Hadar Shemesh explains common silent-letter patterns in English pronunciation and gives many example words (e.g., psychology, receipt, debt, doubt, condemn, fasten, ballet, mortgage, depot, debris, yolk, salmon, indict, yacht, corps). She emphasizes that spelling and pronunciation often mismatch, recommends repeated aloud practice to re-train pronunciation habits, and offers a free PDF with word lists and definitions for follow-up practice.
Chapters
Hey everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me today we are going to talk about silent letters. I want to talk about silent letters that often cause mispronunciations. And here's the thing, here's why it's so confusing because English pronunciation and spelling are not aligned, right? So a lot of times you expect to say what you say, see on the paper or on your computer screen, and it's actually not the case. And because a lot of you have started learning English through reading and writing, the the representation of the written words is very, very dominant in your brain and you're thinking of the letters as sounds. So I'm going to share with you those examples and for you to be able to practice it. I don't want you to just watch this video and be like, oh, I didn't know that there is no B in debt. I actually want you to put it into practice so you can start making changes because changing your pronunciation is basically changing a habit. And to do that, you have to repeat something again and again and again. You have to repeat something again and again and again. So I created a PDF for you with the list of words and actually a few additional words and suggestions so that you can practice it after watching the video. But here's the thing. If you see a word that you know you use differently, you pronounce it differently, or you feel like you're not using it enough in your day to day speaking, I would recommend not just to look at it and say it once. I recommend to build pronunciation confidence. And for that you need to say it out loud like 10, 20, 30 times and then always use it in context. Let's get started. The first letter that I want to talk about is the letter P. So here's a pattern that is pretty consistent. Whenever there is a P s at the beginning of a word, the P is not pronounced. So we don't say psychology. We say psychology. You just don't pronounce the P sound. Psychiatrist. Psychic. Can you hear it? Psychic, not psychic. Now, the P is also silent in the word receipt. The T is pronounced by the way it's held. This is why you not you're not fully hearing it. But I'm not saying recei, I'm saying receipt. There is a T, but there is no P. Receipt. And also in the word coo, there is no P even though it's in the spelling coo. All right, good. The next silent letter is the B. Now here's another pattern to follow. When there is mb, especially the end of words. The B is not pronounced. So in words like lim, clim, no B. Bomb, no B. Crumb, plumber, comb. There is no B whatsoever. But we also don't have a B sound in the words debt. Even though there is a B, it's not debt. Doubt. Can you hear it? And subtle. Debt. Doubt. Subtle. And again, when you practice it, especially if you are used to saying these words with a B sound, say each word out loud at least 20 times until you build that new pronunciation habit. The next silent letter I'm going to talk about is the N. The N is silent in the words him, not him. Condemn, closing my lips, ending with an M. Autumn. And government. I do not pronounce the N here. Now let's talk about the T. There are a lot of words with a silent T. For example, fasten. We don't say fasten. Okay? It's not a mistake if you pronounce the T. Not a big deal. Everyone would understand you. But. But just so you know, the T is generally not pronounced in this word. Fasten, soften, moisten. It's not moisten. Moisten. And also in the words ballet. Right? Not ballet. In Hebrew, by the way, we say ballet. The T is pronounced but in English, ballet. So if you have this word in your language and you do pronounce the T in your language, the T sound. So you are very likely to pronounce it in English as well, which, again, not a big deal. But just so you know, it is not pronounced. And we just put a long A as in day at the end. Ballet. Ballet. More words with silent T. Mortgage. We don't say mort. Gadge. Right. Mortgage. Also the word rapport. Rapport. You can also put a toa at the beginning. Rapport. It's not rapport. Rapport. Then the word apostle. We do not pronounce the T there. Apo, not apostle. Apostle. And also the word buffet. In American English, the T is not pronounced buffet. And also the word depot. Home Depot. Office Depot. Depot. It's a high E. And then long O isn't go. No T. Depot. The next silent letter we're going to discuss is an S. The S is silent in debris. Not debris. Debris. And also in the word bourgeois. Bourgeois. Now, by the way, in the PDF, I'm going to write the definition for all of these words. So if you are not sure about some of the words, then the definition is going to be in the free PDF that I created for you. So download it. So the L is not pronounced in words like yolk. The Yellow part inside the egg. Yolk. Not yolk. Yolk. The L is also not pronounced in walk and talk when there is an lk at the end of words. That is a common spelling pattern where the L is not pronounced. The L is also not pronounced in the word salmon. Now I have a funny video about that that I'm going to link in the description below. Funny story that happened to my husband with the word salmon. So we do not pronounce the l in English. It's not salmon. Not that it's a big deal. Everyone would still mostly understand you. But make sure it's two syllables. Salman schwa at the end. Salmon. The C is silent in the word indict. Indite. Not indictment, but indite. And I know that because it's not a very common word. You don't hear it a lot when you come across. Makes sense that you'd assume that the C is pronounced but it's not indite. The G is not pronounced in many words that represent a vowel, like thought and taught. But it's also not pronounced in the word phlegm. Now I have a couple more words for you with silent letters. Actually more than one silent letter. First word I want to talk about is the word yacht. And the spelling has nothing to do with the pronunciation. We do not pronounce the ch right. It's not yucked, but yacht. Just like a Y sound. Oz and father and a T. Yacht. And then also the word core. The PS at the end gone core. Corps. Corps. Like the Marine Corps Corps. What other words with silent letters that I have not mentioned in this video? Do you know? Let me know in the comments below. Now make sure you download the PDF and remember, it's not enough to just hear it once and just think about it. You got to put it in your mouth. You got to say it again and again and again. So you change your pronunciation habits, build new habits and get it into your system. All right, thank you so much for watching. I hope you found this video video helpful. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
