ConceptCONCEPTMind Your Future
Part One · Foundations · Level A1 to A2

Unit 6
The little puff on P, T, K

/p/ /t/ /k/
Worksheet W06
From your coach. One puff of air is all that separates pin from bin. Hold your hand in front of your mouth and you will feel it.
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These are the symbols you will see in a dictionary. Click any one to hear it. You do not need to memorize them.

Why this mattersThe puff is the cue, not the consonant

At the start of a stressed word, English p, t and k come with a small puff of air. Without it, an American may hear your p as b, your t as d, and your k as g. Pin becomes bin. Coat becomes goat.

This surprises people, because you are saying the right consonant. The problem is that English listeners use the puff, not the consonant itself, to decide which one they heard.

English listeners use the puff, not the consonant, to hear p, t, k.

What your language doesMost languages do not puff

Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Russian and many others produce p, t and k with no aspiration at all. Your consonants are clean and correct in your own system, and they land as b, d and g in English ears.

If your language does puff, this unit will be quick for you.

How to make itThe tissue test

Add a small breath immediately after the consonant, at the start of a stressed word. The picture: a tiny sigh riding out on the consonant.

The test is physical and settles the question immediately. Hold a tissue in front of your mouth and say pin, top, cake. The tissue should move. Say spin, stop, skate and it should barely move at all, because English does not puff after s.

That contrast is also the fastest way to feel the difference in your own mouth. Pin and spin contain the same p, produced two different ways.

Try this now

Hold a tissue in front of your mouth and say pin, top, cake. The tissue should move. Say spin, and it should barely move at all.

Side view of the mouth, showing how the sound is made

Train your ear

I play one word. Tap the one you heard. No speaking yet, just listening.

Tap play to start.
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Minimal pairsThe two words, side by side

Play each pair deliberately and feel the one difference. This is where the sound stops being abstract.

Say itWord banks

With the puff

No puff, after s

In a sentencePut it under pressure

Record and compareSee the shape of your voice

Pick anything above, then record yourself saying it. Your recording appears in red over the model in gray. You are comparing shapes, not chasing a score.

Choose a word or sentence above
ModelYou
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Check yourself

You say p correctly, so why does an American hear bin when you say pin?

Because English listeners use the puff of air, not the consonant, to decide. No puff means they hear b. The tissue test shows you whether it is there.