Many learners learned English from American films and songs, where water sounds like WAH-der and better like BED-er. Others come from languages where T is soft and has no puff of air, so tea can sound like dee. In modern Standard British, T between vowels is a clear, crisp T, and T at the start of a stressed syllable has a small puff of air. In this episode: • The clear t between vowels • The puff of air • No puff after s • When t is silent or joins the next sound • Listening lab: breakfast • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: water (WAW-tuh) — Can I have some water, please? (polite) better (BET-uh) — Are you feeling better? city (SIT-ee) — We're going into the city. butter (BUT-uh) — Put the butter back in the fridge. bottle (BOT-ul) — a bottle of milk little (LIT-ul) — a little bit Saturday (SAT-uh-day) — See you on Saturday. getting (GET-ing) — It's getting late. a lot of (uh LOT uv) — a lot of washing get up (get UP) — Time to get up! tea (TEE) — Fancy a cup of tea? (casual) two (TOO) — two sugars, please today (tuh-DAY) — the T starts a weak syllable, so its puff is smaller tomorrow (tuh-MOR-oh) — See you tomorrow. table (TAY-bul) — Lay the table, please. time (TAIM) — What time is it? towel (TOW-ul) — Where's my towel? toast (TOHST) — Toast's ready! stop (STOP) — Stop that, please. stay (STAY) — Stay there! street (STREET) — the next street stairs (STEHZ) — Don't leave your bag on the stairs. stick (STIK) — a sticky table listen (LIS-un) — Listen to this! castle (KAH-sul) — a sandcastle on the beach whistle (WIS-ul) — the kettle's whistle Real British English: the complete spoken course for learners worldwide — modern British accent, everyday grammar, phrasal verbs, idioms, slang, he/she/it for things, and real conversations at home. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.