Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello. Welcome to www.engvid.com -- not "EngWid". Today, I'm going to teach you the difference

  • in pronunciation between a "V" and a "W". That's "U" times two. In some parts of America

  • -- I don't know which parts, which states -- I know people say "double yah". We don't

  • actually say "double yah" in Canada; it's "double U" versus the "V". Now, this goes

  • out to all of my friends who speak Chinese, Farsi, Arabic, German, Polish, Slovak, Czech,

  • Slovenian, Russian, Ukrainian: As far as I understand, all of these languages have problems

  • with the "V" and the "W". "Double yah"! The "double U". Let me help you out.

  • The easiest way to get this down straight is when you say the "V" sounds, you've got

  • to stick out your two front teeth and go "vuh", "vuh", "vuh". No. 1 rule: When you want to

  • say the "V" sound, you have to stick your big front teeth out of your mouth over your

  • bottom lip -- "vuh". Your bottom lip is going to make the air come out, and it's going to

  • make the sound of "vuh". If you look at this word, it's "visor", "visor". You always need

  • to put your teeth out like a beaver. The other letter is "W". When we actually

  • make the "W" sound, you're going to make like you're going to kiss someone. "Wuah", "wuah",

  • "wuah". As you can see -- "V", "wuah" -- your mouth does a completely different thing with

  • the two sounds. "V", "wuah", "wuah". So let's try -- let's practice, first of all, making

  • the "V" sounds with some words. The first one is "visor", "visor". "Visor"

  • is the top part of a baseball cap that keeps the sun out of your eyes.

  • The next one we have is "veil". A "veil" can be worn at a wedding. It covers the bride's

  • face, and in many countries around the world, women wear veils to hide their beautiful eyes.

  • So "veil" is a face covering -- "veil". The next word is a "vest", "vest". "Vest"

  • is usually an article of clothing worn by a man. Women can wear vests as well, and it's

  • part of a three-piece suit: You have a tie, a shirt, a vest, and an over -- a suit jacket.

  • I'm going to draw a vest. It's going to be funny-looking. If you guys have ever seen

  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I think the Oompa-Loompas wear a vest. And then you

  • would have your shirt here. So the vest is, basically, like a jacket with no arms -- "vest".

  • The next one is a kind of car -- a very fast car -- and also a snake. This is a "viper",

  • "viper". And the last "V" sound for you today is "verse",

  • "verse". "Verse" we use in writing songs or poetry, and it's a stanza of music or words

  • that's broken down into different parts of the song. "Verse", "viper", "vest", "veil",

  • "visor". Now -- hold on -- we're going to go into the

  • "W" -- "double yah" -- the "W" sound. As I told you, once you -- when you say the "W"

  • sound, you're going to make like you're going to kiss someone. So Ronnie's going to pretend

  • she knows how to draw. These are lips and they're going "wuah!" They're blowing you

  • kisses or besos. The first "W" word is "wiser", "wiser".

  • The next one is "whale", "whale". "Ronnie, what's a whale?" A "whale" is an animal -- a

  • really, really big animal -- is it a fish? Is it an animal? I don't know -- that lives

  • in the ocean. And they like to eat peanuts. What? Yeah. "Wiser" means someone is smarter

  • than you. Maybe you are smarter than me because you know that whales don't eat peanuts at

  • all. The next one is "west", "west". "West" is

  • a direction. We have north, south -- oh, I hope I get this right --east, and west. This

  • guy right here is "west". If you are the fan of a band called "The Clash" -- my favorite

  • band ever -- they have a song that's called "Gates of the West". You don't want to make

  • a mistake and say, "Gates of the Vest" because people think, "What? Okay, so you have a vest

  • and then a gate. Gates with the vest. Oh, I don't get it." So the song is "Gates of

  • the West". The next word is "wiper", "wiper". A "wiper",

  • you have -- if you have a car, I hope you need them. They are on your windshield, and

  • they go, "wicky, wicky, wicky, wicky, wiper." They help to clear the rain or the other dead

  • animals that fall onto your car off of your windshield so you can see when you're driving.

  • And the last "wuah" word is "worse". "Worse" means "bad", so "worse".

  • Now is the fun part, the exciting part, the challenging part: We have to contrast the

  • "V" and the "W" with these words together. Ready?

  • "Visor", "wiser". Now be careful: "Vooh", "Wooh". Give it a try. "Visor", "wiser". "Visor",

  • "wiser". Okay. The next one: "Veil", "veil", "whale", "whale".

  • "Veil", "whale". "Vest", "vest", "west", "west".

  • "Viper", "viper", "wiper". "Viper", "wiper". You ready -- are you ready for the last one?

  • Second third last one? "Verse", "worse". "Verse", "worse". Do you think that you can do this

  • well now? I hope so. We're going to go for two more words, and this is a little bit more

  • difficult because -- because the "V" and the "W" are in the middle of the word. Don't worry

  • about it. You can do it. So remember what I taught you about the [kiss] and the [beaver

  • teeth]? So when we say this word, you've got to get your kiss ready, and this one, you've

  • got to get your beaver teeth out. Yeah. Stick your teeth right out. So this word is "rowing",

  • "rowing" -- [sings] row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream! Okay. The other word

  • is "roving", "roving". Do you know what "roving" means? It's another word "to wander about

  • aimlessly". "I'm going to rove through the mountains. I'm going to rove through the forest.

  • It's a beautiful green forest with lots of trees." "Rowing", "roving". So in the middle

  • of the word, you have to be careful and make sure that your mouth is doing the correct

  • position so that you're making the right sounds. The last one is "grew", "grew". "Grew" is

  • the past tense of "grow", which means if you plant a plant -- plant a plant -- and you

  • give it water and love, it's going to grow and become bigger. There're other things that

  • grow and become bigger if you give them a kiss. The last word is "groove". "Grew", "groove".

  • This one's difficult because you're going to do the "ooh" sound like this, but in the

  • end you've got to give it your beaver teeth. So it's "groove". "Grew", "groove". "Groove"

  • means "to dance". Yeah, groovy. In the 1960s, it was really cool to say, "Groovy, dude!"

  • Good thing we're not living in the 1960s. Today, we have practiced the "vah" versus

  • the "wuah" sounds. If you have questions and would like to see more videos, go to www.engvid.com.

  • Come to YouTube. Come over to the dark side. Join my channel. Goodbye.

Hello. Welcome to www.engvid.com -- not "EngWid". Today, I'm going to teach you the difference

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it