When does the English S sound like a Z?
In words such as 'reason' and 'easy', the S is pronunced like a Z.
Is there any rules to know how this works?
3 Answers
The English S often sounds like a Z between 2 vowels or at the end of a word if it follows a vowel:
reason, season, easy, busy, fuse, is, was, has, lose
But that's not always true:
loose, goose, moose, house, louse, blouse
English spelling and pronunciation are not very closely related. Even native English speakers have a hard time if they've never heard the word. You just have to memorize it in most cases.
In some cases, having a 's' sound or a 'z' sound can change the meaning.
Like KevinB gave the example of 'house'. If you pronounce house with an 's' sound, then it's a noun.
But if you pronounce it with a 'z' sound then it becomes the verb 'house' (sounds like 'houze') which means to keep in a house, or to give someone a place to stay, or intransitively as to live or stay (in a house or dwelling)
Some times, the pronunciation in the verb can change its meaning a little.
For example, when 'has' is pronunced like 'hazz' it's part of the perfect tense or the verb 'to have' as in, "He has done that" or "He has it" But when you use it as "He has to do that" the pronunciation changes to 'hass'. Similarly, when 'have' is used in the same meaning as the previous example, it takes on the pronunciation of 'haff'.
I hope I'm not confusing you more.
in certain word was classes reason easy is greetings any of them are fine but the best is easy souns like its spelled like ez but its not like totally!!!!!!
