A spoken YouTube lesson by Hadar Shemesh explaining and practicing the five primary diphthongs of American English (A as in day, I as in my, O as in go, ow as in now, and oy as in toy). The video defines diphthongs (vowels that change within a syllable), contrasts them with monophthongs and R-colored vowels (the latter are excluded here), and gives pronunciation tips, example words, minimal pairs, and guided repetition. The presenter emphasizes moving the tongue to the second element of each diphthong, notes subtle differences with British pronunciation for some sounds, and offers a free PDF plus audio practice for learners.
Chapters
Fine. Light buyer boy want, won't focus. O O O hey, everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to talk about diphthongs. This is a pronunciation lesson about vowel sounds in English. Now, a diphthong is a vowel that changes within the syllable. A syllable is the smallest unit in the word, like ready, two syllables, ability, ability, four syllables, kite, one syllable. And usually a syllable has one vowel in it. But there are different types of vowels. There are monophthongs, which is the more conventional vowel, as in sea, and a as in cat. But they're also diphthongs or diphthongs, vowels that change from one sound to another within the same syllable. There are five key diphthongs in English. A as in day, I as in my, O as in go, a as in now, and oy as in toy. I'm going to talk about these five diphthongs only. Some people consider the R vowels as diphthongs as well, like ear, air, and so on. But I'm not going to talk about them right now. In fact, just recently I recorded an R masterclass, and I talked about all those R vowels or soft Rs, and I highly recommend for you to check it out if you want to improve your R in English. But for now, we are going to talk about diphthongs without the R sound. So here's the one thing you need to remember. Most of the people who struggle with diphthongs in English focus only on the first vowel, and they don't bring their tongue to hit the next sound. And that causes you to either sound less clear, maybe mispronounce a word. And so what you want to think about as we're practicing these five diphthongs is to get to the next sound within the same syllable. We're going to start with the e as in day. Here we start with an sound, and then the tongue that is right here, the E as a front vowel, rolls forward for the as in sit. Now, in a diphthong, the second vowel is a little higher, so it's not. So it's closer to an E. A, A. Let's look at the next few words. Day. It's not day. Day. Day way, say. Let's do it again. Imagine as if there is a J sound at the end, and you want to get to that J sound day way. Especially if you tend to just stretch the first vowel. Day, say day, say. Now, let's practice this diphthong when there is another syllable in the word payment. Payment. Not payment. Pement. Pay. A. A. Now, notice that it's not two separate syllables. It's not payment. The word has two syllables. Payment. But there are two vowel sounds within the first syllable. The first unit. Pay. Pay. So it's a changing vowel. You keep moving your tongue as you pronounce this sound, unlike other vowel sounds, that it's the same position throughout the entire pronunciation, the entire syllable. Hat. Boss. Pay. See how my jaw moves? A payment. Vacation. Sale. Not sell. That's a different word. Sell. Sell. Bet. Bait. Men. Main. So if you can't hear a difference between those words, make sure you move your tongue to get to the E sound before the last consonant. Men. Main. And by the way, to make it easier on you and to help you implement everything that we learned here, I created a PDF for you with a few example words for each diphthong, some minimal pairs, confusing words, and an audio practice. So you can just hit play and practice along with me. It's absolutely free, so I'm going to put the link in the description for you to practice along with me. The next one is the O, as in go. This one is one of my favorite vowel sounds to teach because it really changes everything. When you pronounce it correctly, it gives you a lot more clarity, it helps you be more specific with your pronunciation, and it doesn't take much for you to change things up. So the O, as in go, starts with a back open ah sound, and then you round your lips for an U sound. Technically, it's more of a lax ooh, o. But if you think of it as a W sound at the end, it makes things a whole lot easier. O as in go. Low. Show. This is American English. In British English, the first sound is actually a schwa. O Go show home. But I will teach you now the O, as we pronounce it in American English, so it's more of an o sound. Home. So the sound is more in the back. The lips are a bit more rounded. Lonely. Hotel. So it's not hotel, not an ah sound. Not o. Hotel. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Hotel. Only. I know you want to say only or only, but get to the W sound. That's the secret of the diphthongs. O, O only. Won't I always talk about this word? Because if you don't get to the W sound, if you don't pronounce the diphthong, it's going to sound like want. Want. Won't. Want. Won't. Focus. O, O, O Focus. Portfolio. Portfolio, FO fo, folio. The next one is the ow, as in now. Now, this diphthong is pronounced slightly differently in American English than in British English. In British English, it's going to be pronounced more with an open ah sound. Now, how? Ah. Ah. Ah. So you start with an ah sound and then go to an U sound. But in American English, and this is really interesting, the starting vowel sound sounds more like the ah, a sound associated with the letter A. A as in cat. Listen. Not now, but na. Na. Now nat. Natalie. Now down. Da. Da. Down. Ha. Ha. How. How. Now, brown cow. And notice how we have to transition from the O to the oo. Right, get to the oo sound. How. Now, brown cow. Loud. Thousand. Pronounce. Very good. The next diphthong is I, as in my. Here you drop your jaw for an ah sound. That's a front vowel. And then your tongue rolls up and moves forward for the E. High Y. Make sure your jaw is really relaxed here. Fine. Light. Hide. Bite. If you don't get to the E sound, it might sound like but. But. Light. Fire. Hiding. Slightly. Good. The last diphthong for today is the oy, as in toy. Here we start with an sound. The lips are a bit rounded. Generally, you won't hear in American English this sound pronounced in isolation. Usually it's a bit more open. You don't hear o, but you do hear it within the oy. Diphthong. Let's practice it together. Here we're shifting from the O to the I. Toy. Coin. Boy. Poison. So drop your jaw here, round your lips, and make sure your tongue constantly moves until you get to the E sound. That's the end of the syllable. All right. To practice more, I highly recommend that you download the PDF that I've created for you with all five diphthongs, words, and a few phrases, and also an audio recording that you can practice along with. You can just hit play and repeat after me. When you learn a new sound, it's not enough to understand it. It's not enough to be able to pronounce it correctly. You have to repeat it again and again and again until you make it your own, until you build a new speaking habit. Otherwise, you're always going to go back to your old pronunciation, the way you're used to pronouncing it from when you started learning English, or the way you usually pronounce it in your first language. There are a lot of old habits that we bring into English, and that's perfectly normal. But if we want to create a new habit, meaning to acquire and start using a new sound, we have to repeat it intentionally. And this is why I created this practice for you for free. Now after you do that, you can practice speaking freely to yourself while thinking about these sounds and while trying to use them intentionally. And once you do, let me know in the comments how it is going for you. All right? I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for being here and for practicing with me. I hope this was helpful and helped you understand better the diphthongs in English. For more resources and free lessons go to hadar shemesh.com because everything I create there is designed to help you feel confident, clear and free in English. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.
