Pronuncian Lessons
Consonant Fricative: s sound /s/
Listen to the s sound
How to pronounce the s sound
The s sound is unvoiced, and is the counterpart to the voiced z sound. The vocal cords should not vibrate during the production of this sound.
To create the s sound, the front of the tongue is placed close to the tooth ridge. The tip of the tongue should be close to the upper backside of the top front teeth. The tongue is kept tense as air is pushed through the small opening between the front of the tongue and the tooth ridge, then into the top front teeth. The front sides of the tongue touch the side teeth toward the front of the mouth.
The lips are held slightly tense during the sound.
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s sound illustration
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This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being held for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration. The sound is also a fricative, meaning that it is created from the friction of the air being pushed through a small opening in the vocal tract.
Common s sound spellings
NOTE: s spelling
The letter s is more likely to be pronounced as a z sound than an s sound when it occurs between vowel sounds within a word. If the letter s is part of a prefix (such as the word disability), this is less likely to be true. At the end of a word the letters s or se are equally likely to be pronounced as an s sound or a z sound. It is important to note the correct pronunciation at the time of learning new vocabulary with these spellings.
NOTE: ss spelling
There is no difference in the s sound when it is spelled with a single letter s as compared to ss.
NOTE: sc spelling
The sc spelling is most likely to be pronounced as an s sound when the spelling occurs in the middle of a word. At the beginning of a word, it is more likely to be pronounced as the s sound followed by the k sound, as in the words scare and script.
NOTE: x spelling
ESL/ELL students and teachers must realize that the letter x can be pronounced as k sound + s sound or as g sound + z sound. A combination of syllable stress and the surrounding sounds determine the correct letter x pronunciation.
The s sound in suffixes
NOTE: -s/-es suffix
Whether the -s/-es suffix is pronounced with an s sound or with a z sound depends on the final sound before the suffix (see -s/-es/'s ending lesson for more details).
Non-phonetic s sound words
Other sounds to compare with the s sound