b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce bought in American English
BAHT
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Americans pronounce bought as BAHT (/bɔt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She bought a ball" or "She bought a new blue car" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "bought".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. 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.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "bought" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He bought a beautiful flower and a bag of flour."
hee BAHT uh BYOO·tuh·fuhl FLOW·er uhnd uh BAG uhv FLOW·er
"He bought a new baseball glove for the upcoming season."
hee BAHT uh noo BAYS·bahl GLUHV fer dhee UHP·kuh·muhng SEE·zuhn
"I bought a classic vinyl record at the music store."
ahy BAHT uh KLA·suhk VAHY·nuhl REH·kerd uht dhuh MYOO·zuhk STOR
"I bought a monthly pass for unlimited subway rides."
ahy BAHT uh MUHNTH·lee PAS fer uhn·LIH·muh·tuhd SUHB·way RAHYDZ
"I bought a small pot for the new office plant."
ahy BAHT uh SMAHL PAHT fer dhuh noo AH·fuhs PLANT
"I bought it on sale for fifty dollars."
ahy BAHT iht ahn SAYL fer FIHF·tee DAH·lerz
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "bought", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
bought→BAHT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "bought" 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 "BAHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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