f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
How to pronounce finished in American English
FIH·nuhsht
Start here
Americans pronounce finished as FIH-nuhsht (/ˈfɪnəʃt/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I just finished reading a great book" or "He finished six hard tasks at his desk" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "finished".
2 syllables, 6 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.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without 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.
In real conversation
Hear "finished" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He finished six hard tasks at his desk."
hee FIH·nuhsht SIHKS HARD TASKS uht hihz DEHSK
"I barely finished the essay section before time was called."
ahy BAIR·lee FIH·nuhsht dhee EH·say SEHK·shuhn buh·FOR TAHYM wuhz KAHLD
"I just finished reading a great book."
ahy juhst FIH·nuhsht REE·duhng uh GRAYT BUUK
"Remember to log out when you're finished."
ruh·MEHM·ber tuh LAHG OWT wehn yer FIH·nuhsht
"We couldn't have finished without your help."
wee KUU·duhnt uhv FIH·nuhsht wuh·DHOWT yer HEHLP
"You've finished the report, haven't you?"
yoov FIH·nuhsht dhuh ruh·PORT HA·vuhnt yoo
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "finished", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
finished→FIH·nuhsht
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch FIH — keep everything else short and quick.
fih·NUHSHT→FIH·nuhsht
03
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.
FIH·NUHSHT→FIH·nuhsht
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "finished" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "FIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "FIH-nuhsht" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "finished" 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 "FIH-nuhsht" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "finished" 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 "FIH-nuhsht" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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