How to pronounce few in American English

IPA /fju/ Syllables 1 · fyoo Stress 1st syllable

FYOO

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Americans pronounce few as FYOO (/fju/). You'll hear it in sentences like "A few huge cubes" or "I need to pick up a few items" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "few".

1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

f/f/

Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.

yoo/ju/

Start with the tongue mid-front raised high, almost touching the roof of the mouth (but not touching). Glide into a tight lip circle as the tongue back lifts.

In real conversation

Hear "few" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"A few huge cubes."

uh FYOO HYOOJ KYOOBZ

"Few knew the user of the computer."

FYOO NOO dhuh YOO·zer uhv dhuh kuhm·PYOO·der

"I have been feeling under the weather for the past few days."

ahy hav bihn FEE·luhng UHN·der dhuh WEH·dher fer dhuh PAST FYOO DAYZ

"I need to pick up a few items."

ahy NEED tuh PIHK UHP uh FYOO AHY·duhmz

"I usually read a few chapters before going to sleep at night."

ahy YOO·zhoo·uh·lee REED uh FYOO CHAP·terz buh·FOR GOH·uhng tuh SLEEP uht NAHYT

"I'll call you back in a few minutes."

ahyl KAHL yuh BAK ihn uh FYOO MIH·nuhts

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "few" 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 "FYOO" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.