Pronouncing t/d, p/b, f/v and s/z sounds

The difference between t/d, p/b, f/v and s/z is that t, p, f, and s sounds are produced by the air but d, b, v and z sounds are produced by the throat.  You can touch your throat to distinguish between the sounds.
La diferencia entre los sonidos de t/d, p/b, f/v, y s/z es que los sonidos de d, b, p y s son producidos por el aire pero producimos d, b, v, y z por la garganta.  Puede tocar la garganta para distinguir entre los sonidos.

t (se aspira) – d (sonoro)

t

La lengua toca el punto medio del paladar. Cuando exhala, abre la boca. [Fíjate: no está la parte delantera del paladar – eso produce el sonido de “th” en inglés]

take  
top
task
ten
tomorrow
mistake

It is important to pronounce the 't' at the end of a word.

tent – ten
went – when
wait – way
can't – can

d

La lengua toca el punto medio del paladar pero esta vez, es con sonido.

date
middle
ended 
difficult
did 
don't

It is important to pronounce the 'd' at the end of a word:

played – play 
called – call 
band – ban 


Listen to these examples and try to repeat them:

Take the day to drive to Denmark but don't drink and don't delay.

Don't try to train the ten dogs today, wait until tomorrow.

Doctors don't take time to drink tea.

Twenty tiny tables with twenty tiny tablecloths.




Ten twos plus ten twos less ten makes fifteen twos.

p (se aspira) – b (sonoro)

p

Labios juntos, boca cerrada y exhala cuando abre la boca. [Fíjate: la lengua esta relajada, no está tocando los dientes]

park  
price 
play 
put 
pig
appear

It is important to know the difference between 'p' and 'b'

pig – big 
park – bark 
pill – bill

b

Labios juntos, boca cerrada y exhala pero esta vez, cuando abre la loca, es con sonido.

bark
big
broken
brother
book
black

Sometimes, the 'b' is silent, especially at the end of a word after 'm'.  Sometimes it is silent within a word.

climb  
dumb 
limb 
debt
doubt
subtle

Examples:

Please don't break the pretty purple plates.



The parents are playing with the pretty bright blue ball on the beach.



Please buy plain bread from Paul the baker.



But Peter bought peppers from Bill.



He parked his bus near the park.

f (se aspira) – v (sonoro)

f

El labio inferior entre los dientes pero muy ligeramente – ¡pero no lo muerde! Exhala muy suavamente. El sonido se produce por el aire, no la garganta.

fish
fun
friend
five
different
leaf

It is important to know the difference between 'f' and 'v'

leaf – leave
lift – lived
safe – save

v

El labio inferior entre los dientes otra vez (¡no lo muerde!) y exhala muy suavamente pero el sonido se produce por la garganta.

very
view
vet
van
involve
invite

We need to know the difference between 'v' and 'b'

very – berry
vet – bet
van – ban
vote – boat

Examples:

I feel very fine after finding five forgotten friends.



It's very good fun to eat food with different friends.



The very famous vet vanished.



Have you found the photos you saved from the fiesta.



Vote for every form of food that you prefer.

s (se aspira) – z (sonoro)

s

Se pronuncia como la 's' española pero con mayor fuerza. El sonido se produce por el aire, no la garganta.

see
sun
soon
simple
second
still
makes

In the middle or at the end of words, the 's' can sound like a 'z' (but not always).

close
advise
ends 
wise

z

El sonido es como la 's' pero es sonoro.

zoo
zero 
crazy
lazy
things 
days 
erase

Examples:

See the sun shine soon, it'll soon be Summer.



Seven sisters saw six ships sailing on the sea.



He saw seven snakes in the zoo as it was closing.



Lazy people sometimes do crazy things to save time.



He says that some days he doesn't want to work so he stays home.

Solo por referencia – 's' and 'z' sounds at the end of words

/iz/ when the word ends in s, z, sh, zh, ch, j wishes, churches, roses

/z/ when word ends in m, n, ng, l, b, d, g, v, th (hard), r calls, beds, lives, dogs

/s/ when word ends in p, t, k, f, th (soft) cups, clocks, cats

Simple past with -ed and spelling changes: pasado simple y cambios ortográficos

We form the simple past tense for regular verbs by adding -ed but sometimes there are spelling changes as well.  Formamos el pasado simple para los verbos regulares con -ed pero a veces también hay cambios ortográficos.

There are lots of common regular verbs.  Hay muchos verbos regulares comunes:

work, play, visit, live, stop, cook, invent, kill, start, finish...

There are also lots of common irregular verbs.  También hay muchos verbos irregulares comunes.

begin/began, bring/brought, buy/bought, come/came, do/did, drink/drank, eat/ate, get/got, give/gave, go/went, hear/heard, know/knew, make/made, meet/met, read/read, run/ran, say/said, see/saw, send/sent, sit/sat, sleep/slept, take/took, write/wrote...

Here are some simple rules for regular verbs. Aquí lo tiene unas reglas simples por los verbos regulares.

1 Verbs ending in a silent 'e' add a 'd'
Verbos que terminan con una 'e' muda, añade una 'd'

Add -d

close – closed 

move - moved

2 Verbs ending in a vowel + 'y' add 'ed'
Verbos que terminan con una vocal + 'y', aañade 'ed'

Add -ed

play – played 

stay – stayed

3 Verbs ending in a consonant + 'y' change the 'y' to 'ied'
Verbos que terminan con un consonante + 'y', cambia la 'y' a 'ied'

-y changes to -ied

marry – married 

worry – worried

vary – varied 

4 All the rest add -ed
Para todos los demas, añade -ed

Add -ed

visit – visited 

wait – waited

Special cases – consonants after a vowel (cuando un consonante sigue una vocal)

We don't use accents to indicate emphasis in English, but nevertheless, words can still have an emphasis...  No utilizamos las tildes para indicar el énfasis en inglés pero sin embargo las palabras todavía pueden tener un énfasis...

(a) If the consonant follows a stressed vowel, we double the consonant.

Si el consonante sigue una vocal acentuada, duplicamos el consonante.

stop – stopped (stóp)
drop – dropped (dróp) 
ban - banned (bán)

(b) Otherwise, we do not double the consonant.

Si no, no duplicamos el consonante.

open – opened (ópen)
offer – offered (óffer)

'Fíjate! – In English, we double the last 'l' for many verbs even when the stress isn't before the consonant.  En inglés, a veces duplicamos la última 'l' incluso cuando no hay una vocal acentuada antes.

travel – travelled  (el énfasis es trável, no travél)

cancel – cancelled(es énfasis es cáncel, no cancél)

Pronunciation of -ed

Sometimes the sound of -ed is 'd' and sometimes it is 't'.  Sometimes -ed is pronounced as a separate syllable. It is important to use the right sound because different words can sound the same.  A veces, el sonido de -ed es 'd' y a veces es 't'.  A veces, -ed se pronuncia como an sílaba distinta.  Es importante utilizar el sonido correcto porque palabras diferentes puede sonar las mismas. 

For example, the simple past of 'to live' (vivir) is 'lived' and the 'ed' has the sound of 'd'.  If you use the sound of 't', for English people it sounds like 'lift'...   Por ejemplo, el pasado simple de 'to live' (vivir) es 'lived' y 'ed' tiene el sonido de 'd'.  Si utiliza el sonido de 't', para los ingleses, suena como 'lift' (= levantar).

As a 'd' - como una 'd'
Pronounced /d/ after these sounds: b, g, j, l, m, n, vowel + r, v, z

rubbed, tugged, managed, filled, dimmed, listened, stirred, loved, seized

As a 'd' - como una 'd'

Pronounced /t/ after these sounds: k, s, ch, sh, f, p

packed, passed, watched, washed, laughed, tipped

NB -ed is only a separate syllable if it follows the sound of d or t. Solo es una sílaba distinta cuando -ed sigue el sonido de 't' o 'd'.

wait – waited (ue-ted - dos sílabas)
post – posted