Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

One problem that many students face in pronunciation is whether a consonant is voiced or voiceless. This guide should help you understand the differences.

What is voiced?

A simple explanation of voiced consonants is that they use the voice. This is easy to test by putting your finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration when pronouncing a consonant, the consonant is voiced. Here is a list of some voiced consonants. Pronounce each consonant sound and feel the vibration of your vocal chords.

b
d
th (as in then)
v
l
r
z
j (as in Jane)

What is Voiceless?

Voiceless consonants do not use the voice. They are percussive and use hard sounds. Once again, you can test if a consonant is voiceless by putting your finger on your throat. You will feel no vibration in your throat but a short explosion of air as you pronounce a voiceless consonant. Pronounce each of these consonant sounds and ensure that there is NO vibration in your throat.

p
t
k
s
sh
ch
th (as in thing)

Be Careful! Some Voiced consonants are sometimes Unvoiced and vice versa.

When consonants are put in groups they can change the voiced or voiceless quality of the consonant that follows. A great example of this is the past simple form of regular verbs. As you know, regular verbs add -ed to the end of the verb in the past simple. For example:

Play – played (d)

wash –washed (t)

live - lived (d)

These past simple verbs all end in '-ed'. However, some of the verbs are pronounced with a voiceless 't' sound and some are pronounced with the voiced 'd' sound. Why?

Here are the rules:

If -ed is preceded by a voiceless consonant sound (p, k, sh, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiceless 't'. Examples include shopped, parked, finished.Remember that the 'e' is silent.

If -ed is preceded by a voiced consonant sound (d, b, v, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiced 'd'. Examples include robbed, moved, bathed.Remember that the 'e' is silent.

If -ed is preceded by a vowel sound (often 'ay') -ed sounds as a voiced 'd' because vowels are always voiced. Examples include played, delayed, paid.Remember that the 'e' is silent.

Exception: If -ed is preceded by 't' pronounce a voiced -id. In this case, the 'e' is pronounced. Examples include commented, started, departed.

This pattern can also be found with plural forms. If the consonant preceding the 's' is voiced, 's' will sound as voiced 'z'. For example:

Chairs

Machines

bags

If the consonant preceding the 's' is voiceless, 's' will sound as voiceless 's'. For example:

bats

parks

pipes

Exercise - Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

Take this list of words and decide if the final consonants are voiced or voiceless.

Good by rebacca

vowels by stacy