uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce explains in American English
uhk·SPLAYNZ
Start here
Americans pronounce explains as uhk-SPLAYNZ (/əkˈspleɪnz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She explains complex medical terms in simple language" or "Plate tectonics explains the movement of continents over time" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "explains" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "explains".
2 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "explains" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Plate tectonics explains the movement of continents over time."
PLAYT tehk·TAH·nuhks uhk·SPLAYNZ dhuh MOOV·muhnt uhv KAHN·tuh·nuhnts OH·ver TAHYM
"She explains complex medical terms in simple language."
shee uhk·SPLAYNZ KAHM·plehks MEH·duh·kuhl TURMZ uhn SIHM·puhl LANG·gwuhj
"The theory of evolution explains the diversity of species on Earth."
dhuh THEER·ee uhv eh·vuh·LOO·shuhn uhk·SPLAYNZ dhuh duh·VUR·suh·tee uhv SPEE·sheez ahn URTH
"The theory of the big bang explains the origin of the universe."
dhuh THEE·uh·ree uhv dhuh BIHG BANG uhk·SPLAYNZ dhee OR·uh·juhn uhv dhuh YOO·nuh·vurs
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch SPLAYNZ — keep everything else short and quick.
UHK·splaynz→uhk·SPLAYNZ
02
Pronouncing the first 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.
UHK·SPLAYNZ→uhk·SPLAYNZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "explains" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SPLAYNZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhk-SPLAYNZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "explains" 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 "uhk-SPLAYNZ" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "explains" 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 "uhk-SPLAYNZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "explains". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.