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 forget in American English
fer·GEHT
Start here
Americans pronounce forget as fer-GEHT (/fərˈgɛt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Don't forget to lock the door" or "Don't forget to put on your sunglasses" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "forget".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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 "forget" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Before you leave, don't forget to turn off the lights."
buh·FOR yoo LEEV DOHNT fer·GEHT tuh TURN AHF dhuh LAHYTS
"Don't forget to lock the door."
DOHNT fer·GEHT tuh LAHK dhuh DOR
"Don't forget to put on your sunglasses."
DOHNT fer·GEHT tuh PUUT ahn yer SUHN·gla·suhz
"Don't forget to turn off the stove before you leave."
DOHNT fer·GEHT tuh TURN AHF dhuh STOHV buh·FOR yuh LEEV
"I always forget at least one item on my shopping list."
ahy AHL·wayz fer·GEHT uht LEEST wuhn AHY·duhm ahn mahy SHAH·puhng LIHST
"You didn't forget about our plans, did you?"
yoo DIH·duhnt fer·GEHT uh·BOWT owr PLANZ dihd 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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch GEHT — keep everything else short and quick.
FER·geht→fer·GEHT
02
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 "forget" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "GEHT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "fer-GEHT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "forget"?
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 "forget" 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 "fer-GEHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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