外教教你学英语音标 辅音[z]

/z/ is a voiced fricative consonant sound.

So you should feel some friction or vibration between the tip of your tongue and the gum ridge.

You make the /z/ sound by raising the tip of your tongue toward the gum ridge, but not touching.

You should feel a vibration and buzzing between the tongue and the gum ridge.

/z/

One of the most common mistakes in making the /z/ sound is devoicing and turning it into a /s/ sound.

This usually happens at the end of a word.

So the word like "knees" ends up sounding like "niece".

By the way, you should be aware that the /z/ sound is sometimes spelled with a letter 'Z' in English, but it is often spelled with a letter 'S'.

So this can certainly be confusing.

Let's work together and develop the energy we need for the /z/ sound.

D, N, Z.

D, N, Z.

D, N, Z.

Now, add the vowel e.

Dee, Nee, Zee.

Dee, Nee, Zee.

Great! Now, let's try some words comparing /s/ and /z/ endings.

Peas, Peace.

His, Hiss.

Pays, Pace.

Plays, Place.

Fleas, Fleece.

Great! Now, let's try some words that are spelled with the letter 'S' but end with the /z/ sound.

Remember, if the sound before the letter 'S' is voiced then the 'S' is pronounced like /z/.

Trees.

Beds.

Maids.

Leagues.

Hums.

Pays.

Sneezes.

Make sure to try some more practice on EnglishCentral and good luck.