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 forty in American English
FOR·tee
Start here
Americans pronounce forty as FOR-tee (/ˈfɔrɾi/). In "forty", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as FOR·tee. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Can you set a timer for forty-five minutes?" or "We need to drive forty miles, not fourteen" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "forty".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
or/ɔr/
Start with the 'aw' jaw drop and rounded lips. Pull the tongue back and up while keeping the lips rounded for the R.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "forty" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Can you set a timer for forty-five minutes?"
kuhn yoo SEHT uh TAHY·mer fer FOR·dee FAHYV MIH·nuhts
"The casserole needs to bake for forty-five minutes until bubbly."
dhuh KA·suh·rohl NEEDZ tuh BAYK fer FOR·dee FAHYV MIH·nuhts uhn·TIHL BUH·blee
"The final exam is worth forty percent of the overall grade."
dhuh FAHY·nuhl uhg·ZAM ihz WURTH FOR·dee per·SEHNT uhv dhee oh·vuh·AHL GRAYD
"The speed limit here is forty miles per hour."
dhuh SPEED LIH·muht HEER ihz FOR·dee MAHYLZ per OW·er
"The treaty was signed by representatives from forty nations."
dhuh TREE·dee wuhz SAHYND bahy reh·pruh·ZEHN·tuh·tuhvz fruhm FOR·dee NAY·shuhnz
"We need to drive forty miles, not fourteen."
wee NEED tuh DRAHYV FOR·dee MAHYLZ NAHT for·TEEN
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "forty", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
FOR-tee→FOR·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch FOR — keep everything else short and quick.
for·TEE→FOR·tee
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 "forty" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "FOR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "FOR-tee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "forty"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "forty" sounds closer to "FOR-tee" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
How do I pronounce the R in "forty"?
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 "forty" 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 "FOR-tee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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