How to pronounce grades in American English

IPA /greɪdz/ Syllables 1 · graydz Stress 1st syllable

GRAYDZ

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Americans pronounce grades as GRAYDZ (/greɪdz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She always gets excellent grades in her classes".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "grades".

1 syllable, 5 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.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

d/d/

Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.

z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

In real conversation

Hear "grades" in the wild.

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

"She always gets excellent grades in her classes."

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

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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