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Pronunciation of final S

How to pronounce the final -s (-es) final

Please click on small arrows to listen to small characters.

Listen to the way that the 's' at the end of these words is pronounced.

starts,
picks

/s/

remembers,
gardens

/z/

watches,
buses

/iz/

If a word ends with the letter 's' there are three different ways to pronounce this 's'

/S/	/Z/	/IZ/
SSSSSSS	ZZZZZZZZ	This IS a rose.
The sound of a snake which hisses.	The sound of a bee which buzzes.	Similar to the word 'is'.

1. /s/

After a ' voiceless sound'
/f/	/k/	/p/	/θ/ ( th doux)	/t/
she laughs	he asks	two cups	two moths	two cats
/lɑːf/ => /lɑːfs/	/ˈɑːsk/ => /ˈɑːsks/	/kʌp/ => /kʌps/	/mɒθ/ => /mɒθs/	/kæt/ => /kæts/

2. /z/

After a ' voiced sound'
/b/	/d/	/g/	/l/
pubs	beds	bags	owls
/pʌb/ => /pʌbz/	/bed/ => /bedz/	/bæg/ => /ˈbægz/	/ ɔːl/ => /ɔːlz/
pubs	lits	sacs	hiboux
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/m/	/n/	/ng/ (ŋ)	/v/	/ð/ (th dur)
drums	it burns	songs	gloves	he breathes
/drʌm/ => /drʌmz/	/bɜːn/ => /bɜːnz/	/sɒŋ/ => /sɒŋz/	/ɡlʌv/ => /ɡlʌvz/	/briːð/ => /briːðz/
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Tous les sons voyelles sont des 'voiced sounds'
car => cars	shoe => shoes	bow => bows	she's a girl
/kɑː/ => /kɑːz/	/ʃuː/ => /ʃuːz/	/bəʊ/ => /bəʊz/	/ʃiː/ => /ʃiːz/

3. /iz/

After these sounds:
/dj/ (dʒ)	/s/	/z/	/sh/ (ʃ)	/tch/ (tʃ)
wage => wages	bus => buses	buzz => buzzes	bush => bushes	watch => watches
/weɪdʒ/ => /weɪdʒiz/	/bʌs/ => /bʌsiz/	/bʌz/ => /bʌziz/	/bʊʃ/ => /bʊʃiz/	/wɒtʃ/ => /wɒtʃiz/

Difficult plural forms

/θ/ (singular) => /ð/ (plural).

Ex: mouth /maʊθ/, pl. mouths /maʊðz/ path /pɑːθ/ pl paths /pɑːðz/
2 plural forms for this word:
oath /əʊθ/ pl. oaths /əʊθs/ OR /əʊðz/

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Choose the right pronunciation of the 's' or 'es'.
1.
hopes
hope   /həʊp/ oranges
orange /ˈɒrɪndʒ/ doors
door   /dɔ:/
2.








3.
In the past there were only sailing boats.

4.
John's father is a cook. Here he's wearing his chef's hat.

5.
Bob is good at doing quizzes . He likes to get high marks.

6.
There have been so many calls today that Ann is exhausted.

7.
  A librarian reads a lot of books, he also classifies them.

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