Aspiration: The Puff of Air in P, T and K
Why pin can sound like bin, and how a small puff of air fixes it.
At the start of a stressed syllable, English /p/, /t/ and /k/ are followed by a short puff of air. This is called aspiration. Without it, English listeners may hear bin instead of pin, or gold instead of cold.
When to Aspirate, and When Not
Aspiration depends on the position of the sound in the word.
| Position | Puff of air? | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| start of a stressed syllable | Yes, strong [pʰ tʰ kʰ] | pin, time, come, appear, today, account |
| after /s/ | No | spin, stop, sky, speak, star, school |
| start of an unstressed syllable | Weakly | happy, city, taken |
| end of a word | No, often not released | stop, cat, back, top |
Interesting: without aspiration, /p, t, k/ after /s/ sound close to /b, d, ɡ/. Spin almost sounds like „sbin“. That is completely normal.
Test It With Paper
A simple way to feel and see aspiration.
- Hold a piece of paper or a tissue a few centimetres in front of your mouth.
- Say pin. The paper should move.
- Say bin. The paper should hardly move.
- Say spin. The paper should not move much either.
- Try the same with ten, den, Stan and cold, gold, scold.
Minimal Pairs
Aspirate the words in the left column clearly.
| /p t k/ + puff of air | /b d ɡ/ |
|---|---|
| pin | bin |
| pear | bear |
| pack | back |
| pig | big |
| pull | bull |
| time | dime |
| tie | die |
| ten | den |
| town | down |
| tear | dear |
| coat | goat |
| came | game |
| cold | gold |
| class | glass |
2Who needs to work on this?
Speakers of French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Dutch and many other languages, which have no aspiration. Arabic speakers often need to practise /p/ in general.
Practice Sentences
Feel the puff of air on every stressed /p/, /t/ and /k/.
- Peter took two cups of coffee to the kitchen.
- Kate keeps her car keys in her coat pocket.
- Ten tired people came to the party.
- Tom can't park the truck too close to the café.
- Spin the top, then stop. Can you hear the difference?
2Tip for German speakers
Good news: Standard German aspirates /p, t, k/ just like English, so most German speakers do this naturally. If you come from Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria or Austria, where Paar and Bar can sound alike, practise the paper test above.
Check Yourself
Decide, then open the answer.
-
Is the /p/ in pen aspirated?
Show answer
Yes: it starts a stressed syllable.
-
Is the /p/ in spend aspirated?
Show answer
No: it comes after /s/.
-
Is the /t/ in attack aspirated?
Show answer
Yes: it starts the stressed syllable atTACK.
-
Is the /k/ in back aspirated?
Show answer
No: it is at the end of the word.
-
Why might a listener hear bin when you say pin?
Show answer
Because the /p/ had no puff of air (no aspiration).
Keep Practising
Related pages in the Pronunciation Studio.
A Small Puff, a Big Difference
Add a puff of air to /p, t, k/ at the start of stressed syllables, and leave it out after /s/. Use a piece of paper to check.
Pin, not bin. Cold, not gold.
Pronunciation Studio Book a lesson