How to pronounce the N sound /n/
/n/ is a voiced consonant made at ridge behind the teeth (alveolar). Put the tongue tip on the ridge behind your top teeth and seal the sides. Turn the voice on and send the sound out through your nose.
- Free
- No card
- Scored in your browser
How to make it
- 1Put the tongue tip on the ridge behind your top teeth and seal the sides.
- 2Turn the voice on and send the sound out through your nose.
- 3Keep the tip in place — if it drops, the N turns into a vowel.
- 4Release the tip only when you move to the next sound.
- Lips
- Open and relaxed.
- Tongue
- Tip pressed on the ridge behind the top teeth, sides sealed.
- Jaw
- Slightly open.
Feel it
Put a hand flat on your throat and say the sound. It should buzz under your fingers from the very start — if the buzz only arrives with the vowel, you are making the voiceless version.Where the sound appears
Keeping it through a whole line
Nine new names were written down on Monday night.
No one finished dinner in the green kitchen.
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 have retroflex and dental n as well, so English N can land too far back or too far forward.
- Tamil
Tamil has dental, alveolar and retroflex n, so choosing the alveolar one for English is a matter of aim, not of ability.
- Malayalam
Malayalam has several n sounds at different places, so the English alveolar one has to be picked out of the set.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has both n and ng at the end of a syllable, but many speakers merge them, so 'sun' and 'sung' blur.
- Cantonese
In modern Hong Kong Cantonese a word-initial n commonly becomes l, so 'night' can begin like 'light'.
- Japanese
Japanese has a single syllable-final nasal that takes its shape from the next sound, so a final N can drift toward ng or a nasal vowel.
- Korean
Korean n becomes l next to l, and a word-initial n before i is often dropped, so 'near' can lose its start.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese final n is unreleased and in southern varieties can merge with ng, so 'then' and 'theng' blur.
- Thai
Thai has final n, so it is available, though it is unreleased and l at the end of a syllable also becomes n.
- Spanish
Spanish n takes the place of the next consonant, so 'in Britain' can come out with an m, and a final n before k becomes ng.
- Portuguese
Portuguese does the same — a final n nasalises the vowel — so 'green' can end without a tongue contact.
- French
A French n at the end of a syllable nasalises the vowel instead of touching the ridge, so 'then' can lose its N.
Straight answers
Is /n/ voiced or voiceless?
It is voiced. Put a hand on your throat and say it: you should feel a buzz the whole time. Every English vowel is voiced too, so the buzz never stops between this sound and the vowel next to it.
What words start with the N sound?
Common ones include no, night, name. In the middle of a word you get dinner, many, finish, and at the end sun, then, green. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /n/ spelled in English?
It is written "n", "nn", "kn", "gn", "pn". 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 /n/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu have retroflex and dental n as well, so English N can land too far back or too far forward.
Record the N sound and see if it landed
sayit lines up every sound you made against the sound you meant, in IPA, and marks the ones a listener would miss. Free, private, in your browser.