Episode Transcript

How to pronounce ‘Thanks’

Hi, it’s Hadar. And this is the Accent’s Way, your way to finding clarity, confidence, and freedom in English. Let’s talk about the word “thanks”. Very common word, right? So let’s learn how to pronounce it. We begin with a TH sound.

To make this sound, stick the tongue out and release air. The tongue has to be very soft in the sound. Otherwise, if it’s too tight against the teeth, it’s gonna sound like ‘tanks’, ‘tanks’. And then it’s a different word. Also, make sure that the tongue is out. Otherwise, you may be pronouncing it as an S – ‘sanks’, and that’s also different. You want to stick the tongue out and release air. “Thanks”.

Then we shift to an A as in cat. But when the A appears before an NG, that is the following sound, the A is modified to an ‘ai’ vowel. It’s different, it’s more rounded. It’s a longer diphthong. ‘thei’. Right? It’s not ‘thAnks’ – ‘thei’.

Then we move on to an NG sound – /ŋ/. So the back of the tongue is high up, and release air through the nose – ‘thein(g)’. Then we quickly release it to a /k/ sound, and then immediately the S: ‘theinks’. ‘nks’ – that’s the ending. ‘Thanks’. ‘Thank you’.

All right. That’s it, that was short. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please share it with your friends. And do not forget to subscribe, if you haven’t yet.

Have a wonderful week. And I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.