How to pronounce the "th" sound in English (think, this, three)

The "th" is the sound almost every learner gets stuck on, and I completely understand why. German doesn't have it at all, and most Spanish speakers only have half of it. So your tongue reaches for the nearest thing it knows and out comes "sink" instead of "think," or "dis" instead of "this." Here is the good news: "th" is physical, not magic. Once you know exactly where your tongue goes, you can learn it in an afternoon and polish it over a few weeks. Let me walk you through it the way I do with my students.

1. There isn't one "th" sound, there are two

This is the first thing nobody tells you, and it clears up half the confusion straight away. The spelling "th" hides two different sounds.

The first is voiceless (just air, no buzz in your throat), as in think, three, thank, bath, month. The second is voiced (your voice switches on and your throat vibrates), as in this, that, mother, they, with. Put your hand on your throat and say "this" slowly. You'll feel a buzz. Now say "think" the same way, and there's no buzz, only air.

Here's the part that makes it easy: your tongue does exactly the same thing for both. The only difference is whether you add your voice. So you really only have one new tongue position to learn, and then a simple on/off switch for the voice.

2. Where to put your tongue (the whole secret)

Put the very tip of your tongue lightly between your top and bottom front teeth, so it just touches the bottom edge of your top teeth. Then gently push air out. That soft, slightly lispy "fffth" is the sound. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Two things my students always get wrong at first. One, they press too hard, almost biting the tongue. It should be a feather-light touch, the tongue barely peeks out. Two, they hide the tongue behind the teeth. For a clear "th," the tip genuinely sits between the teeth at the start. Do it in front of a mirror and you should actually see the tip of your tongue. If you can't see it, you're probably making an "s" or a "d" instead.

3. The voiceless "th" (think, three, thank)

Start with the voiceless one, it's easier to feel because it's just air. Say a long "ffff," then swap your lip for your tongue-between-teeth and keep blowing: "thhhh." Then add a vowel: thhh-ink, thhh-ree, thhh-ank you.

Go slowly and exaggerate at first. Nobody speaks like this in real life, but slow and exaggerated is how the muscle memory forms. Later it speeds up on its own.

4. The voiced "th" (this, that, mother)

Now the voiced one. Same tongue, voice on. A nice trick: hum a continuous "mmmm," then slide your tongue forward between your teeth without stopping the sound. You'll land on a buzzing "thhh." Then add the word: thhh-is, thhh-at, thhh-ey.

The voiced "th" shows up in some of the most common words in the entire language, which is exactly why it's worth the effort. Look how ordinary these are:

Notice a pattern: many little "grammar words" (the, they, them, this, that) use the voiced "th," and many "content words" at the start (think, thank, three) use the voiceless one. You don't need to memorise which is which, your ear will sort it out. Just know both exist.

5. Why German speakers turn "th" into s, z, d or f

German has no "th" sound anywhere, so the brain substitutes the closest neighbour it already owns. Most often that's a "z" or "s" sound for the voiceless "th," and a "d" for the voiced one. That's how you get the classic "I sink so" (for "I think so") and "dis and dat" (for "this and that").

If you grew up with German, this is one of a handful of sounds worth drilling on purpose, along with the w versus v swap (wine coming out as "vine"). I wrote more about those in my guide to common English mistakes German speakers make, the "th" and the "w/v" are the two that most shape how "German" your accent sounds.

6. Spanish speakers: you already have half of it

Here's a secret that surprises my Spanish-speaking students. You already make the voiced "th" every single day, you just don't notice. Say nada, cada, lado, Madrid out loud. That soft Spanish "d" between vowels is almost exactly the English voiced "th" in this and mother. So when you say "this," don't think of a hard English "d." Think of the gentle "d" in nada, and push your tongue a touch further forward.

The voiceless "th" is trickier, and it depends where you're from. In much of Spain, the "c" in cinco and the "z" in zapato are pronounced as a "th" (thinko, thapato), so you basically already have the English sound in think. If that's you, you're almost there. In Latin America, where cinco and zapato use an "s," that voiceless "th" is genuinely new, so it needs the same tongue-between-teeth practice as everyone else.

7. "th" at the start, middle and end of words

Most learners can manage "th" at the start of a word after a bit of practice. The middle and the end are where it quietly slips back into old habits, because you're moving fast and the tongue gets lazy.

The end of a word is the sneakiest. "With" easily becomes "wis" or "wif," and "month" collapses into "mons." Slow your last syllable down and let the tongue come out for that final "th," even if it feels exaggerated. In real speech it'll soften naturally, but you want the habit built on the strong version.

8. Minimal pairs: the fastest way to train your ear

Minimal pairs are two words that differ by only one sound. They're the single best pronunciation tool I know, because they force your mouth and your ear to notice the exact difference. Say each pair out loud, slowly, back and forth.

Do three or four pairs a day, that's all. Record yourself on your phone and play it back. Hearing your own "think" and "sink" side by side tells you more in ten seconds than any explanation I could write. This is the same honest, in-the-moment feedback idea behind my post on improving your English listening: you can't fix a sound you can't yet hear.

9. The 30 "th" words you'll use every day

You don't need to drill the whole dictionary. A small group of very common words carries most of your "th" sounds in real conversation. Nail these and you've covered most of your speaking.

Say them in short, real sentences, not in isolation, because that's how you'll actually use them: "I think so." "Thanks for that." "Both of them." "Nothing much, and you?"

10. The hard clusters: months, clothes, sixths

A few words stack "th" next to other consonants and they're tough even for native speakers. Honestly, we cheat on some of them, and that's completely allowed.

Clothes is the famous one. Almost nobody says every sound; most native speakers pronounce it just like the word "close." Months is usually said more like "munts." Sixths and twelfths are tongue-twisters that even we slow down for. So don't lose sleep over these, approximate them and move on.

The point: aim for clear "th" on the everyday words, and relax on the rare tongue-twisters. Nobody is judging your "twelfths."

11. A simple five-minute daily routine

Pronunciation is a muscle habit, so little and often beats one big session. Here's the routine I give students, it takes about five minutes.

Do that daily for two weeks and the sound starts arriving on its own in conversation, which is the whole goal. You stop thinking about your tongue and just talk.

12. You don't need a perfect "th" to be understood

Here's my honest take after years of teaching. A clean "th" is worth learning, mostly because a few word pairs genuinely depend on it (think/sink, free/three, "I'm thinking" vs "I'm sinking" is a funny one). But a slightly soft "th" almost never stops people understanding you. Plenty of confident, fluent speakers say a gentle "th" and nobody blinks.

I learned this the hard way with Spanish. When I moved to Peru on my own at 16 and lived with a host family in Cusco, I didn't learn by perfecting one sound at a time. I learned by talking, getting things slightly wrong, and being understood anyway. My accent improved through thousands of real conversations, not through fear of a single sound. The "th" is the same. Practise it, yes, but never let it be the reason you stay quiet. If you want to stop rehearsing in your head and just speak, my post on how to think in English goes deeper on exactly that.

So: one tongue position, a voice on/off switch, a handful of common words, and five minutes a day. That's the entire "th." Start today, exaggerate it, laugh at yourself a little, and in a couple of weeks you'll hear it click into place.