How to pronounce thirty?
Ever walked into a cab and struggled to explain where you’re going?
Or tried to schedule a meeting but wasn’t sure if they got the right date?
Numbers like thirteen and thirty, or fourteen and forty may sound very similar,
but there IS a very clear way to distinguish between them.
After today’s class you’ll never have to repeat yourself again when saying numbers
Watch now: Thirteen or Thirty?
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, it’s Hadar, and this is the Accent’s Way.
Your way to find clarity, confidence and freedom in English.
Today we’re going to talk about the pair 13 and 13.
We gonna talk specifically about this pair but also learn the general rule
when it comes to the difference between
‘teens’ like 13, 14, 15 and ‘tens’ like 30, 40, 50.
All right.
So the first pair 13 and 30. They begin the same
Thir
To make this syllable bring the tongue out for the TH.
It’s a soft TH- sound.
Release air
Th-th-
and then pull the tongue in for the R.
Thir Directly.
So it’s kinda like you disregard the vowel that is there.
There is no vowels just to TH pulling in for an R.
Thir
Thir
For the R tongue pulls to the middle of the mouth, the lips round a bit
and the sides of the tongue push the insides of the upper teeth.
Thir
Then, listen to the difference between the two
Thir-TEEN
THIR-ty
Thir-TEEN
THIR-ty
The difference here, the biggest difference lies in the stress.
In the first word, the stress is on the second syllable
What is stress? Stress is the syllable.
A stress syllable is the syllable that is longer, louder and higher in pitch than the rest.
thir-TEEN
versus THIR-ty.
Here the stress is on the FIRST syllable.
THIR-ty
[‘TAda] [TaTA]
thir-TEEN
THIR-ty
Also, the stress affects the pronunciation of the T sound.
Because in the first word we have thir-TEEN.
It’s a strong aspirated T because it’s at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
Versus THIR-ty
Here it’s a flap T. So it sounds like a D.
THIR-dy
D
thir-TEEN
and of course, there is the N at the end of the first word of the ‘teens’.
And that’s very important to bring your tongue up to get to the N sound.
All right. So it’s not thir-TEEN and thir-TY, okay,
then it sounds too similar.
Thir-TEEN
THIR-ty
Same thing for
four-TEEN
FOR-ty
Okay
four-TEEN (stressed) stress is on the second syllable and FORty.
fif-TEEN
FIF-ty
six-TEEN
SIX-ty
Seven-TEEN
SEVEN-ty
Right, you can keep going with the rest of the numbers.
And now when you ask your thirty dollars back you won’t get only thirteen because you’ll say it correctly!
So good.
I hope I helped
and if I did please share this video with your friends.
And that’s it. I will see you next week in the next video.
Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
Thank you. See you next week.
Any other numbers that give you tooth ache?
Let me know!
One Response
you’re great thanks for your video