TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE VIDEO: How To Pronounce The F and V Sounds In English - Improve Your Pronunciation and Speak More Clearly

Hi everyone. It’s Nicole here, and I'm back answering another one of your questions, but this time we're having a look at some pronunciation.

One of my students recently wanted to know how to pronounce the [F] and the [V] sounds, the F and the V sounds, because in some languages it's the same. Or, in some languages, one of those sounds does not exist, so it can be quite tricky and quite confusing. So, I thought that I'd quickly record this video to help all of you with the [F] and the [V] sound, and hopefully that will help you a lot.

So, first of all, let's talk about the [F] sound, the F sound. How do we make it? Well, in English, this is actually quite simple, because all we are really doing is using air, blowing out air. We're not using our voice at all for this sound, so what we have to do is we have to take the top two teeth, and we put it down here on the bottom lip. That's it. And then, all we do is breathe out basically. [F, F, F] Can you try that? Top teeth, bottom lip, breathe out. [F] Well done. That is the perfect F sound. So we've got things like fan, fantastic, ferry. Very good.

Ok, now let's have a look at the V sound. This is a little bit more difficult in English because with the V sound, it is what we call a vibration sound. We are using our voice and it's vibrating. We're basically, what should I say, doing the same as the F sound, we're still breathing out, but we're adding our voice this time. So, with the F, we were doing this. [F] On the bottom lip, you had your teeth and you were breathing out. With the V sound, we don't bite the bottom lip with our teeth this time. This time, these top two teeth, rest just here behind the bottom lip like this. Can you do that? It's not very attractive, I know. So, just there. That's it. So, you're basically moving that lip here to rest in front of the top two teeth. So with the F, it was here, with the V it's here. Do you see the difference? Ok, so with the F, you were blowing out the air. [F] With the V, you are using your voice. Let me show you. [V] So, you're still blowing out the air, but you're adding your voice this time, so we've got. [F, V, F, V, F, V] Can you try that? That's it. So, you are basically putting your bottom lip here, resting in front of the top two teeth, breathing out, and adding your voice. [V] And, if you're correct, then this lip here, should, sort of, be vibrating. It should tickle a little bit when you do it. [V] That's it. [V] Very nice.

That is how to make the English F and V sounds. Make sure that you hold them for at least one second, so that you can hear that sound, you know, very, van, vehicle. Can you see how I was holding that V sound? I was stretching it out, so that you can hear it. That's what we want to do. So [F, V, F, V, F, V] Beautiful. That's it. Well Done. Excellent.

So, please go and practise those sounds at home on your own, maybe sit in front of the mirror and have a look. But, I promise you that the more you are aware of what you're doing with your mouth, the more accurate your sound will be, the more it will sound natural and like a native speaker and people will understand you. More importantly, remember to stretch it out for one second, so that we can hear that sound. Don't swallow it, otherwise we won't hear it at all. So, [F, V, F] Fabulous. [V] Very good.

Well done, everyone. I hope you enjoyed that lesson. If you have any questions, just ask in the comments section below. Have a great day. Bye.