How to pronounce hates in American English

IPA /heɪts/ Syllables 1 · hayts Stress 1st syllable

HAYTS

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Americans pronounce hates as HAYTS (/heɪts/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He rushes through his morning because he hates being late".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "hates".

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

h/h/

Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.

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.

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 "hates" in the wild.

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

"He rushes through his morning because he hates being late."

hee RUH·shuhz throo hihz MOR·nuhng buh·KUHZ hee HAYTS BEE·uhng LAYT

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Questions

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