Speak Clearly: When Does S Sound Like Z?

 

There are many words in English that are spelled using the letter s but end up making the z sound such as cousin, has, and season. These words should be pronounced like cuzin, haz, and seazon, but since there is no z sound in Spanish, Spanish speakers end up pronouncing the words as they are written.


Since there’s no Z (as in zoo) in Spanish, the Z sound is often misplaced with an S, especially when it appears in the middle or end of words.
The Z is the voiced pair of the S consonant sound. Basically, they are pronounced the same, except that for the fact that with the Z sound, the vocal cords are vibrating.
It’s very easy to make this mistake since both sounds look and feel the same, except for the vibrations of the vocal cords. 

This is also a result of the orthography. Since English, unlike Spanish, is not a phonetic language, many times the Z sound is represented by the letter ‘s’. In Spanish, the letter ‘s’ always represents an S sound. That creates an additional challenge and confusion related to how the word should sound.

Here are some examples:

🔷 Examples of the /s/ sound (no vibration)

The /s/ sound is like the Spanish S.
  • sip /sɪp/
  • sun /sʌn/
  • same /seɪm/
  • pencil /ˈpɛnsəl/
  • basic /ˈbeɪsɪk/
  • lesson /ˈlɛsən/
  • bus /bʌs/
  • hopes /hoʊps/
🔶 Examples of the /z/ sound (with vibration)

The /z/ sound does not exist in Spanish. To pronounce it, the tongue position is like /s/, but your throat vibrates.
  • zoo /zuː/
  • zero /ˈzɪəroʊ/
  • zip /zɪp/
  • music /ˈmjuːzɪk/
  • his /hɪz/
  • has /hæz/
  • goes /goʊz/
  • dogs /dɔːgz/

Let's Practice!



🔹 Exercise 1.
Instructions: Put your hand on your throat. Read and repeat each group of words aloud.
Notice when your throat vibrates (/z/) and when it doesn’t (/s/).

1. sun — zoo

2. sip — zip

3. place — plays (/z/)

4. rice — rise (/z/)

5. bus — buzz

6. ice— eyes (/z/)

7. see — zee

8. seal — zeal

9. mass — maze

10. kiss — his (/z/)


🔸 Exercise 2.
Instructions: Read the sentence aloud. Look at the words with bold letters and choose if the sound of S is pronounced like /s/ or /z/. Practice saying it out loud.

1. The dog chases the ball.
               S // Z ❓
2. He always uses my charger.
              S // Z ❓
3. The teacher says we can start.
              S // Z ❓
4. She misses her best friend.
              S // Z ❓
5. This book is really good.
              S // Z ❓
6. She smiles at the baby.
              S // Z ❓
7. The baby cries loudly.
              S // Z ❓
8. He plays soccer every day.
              S // Z ❓
9. The girl likes chocolate.
              S // Z ❓
10. My brother runs fast.
              S // Z ❓

Important tips:

  1. When S is followed by a voiced sound it often gets pronounced like /z/. Example: roses
  2. A word ending in a voiced sound becomes a plural. If you can feel your voice box vibrate at the end of the noun that you are pronouncing, the 's' will make a /z/ sound. Example: dogs.
  3. 'z' will always be used if the /z/ sound is at the beginning of a word. The letter 's' is never used to make 'z' at the beginning of a word. Example: zipper.
  4. 'zz' is used after a short vowel sound. Example: buzz.

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