pronouncekit

SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /f/: the f sound in fine

Rest your upper teeth on your lower lip and let air flow for /f/. Keep it voiceless, and watch for spellings such as ph and gh.

/f/
American English
/f/ · fricative · labiodental · voiceless
British English
/f/ · fricative · labiodental · voiceless
Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

Find a free phone for life.

Mouth & tongue

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

Vocal folds: apart

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 upper front teeth rest lightly on the inner edge of the lower lip. Air flows continuously through the small gap, with the voice off. Unlike a stop, it can be held for a whole breath.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

English writes this sound as f, ph and sometimes gh, as in phone and laugh. /f/ and /v/ use the same mouth shape, so turning the voice on or off is the main change.

Pinyin f and Spanish f are close to /f/, so the focus is on clean endings for Mandarin speakers and on separating /f/ from /v/ for both groups.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Lift your lower lip to touch the upper teeth, without biting hard.
  2. Blow a steady stream of air and hold /f/ for two seconds with no voice.
  3. Say fine, coffee and life, ending the last word on the air alone.

What to watch for

  • Blowing through both lips gives a softer bilabial sound. Keep the teeth on the lip.
  • Do not trust gh: it is /f/ in laugh but silent in night.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Alternate fan and van, then leaf and leave. Keep your lip and teeth together. Turn your voice on for /v/, and feel the throat vibration appear and disappear.

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