R Sound

r:(

r

ed,
so

rr

y, w

r

ite

)

English
Pronunciation, Lesson 22

The

R sound

(IPA symbol: r or ɹ) can be found in American
English words such
as

r

ed,
ca

r

,
so

r

r

y,
F

r

iday,
and w

r

ite.

The(IPA symbol: r or) can be found in American English words such ased, ca, soy, Fiday, and wite.

Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses

How to pronounce the R sound

R

is a

consonant sound

. A
consonant is any letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel (vowels =
a, e, i, o, u).

The

R sound

is called a

liquid
consonant

. This means that the position of
your tongue changes the path of the air as you produce this sound. The
air still comes out of your mouth, but its path is not straight because
of the placement of your tongue.

To correctly make the 

R
sound

, your tongue needs
to be in the correct position. Raise the back of your tongue to lightly
touch the back teeth on both sides of your mouth. The center part of
the back of your tongue should be lower to allow air to move over it.
The tip of your tongue may curve a little, but it will not touch your
mouth or lips. Your tongue will be tense. It will not be loose.

The position of your lips is in a tight O shape. Your lips will be
slightly different depending on the placement of the 

R
sound

in each word.

Rachel, from Rachel’s English, shows how to create the 

R
sound

in this helpful video!

It might take a while to become comfortable speaking the

R sound

. If you are
not comfortable with this sound, it just takes practice! Some people
have problems making the 

R
sound

Rachel shows us the difference between these two sounds in this video.

, so they make a W
sound instead. If you want to speak English correctly and improve your accent, you do not want to make this mistake. You need to know the difference between these two sounds.Rachel shows us the difference between these two sounds in this video.

Spellings

There are three ways to

R sound

:

1.

R

as in

r

ed and F

r

iday

2.

RR

as in
wo

rr

y and so

rr

y

3.

WR

as in

wr

ite and

wr

ong

The

WR

spelling should be pronounced a little different than the other two
sounds because your mouth closes to make the W before the R.

Native English speakers usually pronounce the

R sound

no matter
where it is in a word. But in some

R sound

is dropped (silent) in certain words. 

The 

R sound

can be at the
beginning of a word (

r

ed,

wr

ong), at
the end of a word (ca

r

,
afte

r

), or
anywhere in between (F

r

iday,
so

rr

y)

Let’s practice

First, practice pronouncing the R
sound and the W sound in these pairs of words.

R sound

W sound

r

ed

w

ed

r

ead

w

eed

r

ide

w

ide

c

r

y

w

hy

sto

r

e
glo

w

sto

r

ing
glo

w

ing

These are just a few words with the

R sound

. There are
many words in the English language with the

R sound

.

R sound at the beginning
of a word

1)

r

ed

2)

r

ight

3) w

r

ong

4)

r

ing

5)

r

ope

6) w

r

ite

7)

r

ent

8)

r

ich

9)

r

ose

10)

r

abbit

R sound at the end of a word

1) ca

r

2) ba

r

3) fathe

r

4) mothe

r

5) singe

r

6) sta

r

7) teache

r

8) fa

r

9) nea

r

10) he

r

e (The R sound is
at the end of the word because the E is silent.)

R sound in the middle of a word

1) so

rr

y

2) ca

rr

y

3) b

r

ing

4) ca

r

ing

5) wo

rr

y

6) bo

r

ing

7) a

r

e

8) c

r

y

9) sto

r

e

10) mi

rr

o

r

Now say these sentences out loud (the R sounds are bold):

1) Do not c

r

y!

2) The teache

r

is ve

r

y

bo

r

ing.

3) Mothe

r

, you a

r

e

a sta

r

!

4) Tie the

r

ope a

r

ound the ba

r

.

5) I am so

r

r

y I b

r

oke the mi

r

r

o

r

in the sto

r

e

.

7) My fathe

r

has a 

r

ed 

r

ace ca

r

.

8) W

r

ite the lette

r

to you

r

b

r

othe

r

.

9) How a

r

e you?

10) The 

r

ing is on the w

r

ong

finge

r

.

There are three ways to spell the1.as ined and Fiday2.as in woy and so3.as inite andongThespelling should be pronounced a little different than the other two sounds because your mouth closes to make the W before the R.Native English speakers usually pronounce theno matter where it is in a word. But in some dialects , theis dropped (silent) in certain words.Thecan be at the beginning of a word (ed,ong), at the end of a word (ca, afte), or anywhere in between (Fiday, soy)These are just a few words with the. There are many words in the English language with the

Have you finished them all! Great job! Continue to practice
the R
sound to make sure you are doing it
correctly. 

Improve your accent

In some languages, the

R
sound

can be switched with the

L sound

. In other
languages, the

R sound

may not even exist.

If you want to improve your accent, you need to practice both of these
sounds and learn to pronounce them correctly.

Not knowing how to pronounce
these sounds can lead to errors in pronunciation

.

Read this article:

Want more tips on how to improve your accent?Read this article: Top
Ten Tips.

In some languages, thecan be switched with the. In other languages, themay not even exist.If you want to improve your accent, you need to practice both of these sounds and learn to pronounce them correctly.

Well done! You have completed this lesson.

Let’s move on…

Well done! You have completed this lesson.Let’s move on…

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