Say loves and check it
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Press record, say "loves" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Loves syllables
Loves has 1 syllable: LUHVZ.
- LUHVZlʌvz
LUVZ, one syllable. The o is the short "u" of "cup", and the plural or third-person s is a z — the vowel is the same as in "love", not the "o" of "loaves".
The final -s is pronounced as a z because the sound before it is voiced.
Sounds to watch
The l sound
Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.
The v sound
Rest your top teeth on your bottom lip and add voice. Keep it distinct from w, which uses rounded lips and no teeth.
Loves in a sentence
- He loves the sea but hates swimming in it.
- The dog loves everyone except the postman.
Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.
What Speakeroo listens for
These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.
- Final -s ending unclearUse the correct /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ ending and keep it audible.
- /v/ and /w/ confusedUse teeth-on-lip contact for /v/ and rounded lips without contact for /w/.
- Final consonant devoicedKeep the vocal folds vibrating through voiced endings such as /b/, /d/, /g/ and /z/.
- Consonant cluster reducedBuild the cluster one sound at a time without deleting a member.
- Extra vowel after a consonantFinish directly on the consonant instead of adding a vowel.
Questions
How do you pronounce loves?
Loves is pronounced /ˈlʌvz/, or LUHVZ in plain letters. It has one syllable.
How many syllables are in loves?
One. Loves is a single syllable: LUHVZ.
How do you use loves in a sentence?
He loves the sea but hates swimming in it. The dog loves everyone except the postman.
How is the ending of loves pronounced?
The final -s is pronounced as a z because the sound before it is voiced.
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