How to pronounce the URE sound /ʊə/
/ʊə/ is a diphthong — a vowel that glides, moving high back to central (glide). Start on the short OO of 'book', lips loosely rounded. Let the tongue glide forward to the middle into a schwa.
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How to make it
- 1Start on the short OO of 'book', lips loosely rounded.
- 2Let the tongue glide forward to the middle into a schwa.
- 3Unround the lips as you go.
- 4This is the rarest English vowel, and many speakers now replace it with the 'aw' of 'thought' — 'sure' and 'shore' can be the same word.
- Lips
- Start loosely rounded, then relax.
- Tongue
- Starts high and back, glides forward to the centre.
- Jaw
- Nearly closed, opening slightly.
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 tour of the rural estate was pure luxury.
I am not sure the cure worked during January.
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 produce a long u plus a tapped r, so 'sure' separates into two pieces.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has no vowel plus r ending of this kind, so the glide is usually replaced by a plain u.
- Japanese
Japanese has no centring diphthong, so 'pure' gains a tap and an extra vowel.
- Korean
Korean has no centring diphthong, so the two halves separate.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has a ua diphthong close to this one, so it transfers reasonably well.
- Spanish
Spanish has no centring diphthong, so 'tour' becomes a tense u plus a tapped r.
- French
French has no centring diphthong, and its back-of-throat r takes over the ending.
- German
German turns a final r into a schwa-like vowel, so this diphthong transfers relatively well.
- Italian
Italian has no centring diphthong and a trilled r, so the ending is very audible.
- Russian
Russian has no centring diphthong and a trilled r, so the ending separates.
- Arabic
Arabic has no centring diphthong, so a long u plus a tapped r substitutes.
- Turkish
Turkish has no diphthongs, so 'cure' becomes a vowel plus a tap.
Straight answers
Is /ʊə/ voiced or voiceless?
It is voiced. Put a hand on your throat and say it: you should feel a buzz the whole time. All English vowels are voiced, so the question only really separates the consonants.
Why does no English word start with /ʊə/?
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 rural, during, curious, sure. That is a rule about English syllables, not about the sound itself; other languages do start words with it.
How is /ʊə/ spelled in English?
It is written "ure", "our", "oor", "ur", "ue". 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 /ʊə/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu produce a long u plus a tapped r, so 'sure' separates into two pieces.
Record the URE sound and see if it landed
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