b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce brought in American English
BRAHT
Start here
Americans pronounce brought as BRAHT (/brɔt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Bob brought a bunch of balloons for the baby" or "The k-9 unit was brought in to search for drugs" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "brought".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. 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.
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 "brought" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Bob brought a bunch of balloons for the baby."
BAHB BRAHT uh BUHNCH uhv buh·LOONZ fer dhuh BAY·bee
"She brought up several important issues that had been overlooked."
shee BRAHT UHP SEH·ver·uhl uhm·POR·tuhnt IH·shooz dhuht huhd bihn oh·ver·LUUKT
"The ceremony was deeply moving and brought tears to many eyes."
dhuh SEH·ruh·moh·nee wuhz DEE·plee MOO·vuhng and BRAHT TEERZ tuh MEH·nee AHYZ
"The k-9 unit was brought in to search for drugs."
dhuh KAY NAHYN YOO·nuht wuhz BRAHT ihn tuh SURCH fer DRUHGZ
"The main suspect was brought in for questioning."
dhuh MAYN SUH·spehkt wuhz BRAHT ihn fer KWEHS·chuh·nuhng
"The summit brought together leaders from around the world."
dhuh SUH·muht BRAHT tuh·GEH·dher LEE·derz fruhm uh·ROWND dhuh WURLD
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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 "brought", 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.
brought→BRAHT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "brought" 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 "BRAHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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