Lessons Unit 1, lesson 28

d as in day

One consonant, on its own page. Hear it, watch where it sits in each word's sheet, then say the words yourself.

What do the marks mean?

ˈriːdread Stressed part — say it louder & longer.

təto Weak word — say it quickly & softly.

∅e Silent letter — don’t pronounce it.

θth Underline — these letters spell one sound.

wa·ter Dot · — a syllable break.

go‿on Linked — blend the words together.

?↗︎↘︎ Arrows — voice rises ↗︎ or falls ↘︎.

ˈsɛvən7 Number — how to say it aloud.

read² ² mark — has a second pronunciation.

guess? ? mark — a best guess; double-check it.

Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.

dd as in red

Same tongue tap as t, but with your voice on: d. Hand on your throat — d buzzes, t doesn't.

day

dog

dad

Now say it yourself

Read each word from its sheet, out loud, three times. Where there's a play button, listen first and copy what you hear. Slow is fine — speaking clearly matters more than speaking fast. Tap a word's microphone to record yourself and see which sounds landed.

dot

mad

kid

odd

read

bed

Voicing: d vs t

d and t use the same quick tongue tap on the ridge behind your top teeth; only the buzz of your voice tells them apart. Say day and dad with a hand on your throat and you should feel it humming right away.

At the end of a word, like read or odd, keep a little buzz going, and let the vowel before it run slightly longer than it would in a word ending with t.

Where this shows up later

When d lands between two vowels, as it can in casual speech, it softens into a fast tongue tap rather than a firm tap-and-hold — you'll meet this properly in the flap-t lesson later in this unit.

For now, keep dog and do crisp and buzzy at the front, so your listener never mistakes them for their voiceless twin.