/d/ is a voiced plosive consonant and that means that there is a lot of energy behind the sound.
The /d/ sound is produced by bringing the tip of your tongue to your gum ridge and releasing it like this /d/.
One of the most common challenges with this sound is a lack of muscularity,...
...so you lose the energy of the /d/ or a devoicing of the sound so that it sounds like a /t/ rather than a /d/.
So listen to the difference when I pronounce a few word pairs:...
Add, At.
Bad, Bat.
Planned, Plant.
Also, the /d/ is a voiced sound, so you need to make sure that you carry your voice through the articulation of the sound.
Okay, so let's practice.
Here is one of my favorite ways to energize the /d/ sound and this will also help with the /t/ sound.
First, put on your boxing gloves.
And think of the explosive action of the /d/ as an uppercut.
It's exactly mirroring what your tongue is doing in your mouth.
Let's try it together.
/t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/.
That's the voiceless.
/d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /d/.
That's the voiced.
And let's put them together.
/t/, /t/, /t/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /d/, /d/, /d/, /t/, /t/, /t/, /d/, /d/, /d/.
Alright, now we're gonna try a few sentences together, comparing /d/ and /t/.
I don't want to wade.
I don't want to wait.
She bought a card.
She bought a cart.
She made her bed.
She made her bet.
Try this out on EnglishCentral and good luck!