Tips for Pronouncing Numbers Correctly

Are you one of the majority of English learners who confuses the pronunciation of teens (13, 14, 15, etc.) and multiples of ten (30, 40, 50, etc.)?

Well then, don’t confuse them anymore! Watch this short video and never confuse their pronunciation again!

If you enjoy this video, comment below! Let us know what YOUR most common pronunciation problems are.

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Free Present: A Revolutionary Guide to Connecting Your Life to English

Transcript

Aww yeah, RealLifers, what’s going on? This is Ethan with a special one minute video for you.

So, today I’m going to talk to you about a problem that many students of mine have had with pronunciation with numbers. So, maybe you make the same mistake.

Is this RealLife?

The Problem

Do you ever confuse 15, 50; 14, 40; 13, 30, etc?

Today I just wanted to go over these real quick to help you with the pronunciation.

The T Sound

So, first of all, I’m going to recommend that you check out an article that Justin wrote on the pronunciation of T. So you can check that out here.

So, what happens in American English is that when we have the T sound, or the letter T, between two vowel sounds, it changes to a D sound.

So, why this is important is because this happens in a lot of the numbers that are multiples of ten. So, for example, we don’t say thirty [T sound], we say thirty [american D sound]. We don’t say forty [T sound], we say forty [american D sound], because it’s between this “o” and “e” sound.

So, this makes it easier to differentiate thirteen, which has a very distinct “een” sound at the end, from thirty, which has the very distinct D sound at the end.

Thirteen, thirty. Fourteen, forty.

Fifteen and fifty are a little bit easier, fifteen, fifty. That does have the T sound.

Sixteen, sixty. Seventeen, seventy. It has the D sound.

Eighteen, eighty. Eighty, between the “a” and the “e” sound. Eighty, with the D sound.

Nineteen, ninety. Ok.

Alright guys, so, be sure to practice this a lot, any time that you’re alone, in the shower, in your car driving to work, when you’re standing on a street corner waiting for the light to turn green…

When practicing this, you don’t want to seem like a crazy person, so better when you’re alone. But really, practice makes perfect, so a little bit everyday and you will get it, no worries.

Alright guys, so, be sure to go practice this, put it to use, and stop confusing people with numbers.

Later!