Voiced and unvoiced S

Question

I consider myself fairly fluent in English, both written and spoken. But when it comes to pronunciation, there is one thing that always makes me hesitate. How do you know wether an S should be voiced or unvoiced? Are there any simple rules for this, or is it just a matter of learning word by word?

In my native language (Swedish) we have almost no voiced S:es, which might make this harder for me (maybe I don't think of the difference when I hear words being pronounced by native English speakers).

Thank you.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

There are some rules. These apply to the final plural s and the third person singular s in verbs.
The s is voiced after a voiced sound. All vowels are voiced and also b, d, l, m, n, v.

He dreams about it every day. [ z]
His dreams are incredible. [ z]

He calls me every day. [ z]
He likes rosebuds. [ z]
I have two watches. [ z]

___
He knocks on my door daily. [ s]
I hate cats. [ s]

In many native speakers' speech these voiced s's are not very clearly voiced at all. There are regional and dialectal differences. Common words that are supposed to have a voiced s are: is, was, as, has but not all natives pronounce them that way.

If an s occurs after the first syllable and the stress falls on it, the s is often voiced: position, acquisition.

CB

Voiced and unvoiced S

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