How to pronounce the NG in English

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In the process of learning English, it is very important to devote enough time to pronunciation, since in many cases, poor pronunciation or articulation of the language’s sounds can lead to difficulties or misunderstandings in communication. An effective strategy is to emphasize the specific sounds of the language in order to produce them correctly.

The consonant cluster NG has three pronunciation options in English. Unlike what happens in Spanish, the position of these two consonants in the word affects how we pronounce them. Below, ABA English teaches you the correct pronunciation and English words with NG.

English phonetics of NG

One of the most important things when studying the pronunciation of English sounds, including the phonetics of NG, is to know the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) because thanks to its symbols, you can interpret the correct pronunciation of English words. In this article, we will show you the three variants that the NG group has according to its position within the word, logically with the help of the IPA. The first is represented as /ŋ/, the second is represented with the symbols /ŋɡ/, and finally, the last with the symbols /dʒ/. How do they sound? Keep reading as we explain it below.
How to pronounce the NG in English

Phonetic transcription of English words with NG

Alright, so how is NG pronounced in English? In most cases, the NG group is at the end of words and its phonetic transcription is /ŋ/. In practice, this means that the final G of the word is not pronounced; thus ring, which means ring and is phonetically transcribed as /rɪŋ/, sounds like ‘rin’ in Spanish. In American English however, the G sound at the end is lightly pronounced, but very softly.

If instead the NG group is in the middle of the word, like in anger (/ˈæŋ·ɡər/), it is pronounced as it is read in Spanish ‘anger’. That is, both letters have sound.

Finally, if the word contains the sequence ‘nge(r)’, the NG group is pronounced as a voiced affricate phoneme, where the airflow is briefly stopped. This sound is represented as /dʒ/ and is one of the sounds that Spanish speakers struggle with a bit. Simply put, it sounds like ‘y’. Thus, ingenious (ingenioso), /ɪnˈdʒiː·ni·əs/, in Spanish sounds something like ‘inyinius’.

How to improve the pronunciation of NG in English

Improve your pronunciation of the NG group by practicing the words you have as examples in this article and adding going (departure), /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/; ingest (to ingest), /ɪnˈdʒest/; and finger (finger), /ˈfɪŋ·ɡər/, to expand your vocabulary.

Pay attention to the way native speakers pronounce these words. This will help you learn how each word should sound and the different sounds that exist in English. When you hear a word, try repeating it imitating the pronunciation of these speakers as closely as possible.

To finish, you can record yourself saying some words and then listen to your recording to see where corrections are needed. You can do this with our course exercises Listen-Record-Compare!

How to pronounce the NG in English

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