How to Pronounce the /p/ Sound

Explore the /p/ sound, a fundamental building block in English phonology. Learn its articulation, characteristics, and role in speech patterns.

In this lesson, we are going to learn about how we can produce the /p/ sound with the proper articulatory organs.

What Type of Sound Is /p/?

/p/ is a consonant sound in the English language.

How to Produce /p/?

Mouth and Vocal Tract Configuration for /p/

As you can see in picture (a), in order to produce it, the lips come together. Note that we stop the air from coming out, and also, the uvula blocks the nasal passage so as not to let the air out of the nose. As you can see, in picture (b), the teeth are slightly parted. Then, the lips are separated and the air is released. The /p/ sound is produced from the mouth. Note that the air must come out with force so you can hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth to see whether you are doing it correctly or not. The paper must move greatly when the air is released. As you can see in picture (b), the circle in the throat is not red in this sound which means that we do not vibrate our vocal cords. So, it is voiceless.
In picture (c ), we can see that the tongue makes no contact with any part of the mouth. It simply remains in its place because it does not participate in the production of this sound.

Which Letters are Pronounced as /p/?

The sound /p/ is represented by the following letters:

Pie Chart of the Letters that Make the /p/ Sound

point /pɔɪnt/

picture /pɪk·tʃər/

stop /stɑːp/

pace /peɪs/

apple /ˈæpəl/

happy /ˈhæpi/

shepherd /ˈʃɛpɚd/

/p/ Sound in the Most Common World Languages

As you can see in the table below, most languages have the /p/ sound. Only Arabic does not have it. So, most people can easily produce this sound when learning English. Look:

	Existence	Example
Mandarin*	✔	怕 (pà)
Spanish	✔	peso
Hindi	✔	पल
Bengali	✔	পানি
Portuguese	✔	pai
Russian	✔	плод
Japanese	✔	ポスト
Vietnamese	✔	nhíp
Turkish	✔	kap
French	✔	pomme
German	✔	Pack
Italian	✔	papà
Persian	✔	پول
Standard Arabic	x	-
Korean	✔	피
Indonesian	✔	pola
Filipino	✔	pato
Hungarian	✔	pápa
Dutch	✔	plicht
Polish	✔	pas
Romanian	✔	pas
Swedish	✔	apa
Czech	✔	pes
Greek	✔	πόδι
Ukrainian	✔	павук
Urdu	✔	پل

* The sound exists in the language, but the pronunciation may differ.

Listening

Below, there is an audio file that helps you learn the proper pronunciation of the /p/ sound:

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What Type of Sound Is /p/?
How to Produce /p/?
Which Letters are Pronounced as /p/?
/p/ Sound in the Most Common World Languages
Listening

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