How to Pronounce the English TH Sound: A Step-by-Step Guide for Spanish Speakers

If there’s one sound that gives away a Spanish accent in English faster than anything else, it’s TH. “Think” becomes “tink” or “sink.” “This” becomes “dis” or “zis.” The good news: TH isn’t actually hard once you see what your tongue is supposed to be doing — and depending on where your Spanish comes from, you might already know how to make this sound without realizing it.

TH is actually two different sounds

English speakers use the same letters, “th,” for two related but distinct sounds:

• Voiceless TH — as in think, three, bath, thanks. No vibration in your throat.
• Voiced TH — as in this, that, mother, brother. Your vocal cords buzz while you make it.

Put two fingers on your throat and say “sssss” then “zzzzz” — you’ll feel the difference. That’s the same pair, voiceless vs. voiced, just with your tongue in a different place.

If you’re from Spain, you already make this sound

Here’s the part most textbooks skip: if you speak Peninsular Spanish with distinción (the accent most of central and northern Spain uses), you already pronounce “cielo,” “gracias,” and “zapato” with a sound almost identical to the English voiceless TH. Say “gracias” slowly and pay attention to where your tongue is for the “c” — tongue tip lightly touching behind your top front teeth, air pushed through. That’s it. That’s the TH in “think.” You just need to start using that same mouth position inside English words instead of only before “c” and “z” in Spanish.

If you learned Latin American Spanish (seseo, where “cielo” and “sielo” sound the same), this sound doesn’t exist anywhere in your native accent, so you’ll need to build it from scratch — which is completely normal and just takes a bit more deliberate practice.

Building the sound from scratch

Here’s the step-by-step version:

1. Stick your tongue tip out just slightly, so it touches the bottom edge of your top front teeth (not between your teeth like a cartoon — just barely visible).
2. Push air out gently between your tongue and teeth. You should hear a soft hiss, like a weak “s” with your tongue further forward. That’s voiceless TH — try it on “think.”
3. Now do the same tongue position but turn your voice on, so you feel a buzz instead of just air. That’s voiced TH — try it on “this.”
4. Practice in front of a mirror the first few times. If you can see a sliver of your tongue, you’re probably in the right place.

The three substitutes that give you away

Learners tend to replace TH with whatever sound is closest in their own accent. Knowing your default substitution helps you catch yourself:

• /s/ or /z/ — “think” → “sink,” “this” → “zis.” Common for Latin American Spanish speakers.
• /t/ or /d/ — “think” → “tink,” “this” → “dis.” Very common across many languages, including Spanish.
• /f/ or /v/ — “think” → “fink,” less common for Spanish speakers but worth knowing about.

None of these will stop someone understanding you — context usually fills in the gap — but they’re one of the easiest accent markers to clean up, because it’s really just one tongue position to learn.

Minimal pairs: hear the difference, then say it

Minimal pairs are word pairs that differ by exactly one sound. Say each pair out loud, slowly, and exaggerate the TH:

• think / sink
• thin / tin
• three / tree / free
• thank / tank
• this / dis / zis (only “this” is a real word — say all three to feel the contrast)
• with / wit
• breathe / breeze

A two-minute daily drill

Consistency beats intensity here. Try this for a week:

1. Say the voiceless and voiced TH in isolation, 10 times each, checking your tongue position.
2. Read the minimal pairs above out loud, twice through.
3. Pick one short sentence — “I think this is the third thing they thanked us for” — and repeat it five times, slower than feels natural, until the TH stops feeling strange.

Reading alone only gets you so far, though — TH is a muscle habit, and the fastest way to fix a muscle habit is to have someone notice the moment it slips and correct it on the spot, mid-conversation. That’s the kind of real-time feedback a native-speaking Parlazo teacher can give you in a normal 1-on-1 lesson, without you ever needing to think about pronunciation drills in isolation again. If you’re not sure where your English pronunciation currently stands, Parlazo’s free level test is a quick way to find out before you book your first class.