k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce coffee in American English
KAH·fee
Start here
Americans pronounce coffee as KAH-fee (/ˈkɔfi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Let's grab coffee" or "The coffee is very hot" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "coffee".
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.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "coffee" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Are you available to meet for coffee sometime this weekend?"
ar yoo uh·VAY·luh·buhl tuh MEET fer KAH·fee SUHM·tahym dhihs WEE·kehnd
"Can you get me a cup of coffee?"
kuhn yuh GEHT mee uh KUHP uhv KAH·fee
"Can you stop at the coffee shop on the block?"
kuhn yoo STAHP uht dhuh KAH·fee SHAHP ahn dhuh BLAHK
"He likes cream and sugar in his coffee."
hee LAHYKS kreem and SHUU·ger ihn hihz KAH·fee
"I accidentally spilled coffee on my keyboard."
ahy a·ksuh·DEHN·tuh·lee SPIHLD KAH·fee ahn mahy KEE·bord
"I feel groggy until I have had my first cup of coffee."
ahy FEEL GRAH·gee uhn·TIHL ahy huhv had mahy FURST KUHP uhv KAH·fee
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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 KAH — keep everything else short and quick.
kah·FEE→KAH·fee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "coffee" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KAH-fee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "coffee" 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 "KAH-fee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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