b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce broken in American English
BROH·kuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce broken as BROH-kuhn (/ˈbroʊkən/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Let's try to fix this broken screen" or "Many men tried to fix the broken fan" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "broken".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "broken" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Bringing bread breaks the broken bridge."
BRIHNG·uhng BREHD BRAYKS dhuh BROH·kuhn BRIHJ
"Don't vote for the bloke with the broken nose."
DOHNT VOHT fer dhuh BLOHK wihth dhuh BROH·kuhn NOHZ
"I need to replace the broken window pane before winter arrives."
ahy NEED tuh ruh·PLAYS dhuh BROH·kuhn WIHN·doh PAYN buh·FOR WIHN·ter uh·RAHYVZ
"Let's try to fix this broken screen."
LEHTS TRAHY tuh FIHKS dhihs BROH·kuhn SKREEN
"Many men tried to fix the broken fan."
MEH·nee MEHN TRAHYD tuh FIHKS dhuh BROH·kuhn FAN
"The traffic light was broken, causing confusion at the intersection."
dhuh TRA·fuhk LAHYT wuhz BROH·kuhn KAH·zuhng kuhn·FYOO·zhuhn uht dhee ihn·ter·SEHK·shuhn
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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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "broken", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
broken→BROH·kuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch BROH — keep everything else short and quick.
broh·KUHN→BROH·kuhn
03
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
BROH·KUHN→BROH·kuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "broken" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BROH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BROH-kuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "broken" 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 "BROH-kuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "broken" 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 "BROH-kuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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