Alveolar consonants are consonant sounds that are produced with the tongue close to or touching the ridge behind the teeth on the roof of the mouth. The name comes from alveoli - the sockets of the teeth.

Example
The consonant sounds /t/, /n/ and /d/ are all alveolar consonants.

In the classroom
Alveolar consonants exist in many languages, including Spanish, Italian, French and German. Learners can practise these in minimal pairs such as ‘tent' and ‘dent'.