The F and V Sounds

f (four, lift, graph, tough)

v ( love, knives, grave, vine)

English Pronunciation, Lesson 20

In English, the F and V sounds are often studied together because they are produced in the same part of the mouth. They both are consonant fricatives too. What does that mean? Read on to find out.

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Consonant Fricatives

A consonant is any letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel (vowels = a, e, i, o, u). Fricatives are consonants that are formed by stopping the air flow somewhere in the vocal tract, and then forcing the air through to produce a friction sound. With the F and V sounds, the air is stopped by pushing the bottom lip and top teeth together. The air is then pushed through to create the sound.

There are 9 fricatives in the English language: v sound, f sound, voiced th sound, unvoiced th sound, z sound, s sound, zh sound, sh sound, and h sound. (We will discuss these sounds in later lessons.)


The voiceless F sound (IPA symbol: f) is produced by stopping and releasing air between the bottom lip and the front side of the top teeth. 

This sound can be found in English words such as friend, for, laugh, after, life, phone, and stuff.

Pronunciation Tip: Do not curl your lip too far under your top teeth to make this sound.  This is a common error many language students make. This makes it difficult to connect the F sound to other sounds in a word.



The voiced V sound (IPA symbol: v) is produced in almost the same way as the F sound. Hold your lips and teeth in the same position. The V sound is different because it is voiced, meaning you produce a sound with your vocal chords. It can be found in English words such as love, knives, wolves, Valentine, and wave.
 
The only difference between these two sounds is that the F sound is a voiceless sound and the V sound is a voiced sound.

In the English language, we use many voiced sounds. That means that the vocal cords vibrate when you say that letter. You can hear a voiced V sound in words such as "vine" and "cave."

The letter F is a voiceless sound because the vocal cords do not vibrate. Instead, we use a puff of air to produce the sound. If you hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth when pronouncing a voiceless sound, the paper should move from the puff of air.

You can hear the voiceless F sound in words such as "for" and "wife."

Watch this short video from Rachel's English to hear and see the differences between the F and V sounds:



Have you watched it? Excellent! Now, let's practice saying each sound individually.

Practice the voiced V sound

Practice the voiced V sound by saying these words. Hold a piece of paper or your hand in front of your mouth to make sure you are voicing the consonant and not using a puff of air. The paper should not move.

• vacation
  
  
• five
  
  
• love
  
  
• knives
  
  
• wolves
  
  
• save
  
  
• van
  
  
• vine
  
  
• drive
  
  
• cave

Now practice the voiceless F sound

Use a piece of paper to practice the voiceless F sound. When you say this sound, you should release a puff of air from your mouth that moves the paper. Your vocal cords should not vibrate.

The F sound can be spelled in four different ways: f, ff, ph, and sometimes gh.

• four
  
  
• wife
  
  
• knife
  
  
• life
  
  
• family
  
  
• stuff
  
  
• phone
  
  
• graph
  
  
• laugh
  
  
• enough
  
  
  

Finally, practice the sounds side-by-side

Practice these two sounds side-by-side. Say one word from the V column, and then say one word from the F column. Remember to voice the V sound and use a puff of air for the F sound!

V	F
love	free
vine	rough
have	cough
visit	graph
drive	lift
save	file
heavy	phone
harvest	fun

Challenge words: These words are a little more difficult. They have both sounds. The V sounds are in blue. The F sounds are in green:

• five
  
  
• favorite
  
  
• favor
  
  
• flavor
  
  
• forgive
  
  
• lifesaver
  
  
• leftover
  
  
• forgive

Now say these sentences out loud.

The V sounds are in blue. The F sounds are in green:


1) His wife will drive the van.

2) I have five knives and four forks.

3) Will you phone before you visit the farm?

4) My family loves to laugh on vacation.

5) Save the four wolves who live in the cave.

6) Please forgive me for forgetting the leftover food!

Have you finished them all? Great job! Keep practicing until you can say them correctly!

Well done! You have completed this lesson.

Let's move on...

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