The N consonant is one of the three nasal consonants. Learn the correct mouth position with illustrations and up close, slow motion speech.
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Video Text:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to learn how to make the N consonant sound.
To make this sound, the jaw drops a little
and the lips part.
Nn– The front flap part of the tongue goes to the roof of the mouth.
Make sure to keep you tongue wide as you do that.
The soft palate is lowered.
Air comes up through the nasal passages.
This makes it a nasal consonant.
You can feel the vibration in your nose.
Nn–
There are only 3 nasal sounds in American English.
Nn– Ng– Mm–
It’s very important that the tongue be relaxed.
If there is tension in the back of the tongue, it will sound somewhat like the NG sound,
ng– even if the front of the tongue is in the
right position.
One thing that will help relaxation is to think about keeping the tongue really wide.
Nn– nn–
Let’s look up close and in slow motion.
The N sound.
Lips relaxed, tongue wide and lifted to the roof of the mouth.
If you see any darkness on the sides of the tongue when you practice, that means there is tension in the tongue.
Try to release that tension and keep the tongue wide.
The word ‘no’.
Tongue soft, relaxed, and wide.
The word ‘snag’.
Front of the tongue to roof of mouth.
The word ‘on’.
Wide tongue to the roof of the mouth to finish the word.
The N consonant sound.
No
Snag
On
Example words.
Repeat with me.
Nice.
Nn– nice.
One.
Nn– one.
Number.
Nn– number.
Woman.
Nn– woman.
Win.
Nn– win.
Any.
Nn– any.
End.
Nn– end.
Hear the difference immediately.
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