Vowel Sound / ʊ / as in 'put' - American English Pronunciation

Learn how to pronounce the vowel sound / ʊ / used in words like "good," "full," or "book." Improve your American accent with exercises recorded by a professional speech therapist. Practice pronunciation of the / ʊ / vowel sound in everyday words.
Learn about the essential spelling rules for the / ʊ/ vowel.
Enjoy a surprise bonus at the end of the video!

Quick links:
• Vowel sound /ʊ/, as in "put:" 00:00
• How to make the /ʊ/ sound: 01:07
• Pronunciation exercise: 02:16
• Most common spelling for the sound /ʊ/: 04:29

Related videos:
#AmericanPronunciation #VowelSounds #BackVowels
► Interactive Vowel Sounds Chart: American English Pronunciation
►Vowel sound /oʊ/, as in "go":
►Vowel sound /ɔ/, as in "on":

[THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, SPANISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE, KOREAN, VIETNAMESE, PORTUGUESE, AND RUSSIAN SUBTITLES]
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TRANSCRIPT

Hello there! This is the "Sounds American" channel.
In this video, we're going to talk about the American vowel sound /ʊ/, as in the word "put."
You can also hear this sound in words like "push," "book," "wolf," or "could."
We'll be using a special phonetic symbol — /ʊ/ — for this sound.

The /ʊ/ sound exists in less than 20% of the world's languages; that's why people often confuse it with the /u/ sound, as in the word "blue." Let's see if you can distinguish between them: "fool" - "full." Can you tell the difference? If you're not quite sure, let's start with learning how to make the /ʊ/ sound.

OK, to pronounce the /ʊ/ sound, you should focus on the correct position of your jaw, lips, and tongue. Slightly open your mouth, round your lips, and relax them.
Pull your tongue back in your mouth and relax it. Lift the back of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth.
Remember, the /ʊ/ is a relaxed sound, so your tongue and lips should be relaxed, and your tongue should be pulled back. Now, let's try saying it: /ʊ/, /ʊ/, /ʊ/.

Now, let's practice this sound in some words.
You'll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation. Like this.
You'll have a few seconds to pronounce the word, if you want to.
Let's begin.
[Pronunciation exercise]

• book
• brook
• bull
• bush
• cook
• could
• crook
• foot
• full
• good
• hood
• hoof
• hook
• look
• looked
• looks
• poor
• pull
• pulls
• push
• pushed
• put
• shook
• should
• stood
• sure
• took
• wolf
• would
• wool

You're done! Congratulations!

By the way, did you know that the /ʊ/ sound is most frequently written as the letter 'u'?
The /ʊ/ sound is represented by the letter 'u,' as in the word "put," in 45% of cases.

Almost the same percentage of words with this sound is written as the combination of the letters 'oo,' as in the word "book."
The remaining 10% are split between the letter 'o,' as in the word "wolf," and the combination of the letters 'ou,' as in the word "could."

Thanks for watching! Hope you find it useful.
Stay tuned on our Sounds American channel!

[SoundsAmerican]

🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓You can start with the article about the /ʊ/ sound:

[dionellydejuan]

I’m a Spanish speaker, and this channel is amazing… I’m struggling with all vowel sounds, especially with all relaxed sounds. But this channel was a turning point in my journey of learning English.
Love the pie graph pointing out the relation between grammar and sound, how common is that sound in English, etc. Super useful information. Keep up the good 👍 work.

[andres]

I speak Spanish and for me this is the hardest vowel sound, but now I think it's easier. Thank you so much, good job.

[bowenwang]

Best channel for non native English speakers to learn accurate American English pronuncition on YouTube

[oOGonzaOo]

I'm learning with your videos. Thank you. I'm Peruvian.

[shibenikvaysyor]

4:38 I'd be very grateful for the reference that lists the percentages of the sounds in the standard American English. For example, how many English words have /ʊ/ sound? How many have /u/ sound? Etc.

[bipulmh]

Right video at a right time! I was just thinking about this vowel sound yesterday.

[sheilaromero]

Thanks so much!!! I'm Spanish and I', ve been trying to pronounce this sound without success for years!!! Nobody has been able to teach me properly!!! Thanks to this video I can do it much better now!!!

[bowenwang]

I have mispronounced it for my whole life. Thank you so so much

[gladysdiaz]

This video is the best for English learners

[Rosianecumam]

I love your channel. This helps me to improve my english.
Thanks!

[tiendo]

Thank you so much for helping me to lern / ʊ / sound

[natanaelmanzanillo]

English can be a litle bit tricky, this sound is similar and is used almost like the U sound, but they are diferent sounds, so tricky, thank you for teaching me the diference.

[Smilelife]

The best learning English website ever!

[moisesdiaz]

Thank you for helping us, your lessons are excellent.

[abdulhakeemmohammed]

Thank you so much. You guys are doing a unique job. The percentages you show at the end is very helpful and unique. Nice job!

[raisa_heaven]

This was so unexpected. I never new the differences between u sounds

[rofsjan]

I've seen several videos explaining this sound. So far, this video is the most comprehensive. Thank you.

[cyruszahed]

Hello, Sounds American. First of all thank you for all of your work, it's really helpfull. I was wondering if, will you make a comparative video about the difference between the /u/ sound and the /ʊ/ sound? I would find it very helpfull.

Thank you very much.

[moeali]

I'm loving the pronunciation thanks to your videos

so thank you 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

sorry about the mistyped words 😅