we're going to go over how to pronounce the Y consonant.

To make the Y sound, the jaw drops a little bit.

Yy--

The lips may be relaxed, or they may begin to take the position of the next sound.

The tongue tip is down, lightly touching the back of the bottom front teeth.

The middle part of the tongue lifts and touches the roof of the mouth.

It pushes forward against the roof of the mouth before pulling away.

As we push the tongue forward on the roof of the mouth,

we close the vocal cords to get this sound. Yy-- yy--

which we add to the sound yyi-- yyi--

We release them the same time we release the tongue.

Relaxed jaw drop and the lips are relaxed.

The tongue tip is down while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof of the mouth.

The word 'yes'. The tongue tip is down,

while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof of the mouth.

The tongue releases into the EH as in Bed vowel.

The word 'youth'.

Notice how the lips begin to round for the next sound.

The OO as in Boo vowel.

Yell

The tongue tip is down while the middle of the tongue presses forward against the roof of the mouth.

Releasing into the EH as in Bed vowel.

This sound is most common at the beginning of words.

It doesn't occur at the end of any words

though the letter Y does.

The Y sound. Yes.

Youth

Yell

Example words. Repeat with me.

Yeah. Yy-- yeah.

Unusual. Yy-- unusual.

Senior. Yy-- senior.

You. Yy-- you.

Yesterday. Yy-- yesterday.

Yellow. Yy-- yellow.

This video is one of 36 in a new series, The Sounds of American English.

Videos in this set will be released here on YouTube twice a month,

first and third Thursdays, in 2016 and 2017.

But the whole set can be all yours right now.

The real value of these videos is watching them as a set,

as a whole, to give your mind the time to take it all in and get the bigger picture.

Most of the materials you'll find elsewhere just teach the sounds on their own in isolation.

It's a mistake to learn them this way.

We learn the sounds to speak words and sentences, not just sounds.

Move closer to fluency in spoken English.

Buy the video set today!

Visit rachelsenglish.com/sounds

Available as a DVD or digital download.