b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce birthday in American English
BURTH·day
Start here
Americans pronounce birthday as BURTH-day (/ˈbɜrθˌdeɪ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I heard your birthday is on Thursday" or "I can't believe you forgot my birthday" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "birthday".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "birthday" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I can't believe you forgot my birthday."
ahy KANT buh·LEEV yoo fer·GAHT mahy BURTH·day
"I heard your birthday is on Thursday."
ahy HURD yer BURTH·day ihz ahn THURZ·day
"I'm turning seventeen on my next birthday."
ahym TUR·nuhng seh·vuhn·TEEN ahn mahy nehkst BURTH·day
"My birthday is on the third Thursday of the month."
mahy BURTH·day ihz ahn dhuh thurd THURZ·day uhv dhuh muhnth
"She received a bouquet of tulips for her birthday."
shee ruh·SEEVD uh boo·KAY uhv TOO·luhps fer her BURTH·day
"Thank you for the wonderful birthday present."
THANGK yoo fer dhuh WUHN·der·fuhl BURTH·day PREH·zuhnt
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch BURTH — keep everything else short and quick.
burth·DAY→BURTH·DAY
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "birthday" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BURTH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BURTH-day" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "birthday"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "birthday" 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 "BURTH-day" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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