Learn how to pronounce the vowel sound /u/. Practice pronunciation of the /u/ sound, used in words like “food,” “flu,” or “cool.”
Find out about the essential spelling rules for the /u/ vowel. Improve your American accent with exercises recorded by a professional speech therapist. Check out a bonus track at the end of the video! 🙂
Check out our website:
Quick links:
• Vowel sound /u/, as in “blue:” 00:00
• How to make the /u/ sound: 01:06
• Pronunciation exercise: 02:15
• Most common spelling for the sound /u/: 04:30
Related videos:
#AmericanPronunciation #VowelSounds #BackVowels
► Interactive Vowel Sounds Chart: American English Pronunciation
►Vowel sound /ʊ/, as in “put”:
►Vowel sound /oʊ/, as in “go”:
►Vowel sound /ɔ/, as in “on”:
[THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, SPANISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE, KOREAN, VIETNAMESE, PORTUGUESE, AND RUSSIAN SUBTITLES]
———————————————————————————————————–
TRANSCRIPT
Hello there! This is the “Sounds American” channel.
In this video, we’re going to talk about the American vowel sound /u/, as in the word “blue.”
You can also hear this sound in words like “rule,” “too,” “do,” or “new.”
Please, note, that we’ll be using a special phonetic symbol — /u/ — for this sound.
The /u/ sound is not unique to American English, but non-native English speakers usually make this sound too relaxed.
Listen to these words: “pool” – “pull.”
If they sound the same to you or if you’re not sure about it, this video might help you. Keep watching, and let’s find out how to make this vowel sound.
OK, to make the /u/ sound, you should focus on the correct position of your jaw, lips, and tongue.
Open your mouth a little and push your lips out, making a small, tense circle.
Pull your tongue far back in your throat and tense it.
Raise the back of the tongue toward the roof of your mouth.
Remember, the /u/ is a tense sound, so your lips and tongue should be tense.
Your tongue should be pulled back in your mouth.
Let’s try saying it: /u/, /u/, /u/.
[Pronunciation exercise]
Now, let’s practice this sound in some words.
You’ll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation. Like this.
You’ll have a few seconds to pronounce the word if you want to.
Let’s begin.
• blew
• bloom
• blue
• boom
• boots
• broom
• chew
• choose
• cool
• crew
• dew
• do
• doom
• due
• flew
• flu
• food
• fool
• fruit
• glue
• google
• goose
• grew
• group
• hoop
• juice
• June
• knew
• loop
• loose
You’re done! Congratulations!
By the way, did you know that the /u/ sound is written as the letter ‘u’ in less than 50% of cases?
More on the spelling:
the /u/ sound is written as the letter ‘u’ in 47% of cases.
It’s also often written as the combination of the letters ‘oo’ or as the single letter ‘o,’ as in the words “too” and “do,” respectively.
Sometimes, this vowel sound is represented by the combinations of the letters ‘ew,’ as in the word ‘new,’ or ‘ou,’ as in the word “soup.”
Thanks for watching! Hope you find it useful.
Stay tuned on our Sounds American channel!
source
🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓You can start with the article about the /u/ sound:
https://soundsamerican.net/article/vowel_sound_tense_u_as_in_blue
OMG
I think the 'HOOP' pronunciation wasn't right
1:47
This isn't /u/ sound. It's like /ʉ/ 😂 As an Asian, it's hard to me ☠️
wu˥˩˥
Baba ggeldii
Jay >>>>>
Why did u not pronounce in the same way the words: Dew and Do if they have the same phonemas?
American consonants : 😊
American vowels : 💀
Hello First of all , i want to say thank you for your good teaching , after than your channel is the best channel to learn correct and complete pronunciation 🙏🙏🙏
Thanks, i can read but finds it difficult to write, is there any other way i can be able to write.
Why there is no new videos?
紧张：i：，u：，ei，ou。
放松：i，u，∧，a：，a，o
[u：]还是[u]
T🎉❤❤ thank you
The back of my tongue doesn't go up towards the back of my mouth while doing the /u/ sound. Is this normal?
all of your videos are very helpful, Thank you so much.
The channel is great, but I missed the sounds for glidings and vowels called diphthongs /ju/, /jʊ/ and /jə/,as in the words: ambulance, popular, beauty, ect
So hard 😫
Hello there how can i get this application to practice it and test my pronunciation?
The vowel /u/ is most often represented in spelling of the letters?
Factors affecting demand for Labour
Felicidades,sa
/f3lıcıd oı des/
Thank you
Is it the long u sound? Or are they different? The u sound in "unicorn" and "blue" are different to me.
It was very helpful!! Thank u
great lessons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
جتني تشنجات
To me, this sound is a bit different in English than it is in most languages. For example, the u in the Spanish word “uno” sounds like a more back of the throat vowel than the “oo” in the English word “food”.
thanks great video
i thought /u/ and /u:/ are two different vowels sounds, with /u/ being a weak combination of /ʊ/ and /u:/? or am i wrong?
what is this app ?
I have to say this again and again, it's amazing how you explain things
tanks a lot our master🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
So confused!
In some words like chew, choose, dew, do, doom (slightly), due, june, and cute it sounds more like /ew/ instead of U.
Is it just a memorization situation? Is there a rule?
Thanks in advance for all your help and for having this amazing channel!
All the best!!!!
Thanks alot!
1:47
Love these videos!
te amo gracias hermano
4:41 I'd be very grateful for the reference that lists the percentages of the sounds in the standard American English. For example, how many English words have /ʊ/ sound? How many have /u/ sound? Etc.
Your work has a great value. I’m so thankfull with your video. They has been useful for my growth in this learning.
UwU
Always so useful. Thanks a lot.
牛逼
Nice
Great video and the diagram Is excellent!!! The final part where there is a sentences containing the sound was great!
Your video…I like thissss