How to pronounce guess in American English
GEHS
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Americans pronounce guess as GEHS (/gɛs/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "guess" sounds like GEHS.
The "" shared between "" and "" is held once, slightly longer, and released once instead of stopping and starting twice. This is called the Same-Consonant Linking, a connected-speech trick that makes phrases flow. It comes out as GEHS.
In real conversation
Hear "guess" in the wild.
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"He uses context clues to guess the meaning of unknown words."
hee YOO·zuhz KAHN·tehkst KLOOZ tuh GEHS dhuh MEE·nuhng uhv uhn·NOHN WURDZ
"I guess we're running out of gas again."
ahy GEHS weer RUH·nuhng OWT uhv GAS uh·GEHN
"I had to guess some of the answers."
ahy had tuh GEHS suhm uhv dhee AN·serz
"The serious scientist assessed the fossil guess."
dhuh SEER·ee·uhs SAHY·uhn·tuhst uh·SEHST dhuh FAH·suhl GEHS
"Yes, I guess so."
yehs ahy GEHS SOH
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "guess" 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 "GEHS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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