Do NOT say THESE LETTERS if you want to speak British English

Do not pronounce these letters in English. Yes, in all of these English words, there are letters that you must not pronounce. And they are easily one of the trickiest parts of English learning. What we write and what we say, Doesn't always match. This lesson is long but we go into a lot of detail. Your pronunciation will drastically improve by the end of it. You will feel more confident with your pronunciation even when the spelling seems completely illogical. You will learn which letters to ignore, when to stay silent, and how to sound natural and accurate when you speak. Do you dream of expressing yourself effortlessly in English? But it's hard to know where to start or what to learn next. Don't worry, I've got you. I've created the perfect ebook for all students, from intermediate, B1 level, all the way up to C2 proficiency. It's over 120 pages of grammar, vocabulary, and level checklists, and it's yours completely free. Yes. To download your B1 to C2 ebook for free now, click on the link below or scan the QR code on screen. I'll send it straight to your inbox. Enjoy it and I hope it helps you. Let's begin with the silent letters training session. I'm going to show you a pair of words which both have the same silent letter. Say the words out loud and try to identify the silent letter. Then listen and repeat after me to check and practice. Here's our first pair. Try it yourself. Listen and repeat after me. handsome Wednesday Now, in both of these words, the letter D is silent. It's not hand-some or wed-ness-day. Drop the D sound. Handsome, Wednesday. Can you think of any more words with a silent D? Sandwich and handkerchief are two common examples, although some people do say sandwich. I think it's harder to pronounce that way. Another common pronunciation I like is actually with a mm sound, sandwich. Okay, our second pair of words. Say them out loud now. Can you spot the silent letter? Okay, listen and repeat. Biscuit, circuit. So both of these words have a silent U. It's not biscuit or circuit, biscuit, circuit. This silent U confuses my students in other common words like build and builder. So take care with those words too. Okay, pair number three. Which letter is silent in both of these words? Read them aloud, see what you think. The letter H is silent. Listen and repeat. Honest. We don't say honest or hair. Drop the H sound. Can you think of any other words beginning with a silent H? H itself shouldn't have the H sound at the beginning. H. There's also our, honor and herb. In British English we say herb. Herb is more North American pronunciation. I say herb, Americans tend to say herb. Now be careful with your article usage with these silent h words. We need to use an not a as they begin with vowel sounds. It was an honest mistake. Give me an hour. There are lots more silent H words in English, but most of them are so common they usually don't cause confusion. The letters wh in what, where, when and why, for example, are just pronounced with a wh sound. My students do sometimes get confused by the pronunciation of the letters ch in some of these words though. Look at these four words. How are the letters CH pronounced in each one? Well, in the first word, chaos, the letters CH make a k sound, like in school, scheme, mechanic, and chemistry. Notice it's not chemistry, it's chemistry. Now, in chore, the CH is pronounced ch, like in church and choose, but the CH in chef is pronounced sh but in yacht the letter ch are silent. Don't get caught out by those sneaky silent letters. Time for pair number four. Read these aloud. Now you won't believe the number of times I've heard students say Answer and sword. These pronunciations are not correct. Never pronounce the letter W in these words. Instead, say, answer, sword. You might have already noticed that the letter W is silent when written with R at the beginning of a word, like in right, wrist, wrinkle, and wrong. Take care with those silent Ws. Similarly, the letter K is silent when it appears with the letter N at the beginning of a word. But you knew that, right? Knew. Can you think of any other examples? Well, we've got words like knife, knuckle, knight, knee, and knot, to name but a few. Okay, are you ready for our fifth pair? Here it is. Which letter is silent in both of these words? Scissors, muscle. The letter C isn't pronounced in either of these words. I hear scissors and muscles all the time. Drop the C and say scissors, muscles instead. The letter C is silent in a lot of words with the letters SC together. Can you think of any more examples? Well, take care with the words scent, scenario, fascinate, and ascent as they all have a silent C. Now, can you spot the silent letters in pair number six? Both of these words contain a silent F. Just joking, I'm just making sure you're paying attention. It's the L that is silent. I hear a lot of students trying to pronounce the L. L-H-A-U-F, C-A-U-F. Forget the L sound and just make the long R vowel sound instead. Half, calf, much easier. Okay, pair number seven, say these words out loud. The letter S is silent in both of these words. Isle is pronounced the same as the contraction of I will and is one syllable, isle. And it's not Is-land, it's Island. Okay, time for our penultimate pair. Read them aloud. Which letter is silent? That's right, we never pronounce the letter P at the beginning of words with S. Psychology. Psychic. Can you think of any more words like this? Well, we've got psalm, pseudonym, and psychedelic. These are all words of Greek origin. Oh, and take care with these silent P words my students always It's always mispronounced, we have cupboard and receipt. I know it's so tempting to say receipt, receipt. Cupboard, receipt. Okay, time for our final pair. Read these words out loud and try to identify the silent letter. Now, if you said musically or basically with A or A, A, or ah. try again. Musically, basically. That's right, with some adverbs ending c-a-l-l-y, the a is silent. Some speakers will pronounce it as a soft schwa sound, musically, basically. This is less common. Most speakers don't pronounce the letter a at all and just say musically. Basically, both with just three syllables. Right, we've got just enough time for a quick shadowing task to help you remember some of the words with silent letters that we've covered today. I'll mark the silent letters on screen to help you. Shadow me if you can or listen, pause and then repeat. You ready? The handsome builder is coming to put up the kitchen cupboards at half five this Wednesday. He's also going to fit an island where I can keep my knives, scissors, receipts. Sandwich and biscuit tins, and basically all of my bits and pieces. Honestly, it's the best case scenario as I haven't got the muscle to do it myself. How did you find that? Rewind and speak along with me again to practice further. Let's begin with the letter B, the silent B. Do any come to mind? Well, they all end with MB, words like, and repeat after me, bomb, comb, and climb. We don't say bomb, comb, or climb. The letter B is completely silent, so each of these words ends with a M sound. Bomb, comb, climb. Here are some more examples. For examples, we have... Tomb, with the long OO sound. Womb, again with the long OO. Lamb, with the short AH vowel sound. And limb, with the short IH sound. We also have a few words with the UH vowel sound, as in up, for example, and repeat after me. Crumb, numb, thumb, dumb, and succumb. Succumb. Notice the stress on the second syllable there, succumb. And finally, one more actually, plumb. Now, plumb is a word that I hear mispronounced all the time. What do we call a person who fixes water pipes? A person who plumbs, right? A plumber. Plumber. The B stays silent even when we add the letters ER. So it's plumber, not plumber. In fact, the letter B usually stays silent if we add a suffix to these words. For example, bomb, bomber, climb, climbing. We do have to be careful though because sometimes the B sound does come back when we add a suffix. For example, crumb, crumble, crumbling. And I have one last silent B word for you. Now, I know the letter B isn't strictly at the end, but students make mistakes with this all the time. It's this word. Doubt Never pronounce the B here. Doubt, not doubted, which is hard to say. It's much easier to say without the B. Doubt. Let's move on to the silent E at the end of words. What do all of these words have in common? Well, the E that appears at the end of these words isn't exactly silent. It's magic, yeah this E can have magical powers, we do genuinely call it the magic E. It changes the vowel sound before it so it's pronounced like the letter of the alphabet as in A E I O and U. Notice how the vowel sound changes when we add an E to these words. hide Now, the magic E doesn't always work, but treat it as a guide. It can help you figure out the pronunciation of many words that end with E. Now, the E has no magical powers with these next words. Never pronounce the E at the end of VE words like have, love, and give. M-E words normally have a silent E too, for example, welcome and handsome. Now notice the silent D in the middle there, handsome, not hand-some. Be careful with these exceptions though. Epitome and gimme, the informal contraction of give me, both end in E. There's also this word that causes a lot of confusion. What do we call the instructions you use to help you cook something? It's a recipe, not receipt or recite. Another exception is the word anime, which ends with the A diphthong. Next, we have the silent H at the end of words. In English, the H sound can't come at the end of a word. The letters AH are usually just pronounced as a schwa, like in the names Sarah, Hannah, Noah and Mika, the H is silent. We can also see this AH combination at the end of words like hurrah and cheetah. You'll also see quite a few words ending in the letters CH. Here, the H isn't technically silent. Instead, it combines with the letter C to make a K sound, like in stomach, patriarch and monarch. Interestingly, all of these words have come to English via Latin from Greek. Next, we have the silent N. Never pronounce the letter N at the end of words like damn, him, solemn, condemn, autumn, and column. These words all end in the letters M-N, but just finish with a M sound. And remember, be careful when adding a suffix to these words because sometimes the silent N reappears. For example, autumn, autumnal, column, columnist. Although a lot of people prefer to just say columnist. It's technically columnist, but columnist is very common. Use whichever works best for you. There's only one word that ends with a silent p, and it's a word with French origins, coup, coup. It's also silent in the phrase coup d'état. Notice the silent t at the end there too. More on silent t's soon. Let's practice the silent H, N and P words now. Shadow me or listen, pause and repeat after me. Sarah wrote a solemn column this autumn condemning the patriarch's coup d'état. Did you notice the silent T at the end of coup d'état? More on that soon. Now for the silent R at the end of words. Well, in my modern received pronunciation accent, all Rs are silent at the end of words. Like in guitar, tower and armour, I only pronounce the letter R before a vowel sound. I've made a whole video on this. I've put a link in the description. Check it out if you're still not sure about the silent R. Next up is the silent S at the end of words. We have a few words from French that end in a silent S. We have a few nouns like debris or debris, corps, faux pas, and rendezvous. Take care with these nouns. Even though debris ends with a silent S, It's an uncountable noun. Corps, faux pas and rendezvous are all countable, but don't change their spelling in the plural. But we do pronounce the s when they're plural, and each plural is pronounced with the voiced z sound. Cause. We've also got the preposition vis-à-vis, meaning in relation to, and the US states Illinois and Arkansas. Never pronounce the S at the end of these words. Let's look at some silent T words now. Continuing with the French theme, never pronounce the letter T at the end of these words. I hear these words pronounced ballet and buffet all the time, but the T is silent, so the word ends in the A vowel sound. Ballet. Gourmet. Some people do choose to pronounce the T in buffet, buffet. It's not very common, you will find it in some dictionaries. Some more A words are crochet and chalet. And then we also have depot and rapport. Time to practice the silent R, S, and T at the end of words. Shadow me or repeat after me. The ballet dancer from Arkansas made a faux pas when he forgot to prepare gourmet sandwiches for the buffet. We don't really have any silent U words, but we do have a lot of words ending in a silent U-E. Words like league. And colleague, rogue, and vague. Also, catalog and dialogue. In these words, the letters G and U combine to make a G sound. The letters U-E are silent, so they all end with a G sound. In fact, catalog and dialogue both end with the letter G in North American spelling. Just like this. We also have tongue that ends with the ng sound. Tongue. We have a couple of words with a silent X at the end. Shoe. Yes, it sounds like a shoe you put on your foot, but this is a kind of pastry. Faux, as in fake and faux pas. And you guessed it, they are French. And finally, just one silent Z word. Chez, chez. This is another French word we use in English meaning at the house of. Let's practice those silent letters now. Shadow me or repeat after me. She thanked her colleague for the choux pastry with a faux smile. Our first section is very short, silent T's at the beginning of words. There are very few words that start with silent T's. We have two here. Technically, we don't have any words that genuinely start with a silent T. However, many English speakers find it difficult to pronounce the consonant sounds And together. See, even I'm struggling. That means that even though the words Tsar and Tsunami should start with a T sound, most speakers don't bother with it, and just say Tsar. And tsunami instead. Choose whichever is most comfortable for you. It doesn't really matter, and I wouldn't say they are everyday words for most people. Next, we have our longest category of silent T words. Words ending in the letters S-T-L-E, like castle and whistle. They end with sl. Now, some speakers will go directly from the s to the l, like sl. Others, myself included, will insert a soft schwa sound. So, you mean... You might find that version easier to pronounce. castle, whistle Now can you think of any more words that end in these letters? Well, we've got quite a few that rhyme with whistle. Bristle, gristle, and thistle. Bristles are short, stiff hairs in a brush. And gristle is that white chewy bit you sometimes get in meat. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. And in fact a thistle has sharp bristles. That's a nice way to remember the pronunciation and the meaning of those words. We also have another plant mistletoe and I know technically it doesn't end in s-t-l-e but the letters are in there and the first t is silent. It's mistletoe not mistletoe. This is a plant often used as a Christmas decoration. It has green leaves and shiny white Berries, we tend to hang it from the ceiling. And maybe you've heard of the tradition that you should kiss under it. I pronounce this word with an unvoiced sound, mistletoe, but some people use a voiced z sound, mistletoe. Then we have apostle with a short o vowel sound. With a short e sound, we have wrestle. pestle and nestle. Take care with the silent W at the beginning of wrestle. And finally, hustle and bustle and rustle. I love saying those words. Hustle, bustle, rustle. Okay, let's practice. Shadow me now to practice those silent T words. Speak along with me or use the pause button and repeat after me. As the hustle and bustle slowly subsided, I began to hear the rustling sound of a mouse nestling in its burrow. The wind whistled round the castle as the Apostle wrestled to close the heavy door. Okay, let's move on now to words ending in the letters s-t-e-n. The letter t is usually silent in words like fasten and listen. It isn't fasten or listen. Drop the T. Listen. See how much smoother that feels. It's easier to say without the t sound. We've also got glisten and christen that rhyme with listen. And then we have hasten, chasten. And moisten, be careful though, not all s-t-e-n words follow this silent t rule. The author of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, for example, is Jane Austen, not Jane Austen. Now let's practice those silent t words. Shadow me if you can or listen, pause and repeat. We hasten to church to watch and listen as the baby was christened In a glistening gown. Okay, next up, we have got soften and often. Should you ever pronounce the T in these words? Okay, in soften, we never pronounce the T, but you can pronounce the T in often. Often. Many people are taught that you should never say often. It's not true. Lots of people say it. Often or often are both totally fine. I tend to say often. It's definitely safe to say that the T in soften is always silent. Soft, soften. We also have some silent T's that pop Pop up in the middle of words like Christmas, mortgage, and chestnut Some people might pronounce a soft in chestnut, but it's not very common. It's not wrong, but it's not common. And the letters th in asthma are silent too. So it's asthma, not asthma or asthma. Although some people do occasionally say this. I think that's very hard to say. Say asthma. Asthma. Asthma. Asthma is so much easier. For me, it's asthma, but I have heard North Americans use the voiced z sound. Asthma. Now, I know this lesson is all about when we never pronounce the T in certain words, but I have to let you know about this next secret because it will make your pronunciation sound so much more natural. So we don't have to drop the T sound in these words. But we frequently do. Listen and repeat to compare. Post-war, post-war. Lastly, lastly. Wristband, wristband. Now did you notice that I dropped the t sound the second time I said the word? Now this often happens when we have a fricative like s and then another consonant sound. Fricative consonants are and h. And these words just makes them easier to say. The sound can also disappear like this between words too. For example, she has the nicest smile. He's got two left feet. We got the last bus home. Nicest smile. Left feet. Last bus. Okay, let's try dropping some T's. Shadow me if you can or listen, pause and repeat. The bank soften the blow and reduce my mortgage payments last Christmas. Now remember, it is not obligatory to drop the sound from reduced or last here, but it's very common in connected speech. If it feels forced, don't do it. Only do it if it makes you feel that your speech flows more. Okay, we will finish with several words Words that we have borrowed from French that all end in a silent T. Words like ballet, gourmet, crochet, chalet, and buffet or buffet. We also have valet, but some people do pronounce it valet. Then we have depot and rapport. Let's practice those silent t's at the end of words. Shadow me or listen, pause, and repeat after me. After the ballet, we went to a gourmet buffet in a Swiss-style chalet. In my modern received pronunciation accent, the letter R is only pronounced when it comes before a vowel sound, so when you see an R before a consonant sound or at the end of a word with no sounds after it, simply don't try to pronounce it. Here are some examples, repeat after me. Garden. There is no sound in them earth warmth garden in these words the letter R is followed by a consonant sound so it isn't pronounced it's silent in stressed syllables like this we just pronounce the long vowel sounds as in earth or as in warm and R as in garden The letter R is completely silent. In the words water, nature and together, there is no sound after the letter R, so we don't need to make a R sound. Because the R is silent, these words end with the U vowel sound, the schwa. This is a weak vowel sound. Notice how it appears in the unstressed syllables in these words. Repeat after me. Water. Nature. Together. Let's practice the silent R now. Shadow me if you can or listen and repeat after me. I'll put the silent R's in red to help you. My garden has a quiet corner. I go there to clear my mind when I'm tense, tired or nervous. A lot of my students try to pronounce the R in tired and say something like tired. Forget the R, just say tired, tired. Hear how much smoother that sounds? Tired. Accents that follow this silent R rule are called non-rhotic accents. My modern RP accent and most, but not all, British accents are non-rhotic. This is not the case in North America. Most accents there pronounce the R in all positions, before consonant sounds and at the end of words. I think it's really good for you to hear the difference. So let's hear a general American version of this same sentence to compare. My garden has a quiet corner. I go there to clear my mind when I'm tense, tired or nervous. There's a pretty big difference, right? The silent R is one of the main features that distinguishes British pronunciation from American pronunciation. Now, in both rhotic and non-rhotic accents, the letter R is always pronounced before vowel sounds at the beginning of words, as in restful, relax and reflect. It is also pronounced within words like breathe, serene, Let's practice now with a mixture of silent and pronounced R's. Shadow me if you can. The silent R's are red and in bold. The pronounced R's are in green. Ready? I feel much more serene and relaxed when I take deep breaths. The rich smell of the earth and sound of running water helped me to stay grounded. Now, I know I said we always pronounce the letter R before vowel sounds, but this is a very dangerous thing to say because in English, there are always exceptions. One very common exception is this word here. How do you pronounce it? If we follow the rules, they state that it should be pronounced iron because the letter R is followed by the vowel sound, uh. But the letter R is never pronounced in this word. It's an exception. It always catches my students out. It should be pronounced iron, iron. Some examples are, I love Iron Maiden. Or, I'm competing in an Ironman next month. Not Iron Maiden, not Iron Man. Iron. Remember, I'm modeling my accent here. In a North American accent, these words could sound more like this. I love Iron Maiden. I'm competing in an Ironman next month. And I have a few more exceptions for you. In English, we often drop syllables in the middle of words, and when we do, the letter R can sometimes disappear, even when technically it should be pronounced. For example, the first R in this word, February, often disappears and we tend to say February. I favour February. It's how I was taught to say it. The first R in this word, library. Library often disappears too, and we say library. Again, I favour the dropped version, library. So, to recap, never pronounce the letter R when it comes before a consonant sound or at the end of a word. Only pronounce the letter R when it's followed by a vowel sound. This rule is true in connected speech too. Notice how my pronunciation changes when R comes at the end of a word, at the end of a word then followed by a consonant sound, and at the end of a word followed by a vowel sound. Clear. Clear mind. Clear air. Better. Better sleep. Better atmosphere. This is called a linking R. Adding a linking R sound before vowel sounds isn't obligatory, but it can help us to glide between the vowel sounds more easily. Think of it as a little bridge between vowel sounds. Okay let's practice everything we've learned so far. Shadow me now. I've marked the silent, pronounced and linking Rs to help. I wander slowly through the garden listening to the tree leaves rustling in the warm afternoon breeze. I focus on the here and now and appreciate the simpler approach to life. Okay, so now we know when and when not to pronounce the letter R when we see it written. But at the beginning of the lesson, I promised that I'd tell you about a time we pronounce the letter R that might surprise you. Well, here it is. Listen and repeat these phrases with me. What do you notice? Idea of calm, law of nature, spa experience. That's right, I added an R sound even though there is no written R at all. We can add an R sound in phrases like this when a word ends in a, or, and R, and the next word begins with a vowel sound. This is called the intrusive R and is a really common feature of British English. Not everyone does it, but I do it sometimes. Let's practice together. Shadow me now. I was halfway through our cinema evening when I saw it clearly. I needed to go on a yoga and meditation retreat surrounded by flora and fauna in an area of peace and quiet. Challenging. It can feel forced. Only do it if it feels natural to you. If I think about it too hard, it sounds really weird, but it does come out naturally for me. Now, this can happen within words too. So you might hear an R sound in words with no written R. For example, drawing and soaring. You can pronounce them drawing and sawing or drawing and soaring. Let's start with the letters G, N. Never pronounce the letter G in this letter combination at the beginning of words like gnat. By the way, you should be repeating after me here. Gnash, gnarled, gnome, gnocchi, and gnu. So, it's not gnaw, gnome or gnocchi, it's just gnaw, gnome, gnocchi and gnocchi has an invisible y sound just before the o. Some people drop it and say gnocchi. Gnu also has an optional y sound. So, new or new. And what's anew, I hear you cry? It's a large African animal with horns that eats grass. They're also called wildebeest. Now, I know this lesson is called never pronounce the letter G in British English, but I have to let you know about an alternative pronunciation for new or new. It can also be pronounced gnu. Let's practice the silent G in these words. Shadow me now or listen, pause and then repeat. Remember that the G is completely silent and the N or N is pronounced normally. The gnats gnawed at my ankles as I ate my gnocchi. The gnu sat under the gnarled tree gnashing its teeth. Okay, we also never pronounce the G when we have the letters G-N at the end of a word or near the end of a word. For example, repeat after me. rain foreign campaign Champagne. Cologne. Sovereign and consign. The letter G stays silent, even if we change the word by adding letters to the end. For example, and repeat after me, foreign, foreigner, campaign, campaigning, sovereign, sovereignty, consign, consignment. The letter G stays silent. The letter G is also never pronounced in these words. Sign, assign, design, and resign. But we need to be a little more careful here as the sneaky little g sound reappears with some suffixes. For example, repeat after me. Sign, signature, signal. assign, assignation, design, designate, designation, and resign, resignation. Did you notice how the vowel sound changed in those words too? The I diphthong in sign and assign switched to a short I, signal, signature, assignation. The I vowel sound in design and resign switches to a short I, designate, designation, resignation. Let's practice. I've marked the silent G's in red and the pronounced G's in green. Shadow me if you can. The designated heir to the throne resigned to open a champagne and cologne business. Never pronounce the letter G when it appears with N in the middle of the words bolognese, lasagna, vignette, and poignant. This is the English pronunciation, not the Italian and French pronunciation. These words have formed a part of the English language now. Let's move on to another letter combination now, GH. Never pronounce the G at the end or near the end of words like high and height, sigh and sight, weigh and weight. So height and sight both have the I vowel sound. Can you think of any other words with that I sound that have GH at or near the end? Well, we have loads and they all have a silent G. For example, bright, flight, tight, delight and fortnight. Never pronounce the G in these words. The letters GH also appear a lot in words with the A vowel sound. Like we saw with weigh and weight. Can you think of any more? Well, there is eight, freight, sleigh and neighbour, to name a few. Shall we practice? Shadow me now. I sighed when I realised the height and weight of my case were too much for freight and we saw eight bright stars at night, much to my neighbour's delight. And finally, never pronounce the G in letter combinations with A-U-G-H and O-U-G-H. For example, dough, doughnut and furlough. These all have the vowel sound O. We then have plough and drought with the ow sound. And then we have words like ought. Fraught, naughty, and daughter, all with the or vowel sound. Don't pronounce the letter G in any of these words. Let's practice the silent G now. Shadow me. I'm fraught because your naughty daughter plowed her way through all the doughnuts. Now, sometimes the letter G Isn't technically silent, but combines with H to make a sound. Can you think of any words in which the letters GH are pronounced? Well, we have some at the end of O-U-G-H words, like rough, tough, cough, and enough. We also have some with A-U-G-H, like draught and laugh. Now be careful, we do pronounce the G in GH at the beginning of words like ghost, ghastly, ghetto and gherkin. It's actually the H that is silent in all of those words. I told you there are silent letters all over the place in English words. Our final letter combination is GM. English has a few Greek words ending in GM which have a silent G. Can you think of any? Well, the words phlegm, paradigm and diaphragm all have a silent G. And that my lovely students brings us to the end of today's pronunciation lesson. Were there any words that surprised you? I wonder, which of the words we looked at today do you find particularly challenging to pronounce? Let me know in the comments.