How to pronounce gets in American English

IPA /ɡɛts/ Syllables 1 · gehts Stress 1st syllable

GEHTS

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Americans pronounce gets as GEHTS (/ɡɛts/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The early bird gets the worm, or so I hear" or "She always gets excellent grades in her classes" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "gets".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

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.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "gets" in the wild.

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

"He gets frustrated when he cannot express himself clearly."

hee GEHTS FRUH·stray·duhd wehn hee KA·naht uhk·SPREHS hihm·SEHLF KLEER·lee

"She always gets excellent grades in her classes."

shee AHL·wayz GEHTS EHK·suh·luhnt GRAYDZ ihn her KLA·suhz

"The early bird gets the worm, or so I hear."

dhee UR·lee BURD GEHTS dhuh WURM or SOH ahy HEER

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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