IPA reference · consonant
ʔ — glottal stop
The vocal folds themselves close and release — the catch in the middle of "uh-oh".
Also called: glottal plosive, hamza, catch
How to make the glottal stop
Hold your breath by closing your throat, then release. It is a consonant made with no tongue or lip involvement at all.
English reference points: uh-oh, British "bottle" (in some accents). If you speak English natively you already produce this sound — the work is recognising it and placing it where the target language wants it.
Languages that use it
| Language | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | أمل | hope |
| German | Theater | theatre |
| Indonesian | tidak | no |
Sounds it gets confused with
Most pronunciation errors are not random — they are a substitution of the nearest sound the speaker already owns. These are the usual substitutions for ʔ, and each one is a minimal-pair drill waiting to happen.
Both are glottal, but /h/ is friction and /ʔ/ is a complete closure.
What this means for learners
German requires it before every word-initial vowel; missing it makes words run together and is one of the clearest markers of a foreign accent.
Teaching this sound
Describing a sound in words gets a student roughly half the way there. The other half is hearing it produced correctly, immediately after producing it incorrectly, with both versions available to replay. That is the argument for recording during the lesson rather than after it: the student leaves with your model of ʔ attached to the actual words they got wrong, not to an abstract chart.
Frequently asked questions
What sound does the IPA symbol ʔ make?
ʔ is the glottal stop. The vocal folds themselves close and release — the catch in the middle of "uh-oh". In English you can hear it in: uh-oh, British "bottle" (in some accents).
How do you pronounce ʔ?
Hold your breath by closing your throat, then release. It is a consonant made with no tongue or lip involvement at all.
Which languages have the glottal stop?
Among the languages covered here: Arabic (أمل, “hope”); German (Theater, “theatre”); Indonesian (tidak, “no”).
What is the difference between ʔ and h?
Both are glottal, but /h/ is friction and /ʔ/ is a complete closure.