Letter S Pronounced [z]

Letter S Pronounced [z]

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Since English is not a phonetic language, one letter is not always pronounced the same way.  The letter S is often pronounced as a Z in words like cousin, husband, and business.

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Video Text:

This video comes to you from Dillon, Colorado, where I’m spending Christmas with my family. I’m going to introduce you to my cousin and my cousin’s husband. Do you notice anything interesting about how those words are pronounced? If not, stay tuned.

>> Hi, I’m Rachel’s cousin Nikki.
>> I’m Rachel’s cousin’s husband, Steve.
>> Did you notice how they pronounced the words ‘cousin’ and ‘husband’? Listen again.
>> Hi, I’m Rachel’s cousin Nikki.
>> I’m Rachel’s cousin’s husband, Steve.

Did you notice how they pronounced the S as a Z sound? This is actually quite common in American English. I’ve done a video on how to pronounce plural nouns. There are many cases there where the final S will be pronounced as a final Z. The same rules apply to third person verb conjugations. But in the words ‘cousin’ and ‘husband’, they’re not plural nouns, and they’re not third person verb conjugations. They’re simply words where the S is pronounced as a Z. Unfortunately, there are no rules to tell you why the S is pronounced as a Z. But there are a whole slew of words where this is the case, and they just have to be memorized.

Two days ago, my cousin’s husband Steve took me snowboarding. Unfortunately, because I’m not very good at it, I fell many times. And I’ve ended up with a huge bruise on my knee. Both knees, actually. Did you notice? Because, with a Z. But also, did you notice, bruise. Spelled with an S, pronounced with a Z.

>> Don’t believe her, she did an excellent job. Do believe her about the bruise, though.
>> Yes, the bruise is, is not a lie.

Other words where the S is pronounced as a Z: is, his, use. Now, let’s stop for a minute and talk about use. In verb form, the S in ‘use’ is pronounced as a Z. But when it’s a noun, use, it’s pronounced as an S. So that’s one way you can differentiate between which form of the word is being used. This also applies to a few other words, for example, house. As a noun it is an S, and as a verb, house, it is a Z. Was, design, lose. These are just some of the many words where the S will be pronounced as a Z. Special thanks to my cousin and her husband for being in this video with me. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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