How to pronounce words when the letter ‘s’ says /z/
To pronounce words when the letter ‘s’ says the /z/ sound, first you need to know that the /s/ and /z/ sounds are minimal pair sounds in English. That means, they’re made with exactly the same mouth movements except that when you say the /z/ sound, you switch on your voice in your throat at the same time.
Often speakers don’t notice when an ‘s’ in a word needs to be said as a /z/ because they see the ‘s’ written there. So the second thing you need to do to pronounce words correctly when the ‘s’ says /z/ in a word, is to begin to attune your ear to it.
Have a listen to this audio lesson to learn how to attune your ear to this.
How to pronounce words when the letter ‘s’ says /z/
How to pronounce words when the letter ‘s’ says /z/- words that sound the same except for the /s/ or /z/ sound
Lice lies
Price pries
Loose lose
Piece peas
Rice rise
Face phase
Ass as
Race raise
Words that are written with an S but where the S says /z/.
toes
nose
husband
position
always
runs
rising
because
was
his
as
bees
closing
phrases
losing
erasing
music
Sentences (Make sure you are saying the z properly):
She bought some hoses as well as some clothes.
Her husband always runs after he finishes work.
He always closes the door when he hears his music.
They were in a losing position.
For more training on /s/ and /z/ especially word plurals, have a look here.
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