16 Ways to Say the Letter U | English Vowel Sound | English Pronunciation

0:00 How many ways can you say the letter U? Well, I found 16 and there are probably more. That's unbelievable and very confusing. So, if you want to improve your pronunciation and understand all the sounds with the letter U, come this way. [Music] The first way to pronounce the letter u is the sound a as in the word sun. Let me show you how to say it. It's really easy. First of all, say the schwa

0:47 sound uh mouth, tongue, and jaw all relaxed. Say uh. Now open your mouth a little wider and say ah. A u a. It's as simple as that. Now say the word plum. Not plum. Plum. Now this a sound is very common in threeletter words. Repeat after me. Fun. Run. Mud.

1:34 Cup. But, and as always, there's an exception, and it's the word put with the uh sound as in the word foot. The sound a is also common before double consonants. Try saying these words. Butter, dull, skull, puddle, funny. But again, watch out for exceptions with the short uh sound like bull, full, pull, and pudding.

2:23 Just to check you've got that, try saying these. Dull, pull, skull, full, puddle, pudding. Now, let's practice these words with the H sound. Repeat after me. Uncle, bug, hut. sung, much truck, and these with an o spelling. Young trouble. Now, a short sentence for you to

3:10 practice the a sound. You ready? Under the sun, when we were young, we cut open a coconut, having fun and telling funny tales. Now you say it under the sun. When we were young, we cut open a coconut having fun and telling funny tales. Well done. Now for the next way that the letter U is pronounced, it's the U sound as in the word bull.

3:58 Yep, it's not very common. Now try these practice words. Repeat after me. Put, push, pull. full, bully, sugar. And here are some you probably already know with an O spelling. Notice the silent L's. Would, could, should. Now, a short sentence for you to practice the ooh sound. Ready?

4:46 Like a bully, he would push and pull the bull out of the bush as hard as he could. Now you say it. Like a bully, he would push and pull the bull out of the bush as hard as he could. Great. The next way the letter U is pronounced is the long sound U. as in the word unicorn. It's also the pronunciation of the letter U.

5:34 For this sound, we sometimes just need the letter U in a word like these words. Repeat after me. human, music, student, unit, duty. Now try these words that have the letter E after a following consonant. Cube. Huge. Consume. Confuse. Computer. Perfume.

6:19 Reduce. Mute. Cute. However, beware of two exceptions here. The first is minute. When the word is referring to time, the U sound sounds like it. Minute. If we say minute with the U sound, it means something completely different. It means very very small, minute. The other exception is the word lettuce. You know that veggie we have with our

7:05 salad. Don't say lettuce because we won't understand you. I'd like a lettuce and tomato sandwich, please. It's lettuce. Now let's move on to the word endings with spellings buen fusion. The sound for these endings is u plus shun. for t i o n endings. And for s i o n endings, it's usion. Say these words after me. Contribution,

7:52 distribution, prosecution, substitution, diffusion. However, a special point here. Change the preceding consonant to an L and the U sound becomes ooh as in conclusion, illusion, pollution, solution, revolution, evolution. We can also add ue e on the end of words which gives the same long u sound.

8:40 Repeat after me. Q statue argue rescue Q barbecue issue and tissue. These last two words are very tricky for the tongue. So you will often find they're pronounced as tissue and issue, which is a lot easier. Of course, having said that, this is where it gets really mad. When you have u e at the end of words, it can have no sound at all. It's

9:27 silent. Repeat after me. Catalog, dialogue, tongue, check, unique, technique, and then you have the silent U at the beginning of some words. Repeat after me. Guest. Guess guard guardian. Guide guilty. Now for the letter U pronounced as the

10:12 long ooh sound as in the word fruit. Let's break the practice into different word groups. Starting with the words that end with an e. Blue. June. Flute. Plume. Rude. Rule. Now words with an O spelling. Soup. Group. Wound. Recoup. Now words with ui.

11:00 Fruit. Suit. Juice. Cruise. Now be very careful here as the ou spelling can also be pronounced as and o. But we'll look at these sounds later in the video. Now, a short sentence for you to practice the ooh sound. Ready? In June, a group played a lively flute by the blue sea. Their music was like a healing fruit for the mind.

11:45 Now you say it. In June, a group played a lively flute by the blue sea. Their music was like a healing fruit for the mind. As promised, let's now look at the letter U pronounced as the sound as in the word mouse. Now try these practice words where u is pronounced as the sound. Repeat after me. Out. Round.

12:32 Mouth. Doubt. Cloud. Mouse. Now let's practice the sound in a sentence. Repeat after me. A mouse ran out, then opened his mouth to shout at the round clouds as they passed by. Now your turn. A mouse ran out, then opened his mouth to shout at the round clouds.

13:18 as they passed by. Now for the letter U pronounced as the O sound. This is a great example of how the modern British RP accent has changed. You will see the O sound shown in dictionaries for the O U in words like soul, mold, and shoulder. And that's how they used to be pronounced, but they're now more often pronounced as follows. Repeat after me.

14:03 soul, mold, shoulder, boulder. Now, the next way the letter U is pronounced is the long O sound as in the word for. There are two sets of U spellings with the O sound. These are s u r e words and o ur words. First let's practice the s u r e words. Repeat after me. Sure. Unsure.

14:50 Insure. Now, please note that not all u e words have the o sound. Many have the schwa sound. And I'll explain this later in the video. Now, for the o you r words. Repeat after me. Your poor, to. There are exceptions here. And that's the words our and our. Now try my practice sentence. Repeat after me. During your tour, they'll pour chocolate

15:37 for sure, ensuring a great 4hour experience. Now your turn. During your tour, they will pour chocolate for sure, ensuring a great 4-hour experience. Now, the next way the letter U is pronounced is the ought sound as in the word n. There are two sets of u spellings with the ought sound o u g ht words

16:24 and a u g ht words. First let's practice the o u g ht words. Repeat after me. ought. Brought. Naught. thought. Now the a u g h t words caught, taught, slaughter, and daughter. Practice sentence time. His daughter was caught in deep thought about the book

17:11 she had just bought. Now your turn. His daughter was caught in deep thought about the book she had just bought. The next way the letter U is pronounced is the trfong sound your as in the word pure. In received pronunciation we usually say these words like this. Repeat after me. Cure. Pure. Secure.

17:58 Mature. However, you're very likely to hear speakers smooth out the sound to just a your sound like this. Repeat after me. Cure, secure, pure, mature. Well, it's up to you how you want to pronounce these sounds. So try this practice sentence with your his cure secured a pure mature outlook on life or

18:43 your his cure secured a pure mature outlook on life. The next way the letter U is pronounced is the long vowel sound as in the word nurse. It's like a long schwa sound. Uh there are two sets of u spellings with the sound. U words and words ending in eur. First, let's practice the ur words. Repeat after me. Burn.

19:29 Church. Hurt. Curved. Purse. Surge. Now, words spelled with the eur ending. This ending is less common in English than in French. from where English borrows several words with this ending. Here are some words that end with eur in English. Connoisseur, entrepreneur, flur as in flirtily, sabotur, recontour,

20:16 voyer. Most of these words retain their French pronunciation or a close approximation when used in English. Whilst on the subject of pronouncing the letters Eur, I have to mention something that annoys me. It's when people pronounce the spelling of eur at the beginning of this word like this. Euro instead of Euro and Europe instead of Europe

21:02 and European instead of European. The next way the letter U is pronounced is the schwa sound. uh for some words that end in u e like picture. Now try not to get confused here. As previously mentioned, the spelling u e can have the o sound, but these u e word endings are pronounced as uh it would be a good idea to learn them parrot fashion or in other words without thinking about why. Just take my word for it.

21:49 Here goes. Adventure. Nature, capture, closure, exposure, feature, gesture, literature, mixture, pressure, procedure, sculpture, structure. texture, measure, pleasure, and there are lots lots more.

22:37 The letter U is also pronounced as the us sound for I, O U S, and O U S spellings in these words. Repeat after me. These words ending with io, o u s. ambitious, delicious, gracious, mysterious, religious, infectious. And now repeat these words with o us endings. famous, dangerous,

23:23 fabulous, continuous. And now for a rare one. When the letter U is pronounced as the E sound. Repeat after me. Berry and buried. Time for a tongue twister. Listen and repeat after me. Groups of unicorns used to queue up to unite under ultraviolet umbrellas at barbecues. Again, groups of unicorns

24:10 used to queue up to unite under ultraviolet umbrellas at barbecues. How did you do? Great. Of course, I've only covered one of the English vowels here, but if you want to know how to pronounce the others, A, E, I, and O, go here. Until next time, love and peace.