Tr and Dr Hack – English Tip – VIDEO Training

Tr and Dr Hack – English Tip

Learn How to Say /dr/ and /tr/ Words Naturally in English

When we make the English /t/ and /d/ sounds we usually drop our tongue down for the 2^nd part of the sound. But for this pronunciation hack, you only drop your tongue down a little from the bony ridge behind your front top teeth, and then keep it up and move back straight to the /r/ sound.

How to make the /dr/ sound: 

Put your tongue up on the middle of the bony ridge behind your top front teeth as usual for the /d/ Then drop it only a little, and then move it back to the /r/ tongue position.

So, it’s not ‘du’ – dropped and then /r/, but ‘dr’

English practise words:

Drop, drink, dry, dream, drum

English practise phrase:

They dreamed they dropped the drink.

How to make the /tr/ sound: 

For the British accent, it’s the same movement as the ‘dr’, except that the /t/ is unvoiced.

English practise words:

Try, trap, tree, trust

English practise phrase:

Try and trap it on the tree trunk.

For the Australian and American accents, there are 2 parts to the ‘hack’.

We actually make a light ‘ch’ sound to start with. So, your tongue tip is up, but the sides of your tongue touch the insides of your top and bottom teeth. Your lips are held slightly forward, but not as forward as for a full ‘ch’. Again, you don’t drop the tip but keep the tip up and move to the /r/ sound.

American and Australian English practise words:

Try, trap, tree, trust

American and Australian English practise phrase:

Try and trap it on the tree trunk.

So whichever accent, don’t drop the tongue as much as you normally would for /t/ and /d/, but keep it up, and then just move the tongue back and raised for the /r/ sound. It’s easier because you don’t drop your tongue all the way but just a little.

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Also, for more practise material, check out this audio lesson on stress in compound nouns.

Bye for now, and enjoy practising.