/v/ is a voiced sound, which means you can feel some friction or vibration between your upper teeth and your lower lip.
You make the /v/ sound by placing your top teeth against your lower lip like this, /v/, and you'll release your voice out of that shape.
You should feel the sound vibrating between your upper teeth and your lower lip like this, /v/.
The first common mistake in making the /v/ sound is to confuse it with the /w/ sound.
The /w/ sound is more relaxed than the /v/ sound.
And also, there are no teeth involved.
Let's compare the two, take a look.
/w/, /v/, /w/, /v/.
And now, let's try some words.
Vine, wine.
Viper, wiper.
Vent, went.
Verse, worse.
Vow, wow.
Veered, weird.
Another common mistake in making the /v/ sound is to confuse it with the /f/ sound.
The /f/ sound is made in the same place as the /v/ sound but without voice.
Let's compare the two.
/f/, /v/, /f/, /v/.
So why don't you practice along with me now, and we'll focus on feeling the lip vibrations that you need to make for the /v/ sound.
We're going to compare /v/ with /f/.
Let's try the sound at the beginning of words.
Van, fan.
Very, ferry.
Vine, fine.
And now, let's feel the difference between /v/ and /f/ in the middle of words.
Invested, infested.
Leaving, leafing.
Waiver, wafer.
And finally, here's the sound at the end of words.
Save, safe.
Live, life.
Relieve, relief.
Make sure to try some more practice on EnglishCentral and good luck!
