h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce hare in American English
HAIR
Start here
Americans pronounce hare as HAIR (/hɛr/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Compare the hare with the rare mare".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "hare" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "hare".
1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
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 do I pronounce the R in "hare"?
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 "hare" 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 "HAIR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "hare". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.