Consonant Sounds

Consonant Sounds

A consonant sound is a sound articulated (pronounced) with a total or partial blockage of the flow of air as it is about to leave the mouth. The tongue makes contact with any part of the mouth to block the air. So also any two parts of the mouth can make contact with each other in order to produce a consonant sound.

Try to pronounce ‘boy’ leaving out the vowel sound, <-oy>. You will discover that your two lips come together. So it is for other consonants at different parts of the mouth. There are twenty-four (24) consonant sounds in English language.

These sounds are given below with very simple examples that can guide you into their correct pronunciation. However, if you find any sound difficult to pronounce, we will be sharing some videos from BBC Learning English. You will see a short video lesson on each sound.

/b/:

bad, baboon, dab

/d/:

doll, riddle, odd

/g/:

guy, Google, dog

/m/:

man, mammal, lame

/n/:

neat, nanny, sin

/ŋ/:

plank, sing, tongue

/l/:

lorry, lolly, chill

/r/:

ram, tray, sorry

/w/:

winner, between

/j/:

year, buoyant, yam

/v/:

van, valve, slave

/dʒ/:

jug, budget, badge

/ʒ/:

measure, prestige

/ð/:

the, breathe

/z/:

zip, dazzle, craze

/p/:

pat, puppy, soup

/t/:

tap, title, sat

/k/:

call, buckle, suck

/f/:

fan, baffle, beef

/s/:

sun, sassy, bass

/h/:

hall, house, hair

/tʃ/:

church, batch, butcher

/ʃ/:

shirt, pressure, cash

/θ/:

thing, anthem, faith