b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce borrow in American English
BAH·roh
Start here
Americans pronounce borrow as BAH-roh (/ˈbɑroʊ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Could I possibly borrow a pen?".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "borrow".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
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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 BAH — keep everything else short and quick.
bah·ROH→BAH·roh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "borrow" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BAH-roh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "borrow" 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 "BAH-roh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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