YouTube Ask-Hadar episode where Hadar Shemesh answers Nikki (from Argentina) about pronouncing sentences with multiple 'th' sounds. Hadar explains common difficulties (tension, over-extrusion of the tongue, and transitions between /θ, ð/ and tip-of-tongue consonants), gives practice steps (isolate transitions, repeat in words then sentences, slow-to-fast), and suggests shortcuts for function words (dentalized D).
Chapters
Hey, everyone, it's Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we have an Ask Hadar episode where we will be answering questions from our audience. And today we have Nikki from Argentina. And Nikki has an important question about the th. Let's listen.
Hey, Hadar and the team behind the scenes. I'm Nikki. I'm from Argentina. I'm a huge fan of your channel. I. I love your content, especially how you challenge native speakerism. So please keep it up. So my question, how do you say words or sentences that have many words that have a th back to back to back, as in the sentence? That's the thing I was thinking. Or it's better than I thought. There are so many words with th that when I say these sentences, I get stuck with or the words feel like they're not flowing because there are so many hard sounds or so many TH's. So I was wondering, is there a way to practice these hard sentences? Or maybe there's a shortcut to make it easier to say these words. So, yeah, that's my question. Thank you so much for what you're doing. You rock.
No, you rock, Nikki. You rock. I love you and your personality that just shines through the screen. So. So I am more than happy to answer this question. I'm sure that a lot of people struggle with the same challenge, especially people who have been practicing their pronunciation and their ths for a while, and then they struggle in real life with such issues where you have a sentence full of th's. Like, that's the thing I was thinking the other day. Right? So let's talk about it in what could be potentially holding you back from pronouncing it effortlessly. So first of all, I want you to examine your th. A lot of times, the way we pronounce the th might be in the most efficient way, and sometimes we might invest more energy. And then it gets in the way when we have a lot of th's in the sentence. So the thing is that you want to remember that the tongue has to be very soft because when it's tight and pressed against the upper teeth, it might work for a singular word like think. But when you have a lot of words think the thought, then it might get in the way and make it harder. Also, if you stick the tongue out too much, which from the video, it does not seem like it. But for everyone else watching, if the tongue sticks out too much, maybe you've gotten into the habit of sticking the tongue out, then it also might be challenging for you because that's the thing I was thinking there was like a lot of work and you have to push your tongue really forward to get to the th sound. And that is going to definitely get in your way. When there are a lot of TH's. So the quality of pronunciation, stick the tongue out just a bit and most importantly, make sure that the tongue is not very tense, it's loose, and there is space between the tongue and upper teeth. For the air to come out has to be very soft. That's the thing I was thinking. Also, when it comes to sentences, it's not that the th is the problem. It's the transition between the th and other sounds, especially when the th is before or after tip of the tongue consonants, and that is T, D, N, L, S, Z. When these consonants appear before or after the th, it's going to be a bit more challenging. Actually, I have a video just about that that I'm going to link below so you can learn and practice with the video. But really quickly. When you transition between the th and the s, for example, as in that's the. What is going to happen is that the tongue is going to want to stay inside if th does not exist in your language. And then you might say something like, that's the. That's the. And the T might turn into a D. So you want to practice just the transition sth, in this case, sth, th. And you want to do it enough times and then do it enough times quickly until this is no longer a challenge. Then you want to put it in context within the words. That's the. That's the. That's the. That's the. That's the. That's the.
That's the.
That's the. That's the. That's the. All right, so from the transition of the sounds to the words and then to the entire sentence, that's the thing. Maybe not the full sentence. Step by step. That's the thing. That's the thing. That's the thing. Now, after practicing it for so many times, it's going to be a little easier at this point. That's the thing I was thinking. That's the thing I was thinking. And then maybe you feel like you get stuck at the end again. Was thinking, was thinking. Again. Zth so all over again, Right? And then was thinking, was thinking, was thinking, was thinking, was thinking. That's the thing I was thinking. And another quick tip. If you do have a transition from an S or z to a th, hold the sound, the previous sound a little longer. That's the thing preparing mentally to stick the tongue out for the th and keep everything really, really soft. That's the thing I was thinking. That's the thing I was thinking. Or let's take the other sentence, for example, if you it's better than I thought. Here we have an rth better than better than. Better than. Better than I thought. It's better than I thought. Slow down on those TH's until you teach your tongue to get to the right place and then start going a little faster gradually. Really treat it like a tongue twister. Honestly, it's better than I thought. It's better than I thought. So soft. Okay, now one more thing I want to tell you is that when it comes to function words with th, like the this, that, those the, then you also want to take into consideration that it's okay not to stick the tongue out fully, right? That's the thing, right? If you vibrate the tongue on the back of the teeth, the thing, it is also okay. You don't have to stick the tongue out fully even if it sounds like what we call a dental D, which is like a D on the teeth. The. The. The. It's totally okay for these function words with th. For example, is that yours? Is the the the right? I'm not fully pronouncing the th. It's not. Is that yours? Is that. Is that so? It's a shortcut, a small shortcut that you can take to make it easier and to simplify it. That's the thing I was thinking. That's the thing I was thinking. I'm just keeping the tongue really close but still on the teeth so that it's easier, smoother, and I'm able to move the tongue quickly between the consonants. All right, that's it. If you have any other tips on how to improve sentences with th, I'm inviting all of you to share that in the comments below. If you Nikki, my dear, I hope this was helpful. You can practice it with me. It sounds like you are already on the right track and I have no doubt that you, my friend, are going to conquer it. That's the thing I am thinking. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day. If you also want to ask me questions on video and have me answer them here on my channel and on social media, then click the link below and go into the Ask at our page and send me your question. Thank you so much. I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
