ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
How to pronounce alright in American English
ahl·RAHYT
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Americans pronounce alright as ahl-RAHYT (/ɔlˈraɪt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "alright".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch RAHYT — keep everything else short and quick.
AHL·rahyt→ahl·RAHYT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "alright" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "RAHYT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ahl-RAHYT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "alright" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "ahl-RAHYT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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