How to Pronounce ‘Th’ Sounds in English: Simple Guide

The “th” digraph in English is not always pronounced the same way. 

Not only does it have two variations, different accents in English also change the sound to /t/, /d/, /f/, or /v/. 

Moreover, the “th” sounds are sometimes misheard as 's,' 'z,' or even 'd' by non-native speakers, making it even trickier for non-native speakers to learn and distinguish. 

To top it off, many non-native languages don’t have the “th” sound of English, which adds yet another layer to the learning curve.

So, to help you pronounce “th” properly, in this guide, we will uncover the “th” sound, including its standard pronunciation, some variations, and the challenges faced by non-native speakers.

Standard Pronunciation of ‘TH’ in English

In standard English, there are two “th” sounds, both of which occur in different words:

• Voiceless “th,” (/θ/): The voiceless “th” is pronounced without vibrating the vocal cords. It is represented using the θ symbol.

• Voiced “th” (/ð/): The voiced “th” is pronounced by vibrating one’s vocal cords. It is represented using the ð symbol.

In IPA, the symbols ð and θ are called eth and theta respectively, where theta (θ), which is a Greek letter, represents the voiceless “th” sound, while eth (ð), originates from the Old English alphabet, represents the voiced “th” sound. The slashes around eth and theta are used to represent that these letters are phonemes — distinct sounds in the language. This system of symbols representing distinct sounds is called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

1. Voiceless TH (/θ/)

/θ/ is the standard pronunciation of the voiceless “th.” From the two variants, it is the soft and airy “th,” as in “think,” “thought,” and “thick” words. It is pronounced without vibrating the vocal cords, which is why it’s called “voiceless” or “unvoiced” since the vocal cords don’t work and no voice is produced.

How to Pronounce:

You can pronounce the voiceless “th” sound in the following steps:

Steps:

• Place the tip of your tongue between your upper- and lower-front teeth lightly. Don’t press the tongue too hard against the upper teeth or protrude it too far out of the mouth.

• Ensure your vocal cords don’t vibrate, and

• Blow the air out.

You have to let the air out through the small gap between the tip of your tongue and the upper teeth. The pronunciation should be distinct from the sharp hissing sound “sss…”. It should be a soft and breathy th, and not a harsh, prominent “s” or “z.”

So, this is how you pronounce the voiceless “th.” 

Pronouncing using an example word:

Now, try pronouncing an example word, let’s say “think.” Simply, place your tongue’s tip between your upper teeth, ensuring the vocal cords don’t vibrate, blow the air out, saying “think” (pronounced like “θink”).

Similarly, use other example words to get used to this voiceless “th” (or /θ/) pronunciation.

Words That Use The Voiceless ‘TH’ (/θ/):

Many words have the voiceless “th” sound in them, especially content words like “think,” “theory,” and “path.”

A notable pattern of words throughout which the “th” appears includes words that end in “th.” For examples:

• “bath,” “wrath,” “mouth,” “truth,” “path,” “health,” and “death,” etc.

Other than these, in words where the “th” comes before a consonant, it is often voiceless, though exceptions may exist. Examples:

• “wrathful,” “throat,” “throw,” “soothsay,” “thwart,” and “thrush” etc.

Numbers words starting or ending in “th” also have the voiceless “th.”

• “three,” “thirteen,” “thirty,” “tenth,” “eleventh,” and “hundredth,” “thousand.” etc.

However, do note that these patterns can have exceptions. In other words, the rules about “th” being voiced or voiceless in words following a specific pattern — like words ending in “th” and words having “th” before a consonant — may not always be true.

2. Voiced TH (/ð/)

/ð/ is the voiced “th” sound, as in “the,” “that,” and “thumb.” It is the buzzy “th” that’s pronounced by vibrating the vocal cords, which is why it’s called “voiced” since the vocal cords vibrate and a voice is produced.

How to Pronounce:

The voiced “th” (ð) is pronounced the same way as the voiceless “th” (θ), with the vocal cords vibrating in the case of voiced “th” being the only difference.

That said, you can pronounce the voiced “th” sound in the following steps:

• Place the tip of your tongue between your upper- and lower-front teeth lightly. Don’t press the tongue too hard against the upper teeth or protrude it too far out of the mouth.

• Ensure your vocal cords vibrate, and

• Blow the air out.

Again, just like the voiceless “th,” let the air out through the small gap between your tongue and the upper teeth. The pronunciation should sound like a soft “d” and not a harsh, prominent “t” or “d.”

Words That Use The Voiced ‘TH’ (/ð/):

Many words use the voiced “th” instead of the unvoiced one. Functional words, also called grammar words, with the “th” in the beginning, have the voiced “th.” These include pronouns, articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, as in:

• “the," "this," "that," "those," "then," "than,” and “though,” etc.

In some words, the “th” sits between two vowels, which usually occurs in the middle of the words, thus is called the “medial position.” In this case, the “th” is voiced:

• “Brother,” “mother,” “father,” “weather,” “hither,” etc.

However, some exceptional words exist, such as “scythe,” which uses the voiceless “th” despite following the aforementioned voiced “th” pattern.

Additionally, verbs that end in the long vowel “e” after “th” also has the “th” voiced:

• “breathe,” “bathe,” “clothe,” “soothe,” “loathe,” etc.

How to Know If The TH is Voiced or Voiceless?

While the “th” placement patterns give us some cues, they are not always consistent (like most English rules), and have exceptions to them. So, sometimes, it can be challenging to know whether a word has a voiced or voiceless “th” solely based on the word’s “th” placement, owing to the irregularities,

Why Are There Exceptions to The ‘TH’ Pronunciation Patterns?

There are exceptions to patterns because the placement of “th” in words is not a definitive factor of whether the “th” is voiced or unvoiced. In addition to the placement, a word’s phonetic factors also play a role in determining whether the “th” is voiced or not. But that’s not all.

English retains historical spellings to credit their historical origins, even when pronunciation evolves over time.

As a result, some words don’t follow typical “th” pronunciation patterns due to their linguistic origins.

So, there may be words that don’t consider the “th” rules due to their historical origins.

So, while you can make an educated guess about a word's pronunciation based on the patterns, your best practice to confirm the pronunciation is by checking a dictionary or an online resource.

Variations in ‘TH’ Pronunciation Due to Accents

Despite the standard pronunciations, many native English speakers of different accents tend to change the way “th” is pronounced.

‘TH’ Changes to ‘f’ or ‘v’

London’s Cockney and some AAVE (African American Vernacular English) accents change the “th” sound into “f” or “v” sounds. This phenomenon is called th-fronting. For examples:

• “Think” becomes “fink” and “that” becomes “vat.”

‘TH’ Changes to ‘t’ or ‘d’

Some Irish English accents change the “th” sound into a hard “t” or “d.” This phenomenon is called th-stopping. For examples:

• “Think” becomes “tink” and “this” becomes “dis.”

‘TH’ becomes Softer

In some accents, particularly in New York and some Southern United States, the “th” may be softened, sometimes so much so that it can disappear in casual speech.

In formal settings, however, the standard English pronunciation is given preference.

Challenges for Non-Native Speakers

Many different languages don’t have the “th” digraph sound English has. At most, these languages usually have a closer-to-th, alternative phoneme. That’s why many non-native speakers tend to mispronounce the “th” in English, especially considering it has two variations.

Many speakers would naturally replace the “th” with the closest alternative in their language, adding to their unique accent, which usually sounds awkward compared to the standard English.

Let’s see some examples of non-native speakers mispronouncing the “th”:

• French, German, and Spanish speakers may replace the “th” with an “z,” “d,” or “s” phoneme.

• Arabic speakers tend to use “z” and “s” sound for “th” since the language lacks the sound.

• Chinese and Japanese speakers often replace “th” with “s” or “d” because their languages don’t have the “th” sound.

These language differences influence how non-native speakers tend to pronounce the “th” sound. Getting used to the actual “th” sound requires nuanced understanding and practice.

Historical Context of The “TH’ Sound

From a brief historical perspective, the “th” sound originates from Old English, which represented the two variations of the digraph (th) using the letters þ (thorn), which represented the voiceless /θ/; and ð (eth), which represents the voiced “th,” as English letters.

However, over time, while the two distinct sounds of “th” were retained because speakers continued to pronounce them that way, both the þ and ð letters were replaced by the now-used, more simple, “th” digraph.

As for the two distinct pronunciations, they are still represented using /θ/ (voiceless) and /ð/ (voiced).

Conclusion

English has two standard pronunciations of the “th” digraph: the voiceless “th,” represented using /θ/ and the  voiced “th,” represented using /ð/. Both sounds are pronounced in the same way by keeping the tip of the tongue between upper and lower front teeth while lightly touching the upper teeth and blowing the air out. However, you do not vibrate your vocal cords when pronouncing the voiceless “th,” compared to the voiced “th” when you do.