S sound vs Z sound

Yeah it's pretty easy to tell, since one is unvoiced and the other is voiced.

It's very clear, the Z makes a buzzing sound.

I don’t think I would notice this difference, or it would just sound like a subtle accent that definitely would not impact intelligibility. (Also I can’t actually say drinks with a z sound without it sounding super forced so having trouble imagining what it sounds like). I’d more likely notice if someone was saying s instead of z in something like “dresses” but again no impact on intelligibility. 

I'm trying to say "drinkz" with a z sound and I don't think I physically can.

Z is the sound bugs make. If you were to imitate the sound of a bug flying (bu**zz**ing) around that's the sound a Z makes. If you said drinkz instead of drinks you would start getting very odd looks. Its extremely noticable.

Yes, you can definitely tell the difference. However, since drinkZ is not a real word people will just assume that it is your accent

In this situation we use s vs z based on the sound before the s. Same rules as with plural s vs z sounds. Because of this it sounds really wrong (to me) when someone messes them up. As other people have commented, I have to work hard to get my mouth to move correctly to mess it up. If you mess it up, people will still mostly understand what you're saying, but depending on how fluent and fast your speech is, it might be pretty distracting to hear.

Yes we can. In fact there are words that we can’t even say with The other sound. Ex: words (w/ z ) vs words (w/ s) One is normal the other is impossible for me to say.

Can you even say "drinkz"? In almost all cases the S/Z endings are simply whichever flows more easily from the preceding sound. I don't think you need to worry about this too much, because it's actually harder to get it wrong.

I'm not sure that I understand because, using your example, 'drinks' is only ever pronounced one way, so it's not like we would ever hear it pronounced as 'drinkz' to be able to hear a difference. In fact, pronouncing it with a Z sound would be very difficult since the K sound that it comes after is unvoiced. Another verb that might make the difference clearer is 'follows' since that is pronounced with a Z sound and would sound strange to a native if pronounced with an S sound. On another note, I'll assume your native language is Chinese based on your post history, so this is probably a difficult distinction for you since Mandarin does not have it. (Some Chinese languages like Shanghainese do have voiced obstruents, however) So this will likely just take you a lot of ear training to pick up on, similar to how English speakers usually struggle with Chinese tones, since we don't have them

I'm an Vietnamese ESL teacher, and a lot of my students can actually physically pronounce /s/ for "s" even after voiced word endings. For example: words /s/, songs /s/, etc. Some of them can make the /z/ sound just by itself, but when it comes to having conjugation and plural in a sentence, EVERYTHING becomes /s/ for them.

The S sound sounds like hissing, it's air escaping the mouth between the teeth. The Z sound sounds like buzzing, it's vibration coming from the teeth when closed.

As a learner, it's extremely difficult to tell the difference even if I know the rule. They sound almost the same to me.

It's very easy to tell, yeah. Both sounds are articulated in exactly the same way, but the fact that for one of those sounds your vocal folds vibrate and for the other they don't makes it really obvious what sound people are trying to make

As others have said, it is very difficult and unnatural to place a voiced "z" sound after an unvoiced consonant, and anyone who did anything so strange would have made a deliberate effort to do so - which means that if anyone did this (and no one would...), then YES, it would be easy to hear. Note, however, that an unvoiced "s" follows unvoiced consonants, and a voiced "z" follows voiced consonants. Thus, "tacks" (with the unvoiced K sound) ends with an unvoiced "S", while "tags" (with the voiced G sound) ends with a voiced "Z". In the same way, "kids" (with the voiced D sound) ends with a voiced "Z", while "kits" (with the unvoiced T sound) ends with an unvoiced "S." This is true with any pair of voiced/unvoiced consonants, such as cubs/cups, or luffs/loves, etc.

Yes, because Z is voiced and S is not.

Yes. A general rule is that the “s” at the end of verbs is pronounced like a “z” when it follows a voiced consonant (b, d, g, etc.) or a vowel, and it gets pronounced as an “s” when it follows a voiceless consonant (p, t, k, etc) “loves” for example is pronounced like “luvz” because v is voiced, but “bluffs” is pronounced like “blufs” because f is voiceless

Yes, my name is Liz and I get called Lease a lot by people without strong Zs in their languages. Very very noticeable.

That’s something of a nonsense example. There’s no word “drinkz” that we need to distinguish from “drinks.” A better example is “rinks,” but we should contrast it with “rings.” The difference between /s/ and /z/ is voicing. The are both alveolar sibilants, but /s/ is voiceless; /z/ is voiced. In reality clusters of consonants are usually all voiced or voiceless together even if this isn’t reflected in spelling. So the “s” in “rinks” is realized as /s/ whereas that in “rings” as /z/. If you deliberately mess this up, probably listeners will hear the other word!

Goes sounds like gohz. Goes pronounced with an s sound sounds like you forgot to add the t to ghost.

Oh man, I totally feel you on this! 😅 The S vs Z thing at the ends of words is *so* subtle. I used to mix them up all the time until my tutor pointed it out now I’m hyper-aware of it, lol. For your example, *"drinks"* (with an S sound) would actually sound kinda harsh/forced if a native speaker said it that way. The Z sound is softer, like a tiny buzz? It’s easier to hear in words like *"loves"* (z) vs *"fights"* (s). But yeah, in fast speech, even I miss it sometimes. A tip that helped me: try whispering the word. If it’s *supposed* to be a Z, it’ll sound like an S when whispered (since Z needs vocal cords). Mind-blowing, right? 🤯

It's like the difference between mace and maze. It's pretty noticeable.