The Vowel Sound /ʊ/ (o corta)

The /ʊ/: the short, relaxed American u

The /ʊ/ is a brief, rounded, loose vowel. It's the short sibling of /u/, and the difference between the two changes the meaning of plenty of words. Spanish has nothing this relaxed — our u always comes out tense.

How it's made

• 👄 Mouth: half open, lips barely rounded and free of tension.
• 👅 Tongue: back and high, but not all the way up.
• 🔊 Voice: voiced and very short — in and straight back out.

You hear it in: book · look · foot · good · put

⚠️ The typical Spanish-speaker mistake: stretching it into a /u/, so foot comes out as food and pull as pool.

By the end you'll be able to: produce a short /ʊ/ and keep pairs like foot / food and full / fool apart.