LISTEN

/v/…/v/…/v/…/v/

vase…view…love…ever

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
The sound /v/ is a voiced, labiodental, fricative consonant.

• Press your upper teeth against your lower lip.
• Breathe out and let air escape past your teeth.
• Your vocal cords should vibrate.

The sound /v/ can be in these consonant clusters:

Spelling:

• “v”/”ve” – vet, leave
• “f” – of

​​Grammar Tip:
The sound /v/ is present in the suffix “-ive.” This suffix may turn a verb into an adjective, or sometimes a noun.

• act –> active (adjective)
• create –> creative (adjective)
• decide –> decisive (adjective)
• direct –> directive (noun)

COMPARE

Compare /v/ with /f/:

/v/…/f/…/v/…/f/…/v/…/f/

Both /v/ and /f/ are labiodental, fricative consonants. However, /v/ is voiced and /f/ is voiceless. When you pronounce /v/, your vocal cords should vibrate. At the end of a word, the vowel before /v/ will be longer than the vowel before /f/.

You can hear the difference between /v/ and /f/ in these words.

1. A. veer, B. fear
2. A. vine, B. fine
3. A. view, B. few
4. A. save, B. safe
5. A. believe, B. belief
​6. A. proves, B. proofs

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

​Now, compare /v/ with /w/:

/v/…/w/…/v/…/w/…/v/…/w/

Both /v/ and /w/ are voiced consonants that involve lip movement. However, /v/ is a voiced labiodental consonant, and /w/ is a bilabial glide. When you pronounce /v/, your upper teeth should rub against your lower lip, but when you pronounce /v/ your lips should not touch your teeth.

You can hear the difference between /v/ and /f/ in these words.

1. A. vest, B. west
2. A. vow, B. wow
3. A. veil, B. whale
​4. A. verse, B. worse​
​5. A. viper, B. wiper
​6. A. roving, B. rowing

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

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:

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

1. travel – overseas – vacation
We will travel overseas on our vacation.
2. five – visitors – arrive
At five o’clock, our visitors will arrive.
3. vendor– seventh – souvenirs
The vendor on Seventh Street sells souvenirs.
4. of – relatives – love – volleyball
All of our relatives love volleyball.
5. approve – of – violent – behavior
I don’t approve of his violent behavior.
6. every – evening – drive – visit
​Every evening, I drive to visit my grandfather.

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:
Imagine you are planning a vacation to an island in the Caribbean. These are the activities you can do.

• ​Go scuba diving
• ​Drive along the beach
• Attend a carnival
• ​View the island from an airplane
• Watch an evening show
• Shop for souvenirs from local vendors
• Visit a volcano
• Have dinner with native people

​Plan a one-day schedule for a vacation to the island. Choose activities that you would do at each of these times

• 11:00 am
• 12:00 pm
• 5:00 pm
• 7:00 pm
• 11:00 pm

Record:
In your recording, explain what you will do at each time of the day.

©2024, Christine Wingate

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