Real ESL

This post will help you pronounce Y and R at the end of a word – RY. Watch and pass it on to everyone you know who speaks English as a Second Language! Have a great day!!
Kim

Transcript and Vocabulary Explanation:

I had a question from one of you. A fifty-year-old (Kim’s note – don’t write fifty-years-old …. When it’s an adjective, in front of a noun, you don’t make it plural) Russian woman has asked me to talk about “RY” when it’s at the end of a word. R. Y.

Now, Y is sometimes “ye” but when it’s at the end of a word, it makes a hard e sound “ee”. So, “RY” is “ree”. Now, how do you make that sound so it’s perfect?

Well, let’s talk about the R first. We’ve talked about R in the past. Just to remind you, you tighten your mouth and you tighten your tongue and you pull your tongue back a little bit. But you don’t touch the roof of your mouth. That’s a big mistake. It ends up making a muffled sound. Think of it more like a tiger – RRRR. Okay, you try it. RRRR. Do it with me. RRRR.

Now, we’re going to try Y when it’s at the end of the word. Reach your…. Stretch your mouth back and pull your tongue back just a little bit more. EEE. Everything is tight still.

So, it’s REEEE. Now you try that. REEEE. Okay, do you see my lips. It pulls back and the tongue pulls back too. Okay, we’re going to try some words where RY is at the end of the word. So, first of all:

Airy
Sorry
Wiry
Blurry
Marry

Okay, I’m exaggerating my mouth movement. Now let’s try it without exaggerating the mouth movement, but still basically doing to same thing.

Airy, Sorry, Wiry, Blurry, Marry

We’re going to try a few where that REEE sound is at the beginning of the word.

Really
Regent
Recent

(Kim’s Note: The sound is only the same at the beginning of the word if the stress is on the first syllable. If it’s on a later syllable, the eeee sound is shorter.)

Okay, so, REEEE, REEEE, REEEE.
And I’m Kim Purcell at RealESL.com.