How to pronounce ''Thr'' quickly?

Native speaker. Played with it a little in my mouth just now to confirm. When I do it, I don't actually make the usual English R, but a super-fast version of the Spanish R. Barely tap it. The same sound as the double T in "butter."

I think most native speakers soften the "T" sound into something in between a T and a D. So it sounds like "Thir-dee-three". That might be easier to do

Your tongue should hit the back of your teeth like a normal dental and then flick up. It sounds gross, but when I do it very slowly, it's almost like I'm licking the back of my teeth. When it's sped up it's just a light touch and flick up and back.

Native speakers definitely do it and don’t think about it. I can do it fine but my best suggestion for you would just be to pronounce thr- words over and over again.

"thirty three" in my mouth feels a lot like "thuddy th'dy" if that makes sense

Most native speakers don’t pronounce it thuh-ree or thu-roo. It’s almost more like dropping the tongue back from the th into the ee so the “r” is pretty soft.

It really just comes down to practice. Native speakers don't have special tricks, we've just done it many thousands of times and have cemented the motor plan in our brains.

I would look into rhotic vowels and see if that helps you at all. The vowel sound in "thirty" for me is rhotacized, so I don't really pronounce a separate r sound there.

The best way I can explain it right now (native speaker) is you throw the breath over the tongue for the *th* sound and that momentum carries into the tongue in a breathy, percussive *r* sound. It may even be that the tongue is spring-loaded against the mouth somehow. My tongue almost feels like it performs a wave motion as it transitions.

If you're comfortable with the word "earth," slowly say that word then, without stopping, try to exactly reverse the motion of your tongue. Keep practicing this until the reverse is comfortable, then practice doing it faster.

When I’m counting quickly under my breath , I might say, “one two *thee* four…”, but I have no problem with “thirty-three”.

You pronounce the hard \[Thr\] sound by putting the tip of your tongue against bottom of your upper teeth and the secret sauce that we take for granted but isn't apparent to people who grew up not using this sound is that sounding it is half breath and half pushing air out of your mouth by raising the back of your tongue and pushing it out. The sound is formed by your throat muscles as much as your mouth. To put the R in it you have to start by pinching the sides of your mouth together and spread them as you make the rest of the sound. You also have to raise the back of the tongue closer to the back of the soft palate than you do with the soft Th sound to complete the R sound. You just have to practice the timing of it. It's like operating a manual clutch. There's a sweet spot where performing these muscle movements and pushing air out work together. It sounds complicated to describe because it actually is a rather complicated set of movements in concert that we simply don't realize we're doing if we don't think about it. It's not shameful to have trouble at it, it's tricky. But my experience seeing others learn the language is that once you get it it clicks immediately, like the moment you realize you can ride a bike.

When I say thirty three my lips don't really move? My tongue moves from the front of my mouth for the t & th to the middle of my soft palate for the r.

The “th” is done quite fast. Not quite, but almost as fast as saying the first T of “tut”. Though you don’t really need to do it that fast, work your way up.

Native speakers generally don't even think about how they're producing sounds. I think you should just practice until you get it.

I would recommend checking out speech therapy videos and techniques. There are plenty of native speakers who had this problem as children (and maybe even struggle as adults). For me, I couldn’t pronounce our “R” and I had a soft lisp too when I got nervous. I was enrolled in speech therapy and it hasn’t been an issue since. https://speechtherapytalk.com/articulation-therapy/blends-speech-therapy/ A drill could be separating the word into two words with introductory sounds, recite it many times alternating each word, then blending later when the movement seems natural. For example: Thee Tree Thee Tree —- Thee Ree Thee Ree Thee Ree —— Three Thee Ree Thee Ree Three Drill over and over. Also the speech therapy search might also show videos of how the tongue is positioned through the sound. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9xTZHPZeMi8 Also, sorry this so long. As a native (USA) speaker we have an accent where sometimes that final T is pronounced softly like a D. Like I say “ thirdy three “. Which perhaps some people might find less “refined”. But in my region we do not over stress the sharpness of the second T in thirty.

To me the positions flow pretty well. You have your tongue behind your front teeth to say “th”, then you kinda slurp the tongue back out of that spot to a more neutral at the same time you push your bottom lip to your teeth to make the “r”. It kinda feels like a tongue flick I guess, or the other comment saying it’s like licking your teeth.

Saying "thr-", my tongue goes from having its tip between teeth for the "th", and then just pulls back then just pulls back the tongue for the "r". Throughout the process, the sides of the top of my tongue are touching my upper molars. Upon some checking, it would appear I'm doing bunched/back R. Honestly though, this is a bit confusing for me to try to analyze.

The way to physically do it is basically start with your tongue under your teeth aspirating then flick it back into the “r” position in one motion and start vocalizing. It’s one motion with your tongue

Englishmen might do the TH-fronting, meaning it becomes "thirty free"

For me, for th my tongue is touching the back of the front teeth (not fully between my top and bottom teeth) and for the r the middle of my tongue is curved up to touch the middle of my mouth (not further towards the back, like in 'race'). So both sounds (moreso the th than the r) are moved towards the middle of the mouth than where the sort of 'definition' place is for them (if that makes sense

I feel most people end up pronouncing it as "thirdy three" which might be a little easier.

I always pronounce R with my lips in an asymmetrical position. This is non-standard, but it works, at least for me, [David Koechner](https://youtu.be/4H55p859czs?si=bM-eaeEFD40Xr6EX), and a minority of others. Starting with the vowel sound, I then pull my bottom lip to the left, and this drags the right side of my bottom lip close enough to my teeth to produce the R sound. To me, this feels like a much, much easier movement for my lips to make than pronouncing R from the middle. To pronounce R from the middle, the “normal” way, I’d have to stick my bottom lip way forward using my whole jaw, then carefully curl it in.

I would like to just quickly say (as a native english speaker) that it’s entirely possible to pronounce “r” without moving your lips. To make an english r sound, you just expand your tongue on the sides (increase the turgidity? Flex your tongue? I’ve definitely seen someone describe this better than I am now) to where your tongue should be pressed slightly up against your middle/back teeth, around the second premolar-second molar area. The tip of your tongue should be slightly lowered. Imagine your tongue forming the shape of an upside-down pringles chip. If you’re having difficulty with this transition, try pronouncing your Ts with your tongue already touching those molars, and then quickly retract the tip of your tongue backwards and down a bit. When I do it, it feels like a 45° angle. As a native speaker, it’s a simple movement, but if you’re having difficulty, Just practice this movement over a few weeks and it should feel much more natural. —— Regarding lips, when I say thirty-three, I keep my lips in a neutral position for “thirty”, then purse them slightly to emphasize the r sound a bit more on “three”. Good luck :)

A lot of native English speakers just use a T or an F instead of TH if that's something you want to consider.

The difference between "T" in English and "T" in many other languages is that they are really not the same especially when combined with "H". In Finnish, Swedish, Spanish and some English words such as "today", "tv", "tiger" etc. "T" is hard. You place your tongue behind your teeth on the top of your mouth and block the air before releasing it. It feels like saying "D" but more to front. In English words such as "that", "this", "theme", "moth", "brother", the "T" is soft. You put your relaxed tongue a little bit out between your teeth. You don't block the air - you let the air through and it will sound like air coming out of wheel or air mattress. Similarly, "R" is soft. You don't roll it like in Finnish, Swedish, Spanish etc. When you say "THRee", you start from the soft "T" and just pull your tongue in. Keep the tip of your tongue close to your teeth and the top of your mouth. The first three letters will blend into one mess that sounds right.😅

My tongue moves from just above my front teeth to just behind the tips of my front teeth.

I'm wondering if you're overpronouncing the "R." I now feel like an idiot for saying "thirty three" so many times, but my tongue barely moves from between my top and bottom teeth to behind my bottom teeth for the "thir" then just a kiss of my hard palate for the "ty." The "t" there is abbreviated and almost like a "d." From there, it is still in the front of my mouth for the "three."

from what i know, the english r alone is really hard for non native speakers to pronounce because our r sound is fucking weird. without knowing exactly what ur struggling with, i guess that part of it is the r itself. if its not the r and is truly just the switch between the two, i imagine it just takes practice saying those words. as a native speaker (with me literally sounding it out myself to find the specifics of how it’s pronounced), i dont find anything initially difficult outside of not being familiar with the sound combo. my best guess is to slowly practice pronouncing the combo until it becomes more familiar. small thing i did notice is that when i pronounce it, i find that my mouth tends to move before my tongue leaves my teeth (from the th sound), so that might be part of it.

For 33 specifically, try saying "thirdy three." This is how u I pronounce it naturally, and I agree that thirTy three is hard to quickly get to all tongue positions.

I do the full movement I guess you just kinda have to get used to it I noticed the tongue jumps off the teeth awfully quickly for me

I tried it out and it generally does take longer to say thirty three then the remaining part of the sentence. Unless the way you're saying it is like 3x slower, it probably is fine tbh