English pronunciation guide
How to pronounce the schwa, the most common sound in English
The schwa /ə/ is a short, weak “uh”. It is the most common vowel in English, and it hides behind every letter: the a in about, the o in today, the u in support, the e in the. Say every vowel fully and your English sounds careful but foreign. Reduce the unstressed ones to a schwa and the rhythm falls into place.
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Schwa
Mouth relaxed, tongue resting in the middle, lips neutral. Short and quiet.
about, banana, today, problem
How to make the sound
- Let your jaw drop slightly and relax your tongue and lips completely. Make a short, quiet “uh”.
- Find the stressed syllable first: ba-NA-na, to-DAY, PROB-lem. Say that syllable clearly.
- Reduce the vowels around it to a schwa: bə-NA-nə, tə-DAY, PROB-ləm.
- Small grammar words usually take a schwa in normal speech: to, and, a, the, can and was become /tə/, /ən/, /ə/, /ðə/, /kən/ and /wəz/.
Where the schwa hides
The spelling changes; the sound does not. Every /ə/ below is the same short “uh”.
- about /əˈbaʊt/
- today /təˈdeɪ/
- banana /bəˈnænə/
- problem /ˈprɑːbləm/
- support /səˈpɔːrt/
- famous /ˈfeɪməs/
- chocolate /ˈtʃɑːklət/
- photograph /ˈfoʊtəɡræf/
Tricky words with this sound: comfortablechocolatedifferent
Practice with real sentences
Tap Practice to open the sentence in Tono, listen to it, and say it. Scored against the US English model.
- I want to go to the store.Practice
- Can you give me a banana?Practice
- What was the problem?Practice
- We will be there for about an hour.Practice
- She bought a lot of chocolate.Practice
- The photographer took a photograph.Practice
- Tell them to come at seven.Practice
- It is a famous restaurant in London.Practice
Common mistakes
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Every vowel at full strength
Common among speakers of Spanish, Italian, Japanese and other languages where every syllable takes about the same time. Banana gets three equal “a” sounds. Keep only the stressed one full.
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Stress on the wrong syllable
The schwa only works when the stress is right. PHO-to-graph, pho-TOG-ra-pher, pho-to-GRAPH-ic: the stress moves, and the schwas move with it.