Lessons Unit 1, lesson 45
ʔ as in uh-oh
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?
Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.
ʔthe catch in uh-oh
The little catch in your throat in the middle of uh-oh. Close the throat for an instant, then release. English slips it in before some t's: button, certain.
The catch you already make
ʔ is the small closing and releasing of your throat that sits right in the middle of uh-oh — it's what keeps the two syllables from running together into one blurred vowel. You already make this sound naturally; you just haven't named it before.
Try saying uh-oh without any catch at all, letting the vowels flow straight into each other. Notice how the word loses its shape and starts to sound like one long, ambiguous vowel.
Where English hides it
Beyond uh-oh, this catch quietly replaces the t sound before certain endings, like in button and certain — the tongue never fully taps the ridge; the throat closes instead.
Overdoing it, by inserting a hard glottal stop everywhere, can sound choppy and unnatural. Save it for these connected-speech moments rather than forcing it into every word boundary.