How to pronounce the V sound /v/
/v/ is a voiced consonant made at teeth on lip (labiodental). Put your top teeth on your bottom lip, exactly as for F. Turn the voice on: the lip should buzz against the teeth.
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How to make it
- 1Put your top teeth on your bottom lip, exactly as for F.
- 2Turn the voice on: the lip should buzz against the teeth.
- 3Hold the buzz — V can be stretched, which is how you check it is really voiced.
- 4Never round the lips; rounded lips give you W instead.
- Lips
- Bottom lip under the top teeth — the same contact as F.
- Tongue
- Low and uninvolved.
- Jaw
- Nearly closed.
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
Vera drove the van over to the village.
We have never given seven visitors a vote.
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 use one sound where English has both /v/ and /w/, so the two merge; teeth-on-lip is what makes it a V.
- Punjabi
Punjabi has the same single v-w sound, so 'vine' and 'wine' come out identical until the teeth touch the lip.
- Bengali
Bengali has no v; it is usually replaced by bh or b, so 'very' can start like 'bery'.
- Gujarati
Gujarati also merges v and w into one lip-approximant, so the English contrast has to be added.
- Marathi
Marathi's v is made with the lips barely approaching the teeth, so English V can sound too soft to carry.
- Telugu
Telugu has no v distinct from w, so the two English sounds land on one.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has no v, so w is the common substitute and 'voice' can begin like 'woice'.
- Japanese
Japanese has no v, so b is the usual substitute and 'van' can sound like 'ban'.
- Korean
Korean has no v either, so b stands in and the buzzing teeth-on-lip contact has to be built.
- Spanish
Spanish spells v but pronounces it as a b-like sound, so 'very' and 'berry' merge; the teeth must touch the lip.
- German
German w is pronounced as English V, which is fine for V but makes English W come out as V too.
- Arabic
Arabic has no v in native words, so f usually replaces it and 'love' can end like 'luff'.
Straight answers
Is /v/ 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 V sound?
Common ones include van, very, voice. In the middle of a word you get never, seven, over, and at the end love, give, have. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /v/ spelled in English?
It is written "v", "ve", "f". 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 /v/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu use one sound where English has both /v/ and /w/, so the two merge; teeth-on-lip is what makes it a V.
Record the V sound and see if it landed
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