b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce because in American English
buh·KUHZ
Start here
Americans pronounce because as buh-KUHZ (/bəˈkʌz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Because of the rain, the roads are slick" or "These days are easy because of the breeze" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "because".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "because" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Because of the rain, the roads are slick."
buh·KUHZ uhv dhuh RAYN dhuh ROHDZ er SLIHK
"Because the flight was delayed, I missed my connection."
buh·KUHZ dhuh FLAHYT wuhz duh·LAYD ahy MIHST mahy kuh·NEHK·shuhn
"He drove carefully because the roads were slippery from the rain."
hee DROHV KAIR·fuh·lee buh·KUHZ dhuh ROHDZ wer SLIH·per·ee fruhm dhuh RAYN
"He grabbed a cart instead of a basket because we needed a lot."
hee GRABD uh KART uhn·STEHD uhv uh BA·skuht buh·KUHZ wee NEE·duhd uh LAHT
"He paused because he forgot what he was talking about."
hee PAHZD buh·KUHZ hee fer·GAHT wuht hee wuhz TAH·kuhng uh·BOWT
"He prefers audiobooks because he can listen while commuting."
hee pruh·FURZ AH·dee·oh·buuks buh·KUHZ hee kuhn LIH·suhn WAHYL kuh·MYOO·tuhng
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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 KUHZ — keep everything else short and quick.
BUH·kuhz→buh·KUHZ
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
BUH·KUHZ→buh·KUHZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "because" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "KUHZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "buh-KUHZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "because" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "buh-KUHZ" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "because" 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 "buh-KUHZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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