Today, we’re going to discuss the TH-sound.

We’ll actually break the TH sound into two distinct but similar sounds. One is voiceless and one is voiced.

Now, the TH-sound is a interdental fricative. It can either be voiced or voiceless based on whether the vocal cords are vibrating.

We’ll talk about the voiceless TH-sound today.

THE SOUND

The voiceless TH-sound /θ/ is a voiceless dental fricative. It is voiceless so your vocal cords are not vibrating. The place of articulation is between the teeth. This means the tongue makes contact lightly with the upper and lower teeth so contact between the tongue and the teeth is the area of focus. It is a fricative so narrowing occurs and the sound is turbulent.

Verbal cues

For the TH-sound, the tongue tip protrudes forward past your teeth.

That’s right, you are sticking your tongue out slightly for a brief split second. So just remember, the tongue comes out.

Visual Cues

For the voiceless-TH sound, the biggest visual cue is your tongue sticking out. IT should be subtle but present. Use a mirror as your guide. If you barely see your tongue stick out, that’s good! If you don’t even see it come out, then you may not be producing the right sound.

Tactile Cues

There are several tactile cues you should notice when producing the voiceless TH-sound.

There is no vocal cord vibration. So if your hand is on your neck, you should feel no vibration with the TH-sound.
The tip of your tongue should be protruding past your teeth. If you were to breathe in while keeping your tongue in this position, the tip of your tongue should feel slightly colder.
You should feel your teeth against your tongue - especially your top teeth.

*NOTE - You should not have to bite down or press hard against your teeth. We aren’t trying to bite down on our tongue, just contact.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

Here's the sound in different positions of a word.

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - thank, think, thought, thief

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - nothing, monthly, withdrew, ruthless,

END OF THE WORD - with, moth, math, broth, worth

*NOTE - Notice how the TH-sound must have the TH-letter combination.

SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T

pothole, adulthood, courthouse, lightheaded, outhouse, parenthood, apartheid - In these words, although there are a TH-letter combination, the T-letter and H-letter are part of two separate and distinct syllables. In other words, these words can be split up. pot-hole, adult-hood, court-house, light-head-ed, out-house, parent-hood, a-part-heid. Since, when they can be split up, the T and H are no longer together, the sounds are produced as a distinct T-sound and H-sound instead of a TH-sound.
Thomas, thyme, Thailand - For these specific words, the TH-spelling reflects a T-sound. I don’t know the reason so you might simply need to memorize this one.
There are some words where the TH-sound is voiced. However, the spelling is still “TH”. We’ll go over voiced TH-sounds next but words include “them, those, that, mother”. So, in these cases, yes, a TH-sound is produced but it is NOT the same sound as the voiceless TH-sound.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

TH-Sound Are Rare In Languages

Very few languages in the world have a TH-sound. What this means is that unlike other sounds, most non-native English speakers have no past experience with the TH-sound. As a result, non-native English speakers substitute the TH-sound with a sound they ARE familiar with.

This is why Chinese speakers may substitute the TH-sound with a F, T, D, or S sound instead.

One, Two, Three becomes One, Two, Sree/Free/Tree

Voiceless versus Voiced TH-Sound

There are no hard rules about when a word contains either a voiced TH-sound or a voiceless TH-sound.

However, there are certain regularities that may help you guess.

1. TH at the beginning of a word:

In a majority of cases, nouns and verbs start with the voiceless TH-sound /θ/ (e.g. threat, thought, think, throw).
Grammar words and pronouns however usually begin with the voiced TH-sound /ð/ (e.g. they, them, their, the, this, that, these, those, then, there, than, thus, though, therefore).
2. TH in the middle of a word:

Most English words have a voiced TH-sound /ð/ in the middle (e.g. father, mother, brother, rather, further, together, weather, whether).
Most loan words (words borrowed from another language) have a voiceless TH-sound /θ/ in the middle, (e.g. cathedral, enthusiasm, ethics, mathematics, lethal, method, mythical).
3. TH at the end of a word:

Nouns and adjectives usually end in a voiceless TH-sound /θ/ (e.g. bath, cloth, breath, tooth, teeth).
Verbs usually end in a voiced TH-sound /ð/ (e.g. breathe, loathe, soothe, writhe).

WHAT TO DO

So let's say you do have trouble with your voiceless TH-sound. What can you do about it.

Remember the features of the voiceless TH-sound.

Place of articulation - Brief contact between your tongue tip between the teeth. Your tongue should notably lightly contact the upper teeth.
Manner of articulation - Frication. Airflow is continuous and escapes around the tongue over top of tongue. It is turbulent. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiceless (this means the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing the TH-sound).

TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

Get used to sticking your tongue out. Now you don’t need to fully extend your tongue out at people. You aren’t showing off your entire tongue. But you need to start being comfortable showing a little bit.

In many cultures, sticking your tongue out is rude and so it is impolite and avoided at all costs. BUT, for the TH-sound it needs to be done to accurately produce the correct sound. There is a difference in how much tongue is visible when you are using it for speech and when you are using it to make a silly face.

You can start practicing at home in front of a mirror. Start paying attention to native English speakers and how their tongue comes out briefly. It’s not rude when you are speaking. It is a part of making the correct sound.

I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.

If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!

The Voiceless TH-Sound