking like a lizard (we don’t want that!)

Do not bite down hard while your tongue is between your teeth, or no sound will be able to come out. While keeping your top teeth lightly on the top of your tongue, gently let the air out from your mouth. It will slide over your tongue and make a quiet hissing sound. This is how to pronounce unvoiced “TH” words like “thumb” or “think.” You would use this tongue placement for “TH” sounds at the end of words like “bath”, “mouth”, and “with”.

You will use the same tongue placement for voiced “TH” words, only you will add voice to the sound. Start with your tongue between your teeth and say “the”. You’ll notice air will slide over the top of your tongue with voiced “TH” sounds. Words like “the” and “that” have a voiced “TH” sound at the beginning. Words with a voiced “TH” at the end are “breathe” and “smooth”.

“TH” sounds are challenging, but with enough patience and practice, you can pronounce them correctly in no time. If you want more guidance on American English pronunciation, I’m here to help! I teach accent reduction courses to help professionals modify and soften their accents to achieve their communication goals. If you are interested in working with me or learning more, fill out this contact form to get in touch!

About Derra Huxley, Speech and Language Pathologist

I am a California-licensed Speech-Language Pathologist in Los Angeles. I earned my Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Communicative Disorders from California State University, Northridge. I work as a Preferred Trainer with LDS & Associates – Accent Modification Program, and I am a member of CORSPAN (Corporate Speech Pathology Network). I collaborate with people of all ages to improve their communication and pronunciation skills in schools, hospitals, and private practice settings. To learn more or to contact me, complete this form or reach me at 818-421-7444. I look forward to hearing from you!