Pronouncing /f/ & /v/

The sounds /f/ and /v/ are not as common among world languages, especially with /v/. English has them, and except for one or two exceptions, every letter "f" is always pronounced /f/, while every letter "v" is always pronounced /v/

/f/ the voiceless labiodental fricative

Some common problems for /f/:

/f/ pronounced as [p] or [ɸ]:

For speakers of various Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean, and Tagalog, the /f/ sound is pronounced as [p] or [ɸ]. This is an across the board change and speakers of these languages should pay attention to this lesson.

Word lists for /f/

List 1: feet, fit, fate, fell, fat, flub, fern, flop, for, phone, flout, foot, food

List 2: Fan, friend, fashion, fear, feel, flight, fox, fake, fervent, force, fill, feel, frighten, phone, fix, philosophy, photo, philanthropy

List 3: if, off, cliff, roof, half, puff, riff, raft, soft, lift, stiff, staff stuff, roof, craft, sift, rift, miffed, laughed, fluff, buff.

Contrastive pairs p/f

pore/for, pup/puff, pat/fat, passion/fashion, cups/cuffs, plight/flight, pair/fair, praise/phrase, peel/feel, foot/put, from/prom, peer/fear, far/par, first/pursed

Sentences for /f/

1. That performance was perfectly performed.

2. She took a flight to Fresno for vacation.

3. I frequently finish work by four pm.

4. His Frisian has finally improved.

5. I have a passion for fashion.

6. The phone call is probably from France.

7. The fanatical fans got into a fist fight.

8. Previously I never poured my own coffee.

9. Felicia and Francis prefer to be called friends.

10. Phonetics and phonology deal with phonemes.

Reading & speaking out loud /f/

The number in brackets indicates the number of instances of this phoneme in the article. After reading the article, answer the question out loud using as many words with the phoneme as possible.

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/v/ the voiced labiodental fricative

The /v/ sound tends to be a bit more difficult for students of English being rarer among world languages.

Common problems for /v/

/v/ becoming [f]:

For many European languages such as Russian, Polish, & German, the /v/ sound is often changed into an [f] sound in certain situations such as at the end of syllables. Speakers of these linguistic backgrounds will do this in English too, but this phenomenon does not happen in English. English /v/ is pronounced [v] everywhere.

/v/ pronounced as [b]:

For speakers of some languages such as Spanish and Japanese, /v/ is pronounced as [b]. Again, speakers of these languages should take care to differentiate /v/ and /b/ which are different phonemes in English and mixing them up may change the meaning of words.

Word lists

List 1: veal, vixen, vain, very, van, vulture, verb, vault, voice, vine, vote, voodoo

List 2: ever, over, even, cover, every, flavor, event, having, driver, average, develop, everybody, available, delivered, government, revise, individual

List 3 (clusters): Advantage, advertisement, conversation, conventional, environment, envelope, convenient

List 4: save, five, have, move, give, live, love, alive, arrive, believe, exclusive, effective, improve, interactive, alternative, apprehensive, reactive, passive, leave, give, have, live, gave, involve, receive, deceive, effective, survive, talkative, brave, creative, native, revolve

Contrastive pairs 

These pairs of words differ by one sound, i.e. /v/ versus another sound like /w/, /f/, or /b/. If you mispronounce /v/ as one of these other sounds you will say another sound so pay attention to these exercises.

v/w

Venn/when, vine/wine, vest/west, Walt/vault, vow/wow, verse/worse, vet/wet, veal/wheel, wane/vane, vied/wide

v/f

life/live, safe/save, leave/leaf, half/have, rife/arrive, Duff/dove, strife/strive, life/lives, dwarves/dwarf, knife/knives, wife/wives, wolves/wolf, view/few, ferry/very, vat/fat, fox/vox, van/fan

v/b

van/ban, Venn/Ben, vest/best, bolt/volt, bow/vow, versed/burst, vet/bet, vox/box, bane/vane, vied/bide, boat/vote, vat/bat, vicar/bicker, cabs/calves, gave/Gabe, nav/nab

Sentences for /v/

Syllable initial

1. Riveting reviews show good efforts to fairly evaluate service.

2. It’s refreshing to view novel victories by the veteran forces. 

3. Vicious wolves feast on the victuals of fallen venison. 

4. A viably efficient eco-system revolves around flora, fauna, and the environment.

5. Avoid traveling to Vegas if you have a fever.

6. The detectives will investigate whoever is involved.

7. He invited me and Vivienne to try his vintage Viennese vodka.

8. Tonight's menu includes flavorful veal and verdant, farm-to-table vegetables.

Syllable final

1. Leave it to love to give life and save you from strife.

2. I have a sieve that I received from a chav who I met at a rave in a cave.

3. They’ve never believed me, we've never had the same perspective.

4. She gave Steve five gifts today.

5. Five of us drove to the peaceful grove.

6. He was so depraved he made slaves of his relatives.

7. I've received the reprieve I've so greatly craved.

8. I've saved five guava halves for Maeve.

Reading & speaking out loud

The number in brackets indicates the number of instances of this phoneme in the article, the first number is syllable-initial v and the second is syllable-final v. After reading the article, answer the question out loud using as many words with the phoneme as possible. 

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Special: when "f" is /v/ and when "v" is /f/

Phrases with linked /v/

Have:

Have a nice day, have a drink, have a nap, have a break, have a burrito, I have a plan, we have a problem, do you have any time?, have a look, I have a dream

Describing things with "have"

Now tell me what you have in your room: I have_a

What’s in your office? They have_a

What do you have in your city that’s a tourist attraction: we have_a

Of:

First of all, this is of utmost importance, a plan of action, axis of evil, pay a lot of attention

Think of “Have a” and “of a” like single words

-ive / -ave / -ove words:

Is it effective or not?, active and healthy, alive and well, give away, dive into the water, crave a burger, I love apples, she wove a scarf, carve a path, live a full life



Annotated text:

The following text has been specially written to have more of the relevant sounds for you to practice. These sounds are annotated in the text. Try reading it out!