SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /ð/: the voiced th in this

Make voiced /ð/ with the tongue at the teeth and the voice on. Compare it with /θ/, /d/ and /z/, and practice this, they and mother.

/ð/

American English: /ð/ · fricative · dental · voiced
British English: /ð/ · fricative · dental · voiced

.sound-workspace .articulation-controls, .sound-workspace .voice-settings, .sound-workspace .lesson-accent { display: none !important; }

Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

This is my mother and father.

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

The tongue tip sits lightly at or between the teeth, as for /θ/, but the vocal folds vibrate. Air keeps flowing through a narrow gap, so there is no complete closure or burst.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

It appears in very frequent function words such as the, this and that, which are often weak and quick. Some accents use other sounds here; this lesson gives one widely understood target.

Mandarin has no /ð/; pinyin z and r are not reliable substitutes. The soft d in Spanish cada can be a helpful start, but Spanish speakers should avoid a full closure at the start of they.

Build the sound, step by step

Place your tongue as for /θ/ and let a little air through.
Turn your voice on. You should feel vibration in your throat and tongue tip.
Say this, mother, breathe, and then a quick natural the book.

What to watch for

A complete closure gives /d/, so they becomes day. Keep a small gap.
If the tongue stays behind the teeth, /z/ can appear, as in zen for then.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Compare they and day, then then and zen. Finally, contrast teeth and teethe at the end of a word, where the second word ends with voicing and a longer vowel.

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