TH voiced and voiceless?

[Catia VF]

If a word is new for me and I have to pronounce it, how can I know if the TH sound is voiced or voiceless when I do not have a dictionary?
Is there any rule?
Thanks

 

[Raymott]

If a word is new for me and I have to pronounce it, how can I know if the TH sound is voiced or voiceless when I do not have a dictionary?
Is there any rule?
Thanks

Most function words - determiners, pronouns - have voiced 'th' eth/edh ð:
the, these, those, that, though, there, their, they're
There are exceptions: through ...

Most verbs and nouns have voiceless 'TH' theta θ:
n. theatre, theocracy, thing, thought
v. throw, think, throttle, thwart
ðere are probably some obvious exceptions ðat I can't θink of right now.

 

[bds51]

Hello Catia,
There are a couple of rules but unless you know Latin and German well they won't help. The simplest rule is when -th is at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, it is usually voiceless. In other words, except for the 15 most used 'th' words in English, if you're going to guess, then pronounce the th as voiceless. However, it's always better to check a dictionary. bdsenglishniche.com

 

[cardboard]

Try sticking out your tongue, using both upper and lower teeths touching your tongue and blow it. If you do it correctly then I think you will be able to produce the "TH" sound..?

 

[BobK]

Most function words - determiners, pronouns - have voiced 'th' eth/edh ð:
the, these, those, that, though, there, their, they're
There are exceptions: through ...

Most verbs and nouns have voiceless 'TH' theta θ:
n. theatre, theocracy, thing, thought
v. throw, think, throttle, thwart
ðere are probably some obvious exceptions ðat I can't θink of right now.

:up: This works for initial 'th-', except for fairly recent foreign borrowings like thé-dansant. In fact if you asked a native speaker to read some nonsense that 'should' exercise these rules, like 'This is a thrap' (or indeed 'This is very thrap' or 'This is moving very thraply' - as the rule works for adjectives and adverbs too) I'd be very surprised if the second was voiced. 'This is a...' introduces a noun, and nouns have initial /θ/ .

b

 

[Raymott]

'th' at the end of a word is 'TH' theta θ:
breath, width, sixth, heath, wreath, bath ...

'the' at the end of a word is 'th' eth ð
breathe, lathe, bathe ...

'ther' is almost always eth ð
father, mother, feather, weather, whither, leather, other, bother
Exceptions: ether, Mather.