The “ng” sound, or \/\u014b\/\u00a0sound, is a voiced nasal consonant produced with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. The air flows out of the nose. Don\u2019t release your tongue when you pronounce the <\/span>g<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n In American English, you don\u2019t drop the final <\/span>g<\/span><\/i> in the word ending <\/span>-ing<\/span><\/i>, but you don\u2019t want to over-pronounce it either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This sound is challenging for many English learners as they may easily confuse it with the \/n\/ and \/nk\/ sounds, depending on their native language influence.\u00a0 If this is something you struggle with, read on!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remember, to pronounce <\/span>\/n\/ <\/b>as in <\/span>pin<\/span><\/i>, the tip of the tongue touches the gum ridge, just behind the teeth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To pronounce<\/span> \/\u014b\/<\/b> as in <\/span>king<\/span><\/i>, the tip of the tongue is down, not touching anything. The back of the tongue is up, touching the soft palate at the back of your mouth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Again, be careful not to release the tongue when pronouncing the final g, or this could be confused with a <\/span>\/nk\/<\/b> sound, as in sink<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Focus on the difference in pronunciation between the \/\u014b\/ sound\u00a0 vs.\u00a0 \/nk\/ and \/n\/\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe “ng” sound <\/b>\/\u014b\/ <\/b>vs. \/<\/b>n\/ and \/nk\/\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Practice the “ng” sound with commonly confused minimal pairs:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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