How to Pronounce SIT, SET, SAT, SEAT - American English Pronunciation Lesson

hi everybody it is Jennifer from Charles speech I have a very popular question today I'm trying to get to questions that have the most bang for their Buck meaning that answer most of your questions out there because I get so many great requests that I get behind on them I'm so sorry everyone so our words today are sit and set so sit means to remain in a specific spot so right now I I am sitting in my chair um mainly on your derrier is what I have written in my notes that just cracks me up and set means to put something into a specific place all right so we have sit and set this is think about this as well about the vowel sounds and then you can kind of translate this into other situations as well okay before I get into this lesson let me just say I'm going to teach these words as different pronunciations but there are many places in the US where these words are pronounced exactly the same way so you do you pick whichever one works for you I am all about being clear so whatever is clear do that okay but if you want to make them differently here you go so s sound s let's get that out of the way tip of your tongue is either behind the top front teeth or pointed down air keeps moving out of the mouth for the t t touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your top front teeth you can either hold it there at the end of the word or pop it down T so you can say sit or sit either is fine variations abound today all right so for the vowel sound differences let's think about the short I first I and then the short e next e okay for the I sound now both of these vowels are relaxed so think about relaxing your cheeks okay relaxing your cheeks so we're going to have the short I for that sound my mouth is open but it is more closed than if I'm saying the H sound so let's look at sit set okay when my mouth is a little more closed for the ey sound and sit my tongue is going to be behind my top front teeth kind of right where my teeth sort of end e I'm sorry I for the E I open my mouth slightly and when I do that you can see the tip of my tongue just between my top and my bottom te so I have I in sit e in set sit set sit set so my jaw drops a little bit for set and it's a little more closed for sit okay so let's give the a try so I have sit sit sit Set set set sit set you might be asking what about seat for seat I'm going to write this in you are going to close your mouth even more for that long e sound and smile e seat relaxed I so e i e e i e seat sit set seat sit set now if you want to get even crazier let's open the mouth even more and we're going to say sat Bo I am just adding on to this lesson a seat sit set sat seat seat seat sit sit sit Set set set sat sat sat so when thinking about what your jaw and your mouth is doing that is going to help you get your tongue into the right spot yes I can say these without moving my mouth because I've done these my whole life but if you're new to this and you're learning English think about moving that jaw that is a super helpful trick so let's give these all a try seat sit set sat seat sit set sat I even moved my body for you so you could get that again seat sit set sat and now for a sentence did you sit down for the lesson after you set your coffee on the desk and then you sat for a long time in your seat to listen to the lesson give it a try everyone I know people will notice the difference I hope you found this helpful thank you all for all of your questions you keep me on my toes and you keep me thinking and you make me a better teacher I appreciate you if you need more help check me out at tarl speech thanks everyone have a great day