pronouncekit

SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /b/: the b sound in book

Learn English /b/: close both lips, keep the release soft and unaspirated, and stop it from turning into /v/, /p/ or an added vowel.

/b/
American English
/b/ · stop · bilabial · voiced
British English
/b/ · stop · bilabial · voiced
Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

Bring back the blue book.

Mouth & tongue

Enable JavaScript to view the 3D panda. Pronunciation steps remain available below.

Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy.

What your mouth is doing

Both lips close and then release, as for /p/, but without the strong puff. Vibration is clearest between vowels, as in baby, and may weaken at the start or end of a phrase.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

Listeners separate /b/ from /p/ through several cues: aspiration, voicing and the length of the vowel before it. In cab versus cap, the longer vowel before /b/ is a useful signal.

Pinyin b is unaspirated but is not usually separated from p by voicing. Spanish speakers often soften b between vowels, so close the lips fully in baby.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Close your lips fully. Touch your throat and start a low hum.
  2. Release gently into a vowel, with far less air than /p/.
  3. Say baby and hobby with a real lip closure in the middle, then finish cab and stop.

What to watch for

  • If your upper teeth touch your lip, you have made /v/. Both lips must meet.
  • Avoid an extra vowel after a final /b/: job has one syllable.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Compare berry and very, then cab and cap. For the first pair, change the lips. For the second, keep the /b/ soft and let the vowel before it last a little longer.

Compare these sounds

Keep practicing

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance. The references below describe the sounds; the comparisons with other languages are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common American and British patterns, not every accent, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist. The mouth model is a simplified teaching aid, not a validated simulation.

Published 3 November 2026