How to pronounce been in American English

IPA /bɪn/ Syllables 1 · bihn

bihn

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Americans pronounce been as bihn (/bɪn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "How long have you been waiting?" or "Have you ever been to New York City?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "been".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

b/b/

Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.

ih/ɪ/

Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "been" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"As discussed, the meeting has been moved to Thursday afternoon."

uhz duh·SKUHST dhuh MEE·duhng huhz bihn moovd tuh THURZ·day af·ter·NOON

"As you can see from this chart, our growth has been consistent."

uhz yoo kuhn SEE fruhm dhihs CHART ar GROHTH huhz bihn kuhn·SIH·stuhnt

"Campaign finance reform has been a contentious issue for decades."

kam·PAYN FAHY·nans ruh·FORM huhz bihn uh kuhn·TEHN·shuhs IH·shoo fer DEH·kaydz

"Consumer spending has been a key driver of economic growth."

kuhn·SOO·mer SPEHN·duhng huhz bihn uh KEE DRAHY·ver uhv eh·kuh·NAH·muhk GROHTH

"Have you been following the news about the upcoming elections?"

hav yoo bihn FAH·loh·uhng dhuh NOOZ uh·BOWT dhee UHP·kuh·muhng uh·LEHK·shuhnz

"Have you ever been to New York City?"

hav yoo EH·ver bihn tuh noo YORK SIH·dee

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "been" 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 "bihn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.