The 'oo' Sounds /ʊ/ vs /uː/ American English Pronunciation
You may have learned that the vowels in English are “a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y” but, as you know, that is only part of the story. Depending on if you include r-controlled vowels, there are actually over 15 different vowel sounds, with the long and short a, e, i, o, and u, being only 10 of them! To learn more about these different sounds, as well as the consonant sounds, check out my lesson: All of the Sounds of American English.
The short ‘oo’ and long ‘oo’ in American English
In this free lesson, I focus on comparing the often overlooked double ‘oo’ vowel sounds, often called the short ‘oo’ /ʊ/ (as in “book”) and long ‘oo’ /uː/ (as in “moon”). I sometimes call the long ‘oo’ the “long ‘u’ without the ‘y’” because the vowel sound is the same as in “you” but without the ‘y’ (/j/ in the IPA) sound at the beginning. I talk more about this in the video.
I will also discuss the different spelling variations for both sounds and compare each sound to the short ‘u’ as in “cup.”
In the second half of the English lesson, I will give you example sentences and tongue twisters using the ‘oo’ sounds.
If you want a printable chart of the IPA specifically for American English pronunciation, make sure to scroll to the bottom to sign up for my mailing list and get your free download!
What I will teach in this free English lesson:
00:19 Test! Do you know the difference between the 'oo' sounds?00:51 Listen to the different double 'o' sounds. Can you hear the differences?
01:15 Test answers: The 'oo' sounds alone with IPA symbols
01:44 How to pronounce the short 'oo' /ʊ/ as in 'book'
02:13 How to pronounce the long 'oo' /uː/ as in 'moon' (long 'u' without the 'y' sound)
02:32 Short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/ book vs. moon
02:41 Long u /juː/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/ (long 'u' without the 'y' sound)
03:20 Cube vs. tube *This is different in British English vs. American English
03:37 Minimal pairs for short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/
03:57 How to pronounce 'stop t' and 'stop d' ('t' and 'd' ending sounds)
04:16 Short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/ with 'dark l' pull vs. pool
05:42 Spelling variations for short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/
07:08 Pronuncations rules for short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. long 'oo' /uː/
07:52 Short 'u' /ʌ/
08:00 Short 'oo' /ʊ/ vs. short 'u' /ʌ/ look vs. luck
08:48 Long 'oo' /uː/ vs. short 'u' /ʌ/ boot vs. but
09:33 Practice sentences for short 'oo' /ʊ/ and. long 'oo' /uː/
11:18 Tongue twisters for short 'oo' /ʊ/ and. long 'oo' /uː/
12:47 Additional practice sentences where short 'oo' /ʊ/ and long 'oo' /uː/ are mixed
Thanks for watching this free English lesson! Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
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