How to Pronounce the /v/ Sound

Explore the /v/ sound: its articulation, voicing, and placement. Understand its role in speech and practice correct pronunciation through targeted exercises.

In this lesson, we are going to grasp how we can masterfully produce the /v/ sound using the proper articulatory organs.

What Type of Sound Is /v/?

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

How to Produce /v/?

Mouth and Vocal Tract Configuration for /v/

As you can see, in picture (a), in order to make this sound, we need both the upper teeth and the lower lip for this sound. We put the inside of the lower lip under the top teeth. As you can see, in picture (b), the uvula does not let the air come out of the nose. Your lip simply touches your teeth and then the air comes out from between your front upper teeth and your bottom lip. As you can see, the tongue remains in its place. Make sure that you do not bite your lip because in that case, the air will come out from around your mouth corners which is wrong. Pay attention to the circle in the throat that is red. It indicates that the v sound is voiced so we have to vibrate our vocal cords.
In picture (c ), it is clearer that the tongue remains in its place and does not participate in the production of the v sound. It makes no contact with the mouth.

Which Letters are Pronounced as /v/?

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

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

vernacular /vɚˈnækjəlɚ/

vacancy /ˈveɪkənsi/

venture /ˈvɛn.tʃɚ/

vase /veɪs/

civvy /sɪvi/

savvy /ˈsæ.vi/

/v/ Sound in the Most Common World Languages

As you can see in the table below, several common languages in the world do not have the /v/ sound; languages like Mandarin Chinese, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. However, with the instructions provided, along with a bit of practice, you can easily produce the /v/ sound. Look:

	Existence	Example
Mandarin	x	-
Spanish	x	-
Hindi	✔	व्रत
Bengali	x	-
Portuguese	✔	vila
Russian	✔	волосы
Japanese	x	-
Vietnamese	✔	và
Turkish	✔	vade
French	✔	valve
German	✔	Wächter
Italian	✔	avare
Persian	✔	ورزش
Standard Arabic	x	-
Korean	x	-
Indonesian	x	-
Filipino	x	-
Hungarian	✔	veszély
Dutch	✔	vreemd
Polish	✔	wór
Romanian	✔	val
Swedish	✔	vägg
Czech	✔	voda
Greek	✔	βερνίκι
Ukrainian	✔	вода
Urdu	✔	ورزش

Listening

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

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

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