How to pronounce the NG sound /ŋ/
/ŋ/ is a voiced consonant made at soft palate (velar). Raise the back of your tongue to the soft palate, as if starting a K. Turn the voice on and let it out through your nose.
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How to make it
- 1Raise the back of your tongue to the soft palate, as if starting a K.
- 2Turn the voice on and let it out through your nose.
- 3Keep the tongue tip DOWN — if the tip rises you get an N instead.
- 4End the word there. Do not add a G: 'sing' finishes with the nose, not a burst.
- 5It never starts an English word, so practise it at the end: 'long', 'thing', 'young'.
- Lips
- Open and relaxed.
- Tongue
- Back raised and sealed against the soft palate; tip stays down.
- 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
The young singer sang a long song in England.
Nothing is wrong with bringing something strong.
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 this nasal, but mainly before k and g, so a word-final ng often gains a g and 'sing' becomes 'sing-g'.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has final ng, but many speakers merge it with n, so 'sing' and 'sin' blur.
- Cantonese
Cantonese has final ng and also uses it to start syllables, so the sound is secure.
- Japanese
Japanese has ng as a variant of its syllable-final nasal, so it is available, but it is not distinguished from n.
- Korean
Korean has final ng, so it is secure; it just cannot start a word, exactly as in English.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has a strong final ng, so the sound is secure; after rounded vowels the lips may also close, which colours the ending.
- Thai
Thai has ng in every position, including the start of a word, so this sound is easier than for most learners.
- Spanish
Spanish has ng only before k and g, so a final ng becomes n and 'sing' ends like 'sin'.
- Italian
Italian has the sound only before k and g, so English 'sing' tends to end with a hard g.
- Russian
Russian has no ng, so it is produced as n plus g and 'long' becomes 'long-g'.
- Arabic
Arabic has no ng, so n plus g usually stands in and the two sounds separate.
- Turkish
Turkish has ng before velars only, so an English final ng tends to split into n plus g.
Straight answers
Is /ŋ/ 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.
Why does no English word start with /ŋ/?
English simply does not allow it in that position — the sound only appears in the middle or at the end of a word, as in singer, hungry, England, sing. That is a rule about English syllables, not about the sound itself; other languages do start words with it.
How is /ŋ/ spelled in English?
It is written "ng", "n", "ngue". 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 /ŋ/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu have this nasal, but mainly before k and g, so a word-final ng often gains a g and 'sing' becomes 'sing-g'.
Record the NG sound and see if it landed
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