LISTEN

/n/…/n/…/n/…/n/

nice…man…dinner…send

WHAT IS IT?

The sound /n/ is a voiced, alveolar, nasal consonant. 

• Touch your alveolar ridge (gum ridge) with the tip of your tongue.
• Let air flow out of your nose.
• Your vocal cords should vibrate.

The sound /n/ can be in these clusters:

Spelling:

• “n” – nice, pen
• “nn” – planned, dinner
• “kn” – know, knife
• “gn”* – sign, gnaw
• “gne”* (not common) – champagne, cologne

*Note: Occasionally the spelling “gn” is pronounced /ny/, as in the words “vignette” and “poignant”

Grammar Tip:​
The sound /n/ is part of the suffix “-en.” This suffix is used to mark some past participles in English. Past participles are used in perfect verbs or passive verbs.

• In present/past perfect verbs:
  • He has eaten.
  • We had spoken.
• In passive verbs: 
  • ​The article was written. 
  • The window was broken.

The sound /n/ is also part of several contractions.  A contraction is formed by combining two words. The contractions below end in the consonant cluster /nt/.

• will not = won’t
• do not = don’t
• could not = couldn’t
• cannot = can’t

COMPARE

Compare /n/ with /ŋ/:

/n/…/ŋ/…/n/…/ŋ/…/n/…/ŋ/

These are both nasal consonants. However, /n/ is an alveolar nasal while /ŋ/ is a velar nasal. When you pronounce /n/, the tip of your tongue should touch the roof of your mouth and the back of your tongue should be low in your mouth. 

You can hear the difference between /n/ and /ŋ/ in these words.

1. A. sun, B. sung
2. A. win, B. wing
3. A. tons, B. tongues
4. A. taken, B. taking
​5. A. banned, B. banged
6. A. sinning, B. singing

​Practice recognizing words with /n/ and /ŋ/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

Now compare /n/ and /l/:

/n/…/l/…/n/…/l/…/n/…/l/

These are both voiced alveolar consonants. However, /n/ is a nasal consonant while /l/ is a liquid consonant. To pronounce /n/, air should stop in your mouth but flow out of your nose.

You can hear the difference between /n/ and /l/ in these words.

1. A. news, B. lose
2. A. night, B. light
3. A. nine, B. line
4. A. win, B. will
5. A. tenor, B. teller​​​
6. A. spinning, B. spilling

Practice recognizing words with /n/ and /l/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

PRACTICE

​Now practice /n/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.

1. complained – neighbors – noisy
He complained that his neighbors were too noisy.
2. inside – when – snowing
We should stay inside when it’s snowing.
3. couldn’t – find – journal
I couldn’t find the right journal.
4. haven’t – chance – finish
I haven’t had a chance to finish.
5. lun​ch – fancy – restaurant
We had lunch at a fancy restaurant.
6. learned – anything – new – recently
Have you learned anything new recently?

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:

Male – US Midwest (St. Louis)

Male – US Midwest (Iowa)

Male – US Midwest

Female – US Northeast

Female – US Southeast

​Prepare:
What items do you have in your kitchen?  (If you don’t have a kitchen, what items do you use most for food preparation or eating?) 

​(If you don’t know some of these words, look at the pictures at https://7esl.com/kitchen-vocabulary/.)

Record:
In your recording, describe the 5 items that are most important to have in your kitchen. Explain why each item is important.

©2024, Christine Wingate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.