Tip box:

‘She works far away’.

When you listen to this sentence, you will hear that the /r/ in ‘works’ is not pronounced because there is no vowel after it, but in ‘far away’ the /r/ is pronounced because of the vowel in the word ‘away’. That’s how it works.

To summarise, there are two golden rules for your pronunciation of the /r/ sound:

1. Don’t pronounce /r/ before a consonant (medeklinker) or pause.

2. Do pronounce the /r/ if a vowel follows in the same word or following word.

 

From now on, try to pay attention to your r-colouring and the use of linking /r/ in fluent speech. To end this section, complete exercises 1.3, up to and including 1.6.