Very or ferry? How to say /v/ and /f/

The rule

For both sounds, put your top teeth on your bottom lip and push air out. /f/ is air only: fan, fine, fast. /v/ adds your voice, so you feel a buzz: van, very, vast.

Arabic has ف but no /v/, so many learners say /f/ for both: fery good, fife. French speakers already have /v/, as in vous and ville, so they only need to use it in English too.

Examples

In a conversation

A: How was your trip on the ferry?

B: Very good! The view was fantastic.

A: Was it fast?

B: Not very fast, but I loved it.

Practice

Choose the best answer. The answers are at the end of the lesson.

1. Which word starts with a different sound?
   • a) fan
   • b) fine
   • c) vine
2. We moved the sofa in a ___.
   • a) van
   • b) fan
   • c) fun
3. Which word ends in a /v/ sound?
   • a) leaf
   • b) leave
   • c) life

Tip

Touch your throat: it buzzes for /v/ and stays still for /f/. Watch the spelling: of ends in a /v/ sound, and ph in phone is an /f/ sound.

Answers

1. c) vine. vine starts with /v/; fan and fine start with /f/.
2. a) van. A van carries things; a fan cools the air.
3. b) leave. leave ends in /v/ (the final e is silent); leaf and life end in /f/.

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