How to pronounce the F sound /f/
/f/ is a voiceless consonant made at teeth on lip (labiodental). Rest your top teeth lightly on your bottom lip — light contact, not a bite. Blow a steady stream of air through the gap.
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How to make it
- 1Rest your top teeth lightly on your bottom lip — light contact, not a bite.
- 2Blow a steady stream of air through the gap.
- 3Keep the voice off: the sound is pure air, and it can last as long as your breath.
- 4Do not round your lips; rounding turns it into a W-ish noise.
- Lips
- Bottom lip drawn up lightly under the top teeth.
- Tongue
- Free and low — it does nothing.
- Jaw
- Nearly closed.
Feel it
Put a hand flat on your throat and say the sound. You should feel nothing at all until the vowel begins — any buzz means you have switched the voice on too early and made the voiced partner instead.Where the sound appears
Keeping it through a whole line
Find four fresh fish for Friday afternoon.
The office coffee is free after five on a Friday.
Minimal pairs to drill
Each of these is two words separated by exactly one sound. If a listener hears the wrong one, the problem is the contrast, not the effort.
If your first language is…
Nothing here is about ability. Every one of these is a sound system doing exactly what it was built to do, applied to a language that asks for something else.
- HindiUrdu
Hindi and Urdu often realise f as an aspirated p, so 'fish' can begin like 'phish' with a lip pop instead of steady friction.
- Punjabi
Punjabi commonly substitutes an aspirated p for f, so the teeth never reach the lip; the fix is the teeth-on-lip contact itself.
- Tamil
Tamil has no f, so it is usually replaced by p and 'coffee' becomes 'coppee'.
- Telugu
Telugu has no native f either, so p stands in for it and the lip-and-teeth contact has to be learned.
- Malayalam
Malayalam has no f in native words, so it is typically produced as an aspirated p.
- Cantonese
Cantonese has f, so the sound is easy, but it is also the usual substitute for the English th, which creates a separate confusion.
- Japanese
Japanese has a lips-only f that occurs before u, so 'fish' and 'fun' come out blown between the lips rather than teeth-on-lip.
- Korean
Korean has no f, so p is the usual substitute and 'four' can sound like 'pour'.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has f, though a final f does not occur, so 'leaf' and 'safe' need the friction held at the end of the word.
- Arabic
Arabic has f, so it is secure, but it is also the usual replacement for English v, so the two English sounds collapse into one.
Straight answers
Is /f/ voiced or voiceless?
It is voiceless. Put a hand on your throat: you should feel nothing until the vowel after it starts. That is the only difference between it and its partner sound, which is made in exactly the same place.
What words start with the F sound?
Common ones include fish, fun, four. In the middle of a word you get coffee, before, offer, and at the end leaf, safe, laugh. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /f/ spelled in English?
It is written "f", "ff", "ph", "gh". English spelling and English sound came apart centuries ago, so the same sound turns up under several spellings and the same spelling carries several sounds — which is why the sound, not the letter, is the thing to learn.
Why do Hindi & Urdu speakers find /f/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu often realise f as an aspirated p, so 'fish' can begin like 'phish' with a lip pop instead of steady friction.
Record the F sound and see if it landed
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