If you want more information on the photos in this video, which have parts of the mouth drawn in, see this video on the parts of the mouth.

How to make this sound:

Video Text:

The R consonant sound. This is a sound that I know can be very difficult for people who don't have it in their native language. So let's break down all the parts. First of all, the tongue. The tongue draws slightly back. It's not a a big motion, but it fattens up some in the middle, so that means the tip of the tongue is pulled slightly back as the middle part fattens. And this drawing up of the tongue makes it fat enough here that the sides of the tongue can press against the insides of the top teeth, rr, about there. So the tongue comes up, presses against the insides of the top of the teeth, and then the front just hangs down. But, because the tongue has fattened up a bit, and has raised, the tip of the tongue is not touching anything, it's a little too far back. Rr. The lips round, so the corners come in, rr, which brings the lips away from the face. Rr, rr, Rachel.

Sometimes at the beginning of words, the lips round so much that it almost looks like the 'oo' as in 'boo' vowel [] where the lips are very tight. Rr. The R sound is one of these sounds that can be slightly different depending on where it falls in the word. At the beginning of a word or syllable, before the vowel sound, like in the word Rachel or crack, it is as just described. But sometimes when it falls at the end of a word or syllable, after the vowel sound, the tongue position can be slightly further back; really, it's just a slightly more relaxed version. This will become clear when we look at a photo comparison.

Here we see a photo of 3 different words with the R sound. The first is my name, Rachel, so that's a beginning R, an R that begins a word. The second is the word proud, so the R is not the initial sound, but it is toward the beginning of the syllable, before the vowel. And the third is the word whatever, where the R sound comes at the end. Notice on all three of these sounds that the corners of the mouth come in a little bit, causing the lips to round somewhat.

Here we see a photo of the first R sound in the word cracker on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice that the corners of the lips are pushed forward and in a little bit. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised on this sound. In the middle of the mouth the tongue fattens up and raises, pressing against the insides of the top teeth. This draws the tip of the tongue back so that it is not touching anything. Here we see this same R sound, the first R in cracker, but now it's on the left, on the right we see the R in the word 'whatever', the R sound that comes at the end of a word. You can see that the tongue position is a little bit different in that the tongue is slightly further back in the final R sound. Because of this further back position, R sounds at the beginning of syllables feel more forward in the face, whereas R sounds at the end of syllables feel further back in the mouth.

Sample words: run, relax, father. Sample sentence: Whenever Rebecca drives her car around New York, she really worries about parking it on the street. Now we'll see that sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how this sound is made.

Whenever, lips form the tight circle for the W, 'eh' as in 'bed' [] and the tongue tip up to make the N. Bottom lip up to make the V and here's an unaccented 'ur' syllable. Rebecca, lips together for the B. Back of the tongue up for the KK sound. Drives, lip position for the R. Bottom lip up to make the V sound. Her, R lip position, car, R lip position, and you can see the tongue moving up in the back to make the R. To New York, tight circle for the 'oo' as in 'boo', York. The R is at the end of the syllable here, so the lips are more relaxed. She, lips form the SH [] position. Really, this is a beginning R, and now look at how tight that lip circle is for the R in really. Really, tongue makes the L. Worries, lips form a tight circle for the W, worries. About, lips together for the B. Parking, again you see the tongue move up in the back for the R. Parking it on, tongue up to make the N. The, tongue through the teeth for the TH []. Street. Again, lip position for the R. Street, corners of the lips pull back for the 'ee' as in 'she' [].

Whenever, lips begin in the tight circle for the W. Whe-, tongue tip up to make the N, -ever, bottom lip up to make the V. And then a quick RR sound, Rebecca. Tongue up in the back for the kk sound. Drives, lips form that R position. Bottom lip up to make the V. Her, again, note the lip position for the R, also on car. Now here you can see how far back the tongue is. This is the front part of the tongue coming back down from where the middle is up, pressing against the insides of the top teeth. To, tongue tip up to make the T. It's reduced here to the schwa, to, to New York, New, the 'oo' as in 'boo'. York, Y consonant sound []. She, lips form the SH sound. Really, here again, notice how tight the circle is for the R. Really. Worries, again, tight circle, this time for the W. Here again you can see that the tongue is quite far back for the R sound. Worries. About, lips together for the B, again together for the P, parking. Here the 'ah' as in 'father' [] followed by the R consonant sound, the R consonant sound has a way of taking over this vowel. And you can see that the lips are in the R position and that the front part of the tongue has pulled back as the middle part of the tongue has fattened up and raised. This is the front part of the tongue as it is dropping back down from the roof of the mouth. Parking it. Tongue tip up to make the T. It on the, tongue through the teeth for the TH. And street. ST and the R consonant sound opening into the 'ee' as in 'she' vowel sound.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: [] Please note: many sources use [] instead.

Careful, there are only a handful of languages that have this exact "r" sound, but a lot of languages that have a similiar "r" sound. Learning how to make the American English "r" correctly will do a lot to improve your overall sound when you speak.

Here is Wikipedia's page on this sound, with a list of its occurrences in other languages.

Miss the old sound video? See it here.