Mother

Brother

father

Practice

Listen and repeat native speakers. Click the flags

1. Their mother and brother came.
2. The man didn't know whether the other brother was there.
3. These are the leather things.
4. This thistle is smoother than their's.
5. This thatcher is thirstier than that one.
6. His father thought the weather was thrilling.
7. Don't bother with those.
8. With either a feather in their cap or a thumb in their mouth.
9. Though his clothing was wet, he still threw it further.
10. I would rather gather the thicker feathers although the smaller ones are thinner.

practice

The throng of thermometers from the Thuringian Thermometer Folks arrived on Thursday. There were a thousand and thirty-three thick thermometers though, instead of a thousand and thirty-six thin thermometers, which was three thermometers fewer than the thousand and thirty-six we were expecting, not to mention that they were thick ones rather than thin ones.

How to make this sound

Words with this sound this breathing breathe these clothing clothe those mother soothe that father loathe then brother them other the bother there weather feather though leather their

This sound is always spelt with TH There are two -TH- sounds in English and this is the voiced one. Both -TH- sounds are produced with the same mouth positioning. This sound is made by touching the tip of your tongue onto the back of the sharp edge of the top front teeth so that if you were to bite now without moving your tongue your teeth would just scrape the tip of your teeth

The tongue tip can rest on the edge of the tooth as if you are gently biting your tongue, but not so that it sticks out past the teeth.

At the same time gently blow a little air over your tongue as you also produce voice from your vocal cords. As you do this you feel the part of your tongue that is between your teeth tingle or vibrate a little. Then you withdraw your tongue inside your mouth.

To understand the difference between the two -TH- sounds, try pronouncing the word 'the' first in the correct way, as in 'mother' and then try it as a new word in English, but with the same spelling, but pronounced with -TH- as in 'thumb'.