47: 'should,' 'could,' and 'would': /ʃʊd/, /kʊd/, /wʊd/

There /l/ is silent, and the vowel /ʊ/ is the same as the 'u' in the word 'put'.

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation Podcast. My name is Amanda, and this is a rerelease of our 47th episode.

Today I'm going to talk about three words I frequently hear mispronounced: ‘could’ c—o-u-l-d, ‘should’ s-h-o-u-l-d, and ‘would’ w-o-u-l-d. I’m pretty sure that it’s the ‘o-u-l’ spelling that causes these words’ pronunciation problems. 

The first thing to note is that there is no l sound in any of those words. Yes, the /l/ is silent! Yes, in all three words! The Online Etymology Dictionary, which I will link to in these transcripts, says that the l was added to the spelling of these words in the 16th century, though it doesn’t say why it was added. All that’s truly important for you to know is that you shouldn't say the ‘l’ in those words, ever. Got it? The /l/ is silent.

Next, the vowel sound in these words can be tricky, too. That vowel sound is the /ʊ/ (other u), (/ʊ/) which is also the vowel sound of the letter ‘u’ in the word ‘put,’ and ‘o-o’ of the word ‘look.’ Listen to the vowel sounds in those words:

could
should
would
put
look

(See the /ʊ/ pronunciation lesson, spelling lesson, and practice page.)

Episode 10 was all about the /ʊ/ sound and the sound that many non-native speakers accidentally replace it with, the /u/ ( called the oo sound) (/u/), as in the word 'soon.' Listen to the difference between the /ʊ/ and the /u/: (/ʊ/, /u/). I'm going to compare the sounds using two words that are both spelled ‘o-o,’ l-o-o-k and s-o-o-n, 'look,' 'soon.' Those are two different vowel sounds. Can you hear the difference? Look, soon. Repeat those two words:

look
soon

Now listen to the vowel sounds in ‘look’ and ‘could.’ 

look
could

Can you hear that those words have the same vowel sound? It’s also the same sound in the word ‘put.’ Look, could, put. They are all the same: 

look
could
put

Let's get back to ‘could,’ ’should,’ and ‘would.’ Listen as I say them slowly.

could
should
would

Hear the initial consonant sound, the /ʊ/ sound, and the final /d/. Remember, there is absolutely no /l/ in any of these words.

I'll say them at a regular speed, and leave time for you to repeat after me.

could
should
would

One more time:

could
should
would

If you’d like to read the transcript for this episode, just go to pronuncian.com/podcast and click “archives.” I'll include links to the free /ʊ/ sound practice, the free spelling and pronunciation lessons, and episode 10—which I mentioned above for comparing the /ʊ/ sound with the /u/—in this episode’s transcript page.

If you want more sound practice for sounds like the /ʊ/ or /u/, or any of the other 41 sounds of English, check out our additional American English pronunciation learning materials on the “Books and Products” link on Pronuncian.com. 

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy digital publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn. You can find more information about Seattle Learning Academy and our pronunciation classes by visiting www.seattlelearning.com.

That's all for today everybody. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye.