PRONUNCIATION OF NUMBERS. CONFUSING WORDS

I see a lot of students who have been speaking for a number of years and

still mispronouncing the numbers. The typical pronunciation mistakes are
related to the pronunciation of the difficult sound created by the combination of
two letters: th. There are two ways of pronouncing it, voiced and voiceless, and
today we will be talking about the voiceless variation [ θ ].
This sound does not exist in some languages and that is the main source of
difficulty imitating it. That does not mean, however, it cannot be done with a little
guidance. Put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth, don’t stick it out
any farther and don’t pull it back, keep it just between the teeth to be able to
touch your index finger next to your lips. Remember this position of your tongue
every time you need to make this sound, even after the finger in not touching
your lips anymore.

Put your tongue between your teeth

Put your finger in front of your mouth

• So, the first number which is commonly mispronounced due to the difficulty
  of the [ θ ] sound is:

a) 3, three [ θri: ] . It is commonly confused with two other words:
b) tree [tri:] 

c) free [fri:] , as in “free as a bird”

• Next, 13 versus 30, and 14 versus 40, as well as 13 versus 14 is a source of
  constant confusion for many learners of English. To rectify this mix-up let’s
  look at the two groups of numbers:

1) The first group of numbers from 13 to 19 has a stress on the second syllable,
on the suffix teen, that is why we call adolescents from 13 to 19 teenagers

13 = thir’teen [ θɜ: ( r ) ‘ti:n ]
14 = four’teen [ fɔ: ( r ) ‘ti:n ]
15 = fif’teen [ fif ‘ti:n ]
16 = six’teen [ six ‘ti:n ]
17 = seven’teen [ seven‘ti:n ]
18 = eight’teen [eit‘ti:n ]
19 = nine’teen [nain‘ti:n ]

2) The second group of numbers is from 20 to 90 are stressed on the first
syllable , the ending of these words is reduced and pronounced as [ti]
20 = ‘twenty [‘twen ti]
30 = ‘thirty [‘θɜ:( r) ti]
40 = ‘forty [‘fɔ: (r) ti]
50 = ‘fifty [‘fif ti]
60 = ‘sixty [‘siks ti]
70 = ‘seventy [‘sevn ti]
80 = ‘eighty [‘ei ti]
90 = ‘ninety [’naɪn ti]

So now let’s take a look at:
a) 13 = thir’teen [ θɜ: ( r ) ‘ti:n ] versus 30 = ‘thirty [‘θɜ:( r) ti]
13 – the stress is on the second syllable, the ending of the word is
pronounced clearly with the long [ i: ]sound
30 – the stress is on the first syllable; the ending of the word is weak and
pronounced with short [ i ] sound.

b) 14 = four’teen [ fo: ( r )‘ti:n ] versus 40 = ‘forty [‘fɔ: (r) ti]

14 -the stress is on the second syllable, the ending of the word is
pronounced clearly with the long [ i: ]

40 – the stress is on the first syllable; the ending of the word is weak and
pronounced with short [ i ] sound.

c) and finally let’s look at confusing 13 versus 14
thir’teen [ θɜ: ( r ) ‘ti:n ]
four’teen [ fɔ: ( r ) ‘ti:n ]

the difference is in the first syllable of the words [θɜ: ( r ) ] versus [ fɔ: ( r )