ch/tʃ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.
How to pronounce children in American English
CHIHL·druhn
Start here
Americans pronounce children as CHIHL-druhn (/ˈtʃɪldrən/). In "children", the "dr" cluster blends into a "jr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. This is called the DR Sounds Like JR, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as CHIHL·druhn. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The children were playing outside" or "The children are playing in the field" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "children".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
d/d/
PalatalizedTongue pulls back slightly from the D position, blending into R. Sounds close to 'jr'.
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.
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 "children" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Access to education is considered a basic right for all children."
AK·sehs tuh eh·juh·KAY·shuhn ihz kuhn·SIH·derd uh BAY·suhk RAHYT fer AHL CHIHL·druhn
"The children always complain about waking up for school."
dhuh CHIHL·druhn AHL·wayz kuhm·PLAYN uh·BOWT WAY·kuhng UHP fer SKOOL
"The children are playing in the field."
dhuh CHIHL·druhn er PLAY·uhng ihn dhuh FEELD
"The children were playing outside."
dhuh CHIHL·druhn wer PLAY·uhng OWT·sahyd
"The children were so excited about the birthday cake and decorations."
dhuh CHIHL·druhn wer SOH uhk·SAHY·duhd uh·BOWT dhuh BURTH·day KAYK and deh·kuh·RAY·shuhnz
"The custody battle over the children was emotionally draining."
dhuh KUH·stuh·dee BA·duhl OH·ver dhuh CHIHL·druhn wuhz ih·MOH·shuh·nuh·lee DRAY·nuhng
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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
Saying a clean "dr" instead of a "j" sound.
In "children", the "dr" cluster blends into a "jr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /d/ shifts toward /dʒ/ ("j"), so DR sounds like "jr".
CHIHL-druhn→CHIHL·druhn
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "children" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
children→CHIHL·druhn
03
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "children", 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.
children→CHIHL·druhn
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch CHIHL — keep everything else short and quick.
chihl·DRUHN→CHIHL·druhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "children" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "CHIHL" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "CHIHL-druhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "children" 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 "CHIHL-druhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "children" 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 "CHIHL-druhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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