SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /p/: the p sound in pen

Close both lips, build air pressure, then release a light puff for /p/. Practice aspiration in pen and a clean, vowel-free ending in map.

/p/

American English: /p/ · stop · bilabial · voiceless
British English: /p/ · stop · bilabial · voiceless

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Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

Pack a pen and paper.

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

Both lips close completely and air pressure builds behind them. The voice stays off. At the start of a stressed syllable, as in pen, the release carries a small puff of air called aspiration.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

A paper test helps: hold a strip in front of your lips and it should move on pen but barely on spin. After /s/, English /p/ has little aspiration, and many languages never add that puff at all.

Pinyin p is similarly aspirated, but Mandarin po is a whole syllable. Spanish p usually has little aspiration, so Spanish speakers may need to add the puff.

Build the sound, step by step

Press your lips together gently and hold the air behind them for a moment.
Open quickly with your voice off. Check the puff on your hand or a strip of paper.
Say pen, paper, map. In map, close your lips and stop; add no extra vowel.

What to watch for

Too little air can make pen sound like ben. Add a puff at the start of stressed syllables.
Do not over-aspirate after /s/: spin has a much weaker puff than pin.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Alternate pin and bin, then pack and back. Change only the first consonant: /p/ has the puff and no voicing at the start, and the vowel stays the same.

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