v
The /v/ sound: v as in very
- Consonant
- Voiced
- High priority for IELTS
Hear it
in very
- Lips
- Bottom lip under the top teeth
- Tongue
- Resting; top teeth on the bottom lip
- Voice
- On: feel your throat buzz
- Air
- Squeezed through a narrow gap
The sound on its own: recording by Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Credits
How to make /v/
- 1
Touch your top teeth to your bottom lip, same position as /f/.
- 2
Switch your voice on: the lip should tickle.
- 3
Keep teeth on lip; do not round your lips into a w.
- Sounds like
- f with the voice switched on
/v/ vs /w/: vest vs west
Every pairLook in a mirror: /v/ shows your top teeth touching your bottom lip; /w/ shows a tight round 'kiss' with no teeth at all. If you can see teeth on 'west', it will sound like 'vest'.
1 / 8
Which word do you hear?
How /v/ is spelled
vve
The usual mistake
Merging it with /w/ ('very' → 'wery') or /b/ ('vote' → 'boat'), among the highest-impact consonant errors for Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Spanish and German speakers.
Hardest for speakers of
- Spanish speakersb and v merge into one soft sound: 'berry' and 'very' are indistinguishable
- Mandarin speakers/v/ becomes /w/ or /f/: 'very' sounds like 'wery'
- Bengali speakers/v/ hardens to a b-like sound: 'very' → 'bery'
- Arabic speakers/v/ devoices to /f/: 'very' → 'ferry', 'leave' → 'leaf'
- Thai speakers/v/ becomes /w/: 'very' → 'wery'
- Japanese speakers/v/ becomes /b/: 'very' → 'berry', 'vote' → 'boat'
- Korean speakers/v/ becomes /b/: 'vote' → 'boat'
- Indonesian speakers/v/ becomes /f/: 'very' → 'ferry', 'have' → 'haf'
Words to practise
Say it and get scored
Read very, over, love, travel, view aloud. Free, no account.
Questions
How do you pronounce the /v/ sound?
Touch your top teeth to your bottom lip, same position as /f/. Switch your voice on: the lip should tickle. Keep teeth on lip; do not round your lips into a w.
What is the most common mistake with /v/?
Merging it with /w/ ('very' → 'wery') or /b/ ('vote' → 'boat'), among the highest-impact consonant errors for Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Spanish and German speakers.
Which spellings make the /v/ sound?
Common spellings include “v”, “ve”, as in very /ˈveri/, over /ˈəʊvə/, love /lʌv/.
Does /v/ matter for IELTS?
Yes. This is a high-priority sound. Errors here frequently change one word into another, which examiners hear as reduced clarity (the exact Band 6 wording is “mispronunciation … reduces clarity at times”).