The TH is a tricky sound for both native and non-native speakers of English. It is a sound that can be voiced (sound vibrations) and voiceless (just air). If you rub the palms of your hands together, you will notice a friction-like quality that lasts for as long as you want it too. Both TH's are like this, having a friction-like quality that can last for as long as you supply air or sound vibrations. Speak the following words and listen to what you do:
Voiced - these, them, their, mother, father, brother, bathe.
Voiceless - think, thought, thanks, mathematics, bath.
Some of the typical difficulties with TH:
Some speakers will substitute the voiced /TH/ sound for a /V/ (‘This’ becomes ‘Vis’) and the voiceless /TH/ for a /F/ (‘Thing’ becomes ‘Fing’).
Some speakers will substitute the voiced /TH/ sound for a /D/ (‘This’ becomes ‘Dis’) and the voiceless /TH/ for a /T/ (‘Thing’ becomes ‘Ting’). Some accents use a variation of this, with the tongue tip further forward, maybe touching the back of the upper teeth or lower teeth. They make the sound quite quickly and there is hardly any friction-like-quality about the sound.
Some speakers will say the voiced and voiceless /TH/ sound but will prefer to make most voiced /TH/ sounds voiceless when they shouldn’t be! Speak the groups of words above to see if you do this.
How to make the TH sound:
Both voiced and voiceless /TH/ are made in the same place with the same articulators: the tongue tip gently curves in a long, thin line and touches just behind the top teeth, but the sides of the tongue are not touching anything, so you can still breathe through your mouth. The jaw is relaxed and the teeth are apart. The sound is of medium length, don't cut it short!
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