A short podcast episode (How to Pronounce Friday segment) in which Hadar Shemesh explains the pronunciation differences between the English words 'though', 'thought', and 'tough'. She contrasts initial consonant sounds (strong vs. soft th / t), vowel qualities (as in 'go' vs. 'father' vs. 'u'), and the 'gh'→/f/ realization in 'tough', and closes with subscriber/CTAs.
Welcome to the Influency podcast, and this is your how to Pronounce Friday, where I share with you the pronunciation secrets of tricky and confusing words.
Hi there. It's hadar. And this is the accent's way, your way to finding clarity, confidence and freedom in English. Eduardo asked me to explain the difference between the words though, thought, and tough. Now, they all look the same with those O's, U, G, H's, but they sound differently. So let's explain the difference between the three. The word though begins with a strong th sound, and then the ough stands for the O, as in go. So basically, it's only two sounds, th, O, though. Though the word thought, although you only add a t at the end. But the vowel is different. In this case, the ough stands for the as in father vowel. The th is a soft th, so the tongue comes out and only air is passing. Then you open it to an ah sound, th, and you end it with a very subtle T. Thought. Thought. Though. Thought. The third word is tough. So in this case, we begin with a strong T sound. It's not a th, th, Th. And the ough stands for u. And then it ends with an F sound. So the gh actually ends represents the F. Tough, Tough. Tough. Though. Thought, tough. All right, good. Very simple when you think about it, right? Go ahead and practice it. And don't forget to subscribe if you haven't yet. I will see you next week. Bye.
Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like the podcast, then, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next time. Sam.
