{"id":179984,"date":"2021-08-10T16:37:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T20:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/linking-consonants\/"},"modified":"2024-09-27T11:38:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:38:39","slug":"linking-consonants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/linking-consonants\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Guide To Linking Consonants in English For Clear Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you thought about what makes native English speakers sound so fluent?<\/span><\/p>\n

What exactly <\/span>is \u201c<\/span><\/i>fluent,\u201d and what do you need to know to sound like a native English speaker?<\/span><\/p>\n

Fluency is <\/span>to be able to express oneself easily and articulately<\/span><\/i><\/a>, and <\/span><\/i>without a doubt, linking consonants helps you achieve that. Simply put, it\u2019s <\/span>a tool for clear speech and fluent pronunciation<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Waiting until later to practice accent and pronunciation is a mistake that’ll cost you in the long term. You may end up having to “unlearn” unnatural and awkward pronunciations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best speakers of foreign languages know that accent and pronunciation work starts early, so you build good habits from the start – because it’s easier to build good habits than to change bad ones!<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Consonant Linking?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Once you start linking consonants and get accustomed to it, it requires little conscious effort to keep sharp.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Linking consonants makes speaking easier by reducing mouth movement and smoothing out sentences. This <\/span>economy<\/span><\/i>, as we’ll call it, is the backbone of any language. Because the easier it is to speak, the easier it is to be understood! It’s good news for English learners as it will help give a massive boost to your confidence and overall fluency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By avoiding sentences that sound labored and difficult to say, you’ll drastically improve your delivery and enjoy more naturally flowing conversations with advanced and native English speakers. Comprehension is crucial, and speaking smoothly and naturally helps achieve it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Try reading the following sentence out loud:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe both thought that she\u2019d do it again, but we were wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Did you pronounce every sound individually, or did it all blend together smoothly?<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps you stopped on a few sounds that you could have dropped to make the phrase sound more natural.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now try it like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe bo\u2019thought that she\u2019do it again, but we wer\u2019ong.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sounds better, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

When and How You Should be Linking Consonants<\/b><\/h2>\n

There are three ways we link words in English, and two of them use consonants:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Consonant to vowel
    \n\u2022 “Do you remember when A<\/strong>ndy got married?” (sounds like “wenandy”)<\/li>\n
  2. Consonant to consonant
    \n\u2022 “She’s a good d<\/strong>og” (spoken like “goo’dog”)<\/li>\n
  3. Vowel to vowel
    \n\u2022 “He a<\/strong>sked” (spoken like “heeyahskt” with no pause)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Consonant to Consonant (And Similar Sounds)<\/b><\/h3>\n

    You can link two consonant sounds <\/span>if the following word starts with the same or similar sound<\/b>. In this case, we “delete” the consonant sound on the first word, and the words share the consonant sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Bad dog (ba’dog)<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Cheap plane tickets (chee’plane tickets)<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Enormous snake (enormu’snake)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      But, there are two exceptions to this rule:<\/b> we don’t link <\/span>\/t\u0283\/<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>\/d\u0292\/<\/span><\/a> sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

      For example:<\/span><\/p>\n