Party, Potty, Hearty: American English Pronunciation
When it comes to pronunciation in English, especially in American English, few sounds give English learners as much trouble as the ‘r-controlled’ vowels. R-controlled vowels are the sounds that you hear in words such as “teacher” and “door.”
Add a ‘flap-t’ right after an r-controlled vowel, and the difficulty doubles.
The word party /ˈpɑɚdi/ is one of these hard to pronounce words because it’s made of these two challenging sounds in English:
ar /ɑɚ/ (short ‘o’ sound combined with the ‘er’ sound)
‘flap t’ often still written in the IPA with /t/ but sounds more like a /d/
If you don’t properly pronounce these two sounds, you end up saying the word “potty” and nobody wants to say “I love to potty!”
So how do you pronounce the word “party”?
In this English lesson I will:
Explain in detail how to pronounce “party”
Go over the individual consonant and vowel sounds
Compare it to similar or often confused words such as “potty”
Give you practice sentences for the word “party”
Practice sentences with “party” from the video:
What time is the party?
That was such a fun party!
I’m going to a party tomorrow.
Where is the costume party?
I love to party!
Similar or often confused words to party:
hearty /ˈhɑɚdi/
part /ˈpɑɚt/
potty /ˈpɑːdi/
If you watch and practice along with the video, you should get a deeper understanding of how to pronounce “party." It may be difficult or unfamiliar at first but keep practicing and you’ll eventually get it!
If you want to practice other difficult words with r-controlled vowels, check out these lessons: world, girl, learn, and water.
Want to learn more about how to pronounce the sounds of American English? Check out this lesson that explains ALL of the sounds of American English, then download my pronunciation cheat sheet to help you study!
