English pronunciation
How to pronounce the English TH sound
The English TH is made with the tip of your tongue resting lightly between your teeth while air flows out over it. With your voice off you get the TH in think; turn your voice on so it buzzes and you get the TH in they. Keep the air moving: if your tongue presses and stops it, TH turns into T or D.
How to say the TH sound
Rest the tip of your tongue lightly between your top and bottom teeth. Just the tip, and don’t bite down.
Blow softly over it with your voice off. That is the TH in think, thin and path.
Keep the same position and turn your voice on so it buzzes. That is the TH in they, then and breathe.
Keep the air flowing the whole time. If your tongue presses against your teeth and stops the air, you get T or D; if your top teeth land on your lower lip, you get F.
Why it’s hard
Many languages have no TH at all — French, German and Russian among them — so the ear files it under the nearest sound it already knows. That is usually S (think becomes sink), F (three becomes free), or T and D (they becomes day). Which swap you make depends on your first language, but every one of them changes the word.
TH is also a quiet sound. It has far less hiss than S, so learners often feel they said it right while the listener heard something else. That is why it pays to train your ear on the pair before you train your mouth.
Words to practise
These are the pairs PronounceFit uses to train TH. Say each pair out loud: if both words come out the same, that pair is your starting point.
TH vs S
- think / sink
- thin / sin
- thick / sick
- mouth / mouse
- path / pass
- faith / face
- thing / sing
- theme / seem
Buzzing TH vs D
- they / day
- then / den
- breathe / breed
- there / dare
TH vs F
- three / free
- thin / fin
- thought / fought
- death / deaf
Common mistakes, and how to catch them
Hissing instead of TH
If the air hisses instead of flowing softly over the tongue, TH becomes S. To catch it, say faith and face slowly in front of a mirror. Putting the tip lightly between your teeth, where you can see it, is the easiest way to practise; a good TH can also be made with the tip just behind your top teeth, with soft airflow rather than the strong hiss of S.
Stopping the air
The tongue presses against the teeth and lets go, which makes a D or a T, so there sounds like dare. To catch it, try to hold the TH at the start of there for two seconds. A real TH can be held; a D can’t.
Using your lip instead of your tongue
Top teeth on the lower lip make F, so thought becomes fought and death becomes deaf. To catch it, watch your lower lip: for TH it shouldn’t move at all.
How PronounceFit trains the TH sound
Start with your ear. In ear training two words play — think and sink, three and free — and you answer whether they were the same or different, or which one you heard. There is no microphone involved, so you can do it anywhere.
Then say both words of the pair and see every attempt scored, so you know when the two have really split. When you read a text aloud, a word where the TH slipped comes back marked; tap it to hear the reference voice next to your own take, read the short tip, and say it again until it turns green.
Read more about each step:
FAQ
Questions about the TH sound
Is TH one sound or two?
Two, made in the same place. The TH in think has your voice off; the TH in they has your voice on, so it buzzes. For both, the tip of your tongue rests lightly between your teeth.
Why do I say S instead of TH?
Because S is the closest sound your ear already knows, and from the inside the two feel similar. Watch your tongue in a mirror on thin and sin: for TH the tip should be visible between your teeth.
Can I practise TH without speaking out loud?
Yes. Ear training in PronounceFit is listening only: two words play and you answer by tapping, so you can train the difference between think and sink anywhere, then say the words when you can.
Which words should I practise TH with?
Short pairs where TH is the only difference: think / sink, three / free, they / day. If you can make each pair sound different, the TH is coming through.
More English sound guides
- R vs LRight or light: for one the tip of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth, for the other it doesn’t.
- V vs WVest or west: teeth on your lip, or rounded lips and no teeth.
- Short I vs long EEBit, beat and bet: three vowels where many languages have one or two.
- B vs VBerry or very: both lips closed, or top teeth on your lower lip.
English pronunciationEvery hard English sound, with the real word pairs the app drills.- All languagesEvery pronunciation guide, one language at a time.
Say think, not sink.
Read one English sentence aloud and see which words slipped — privately, on your device.