k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce customers in American English
KUH·stuh·merz
Start here
Americans pronounce customers as KUH-stuh-merz (/ˈkʌstəmərz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The company faced class action litigation from dissatisfied customers".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "customers".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
SyllabicThe schwa before M disappears — M becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to M.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "customers" in the wild.
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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 KUH — keep everything else short and quick.
kuh·STUH·MERZ→KUH·stuh·merz
02
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.
KUH·STUH·merz→KUH·stuh·merz
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "customers" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KUH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KUH-stuh-merz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "customers" 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 "KUH-stuh-merz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "customers"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "customers" 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 "KUH-stuh-merz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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