How to pronounce he in American English

IPA /hi/ Syllables 1 · hee

hee

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Americans pronounce he as hee (/hi/). The "h" in "he" is dropped in connected speech — the preceding word's final consonant links directly to the remaining vowel — most natural in casual, rapid speech; in careful or formal speech, the H is typically kept. This is called the Silent H (in him, her, has), the casual shortcut native speakers reach for without thinking. It comes out as hee. You'll hear it in sentences like "Will he win?" or "He has a hat" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "he".

1 syllable, 2 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.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

In real conversation

Hear "he" in the wild.

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

"Did he slip when he was trying to sleep?"

dihd hee SLIHP wehn hee wuhz TRAHY·uhng tuh SLEEP

"Does he sneeze?"

duhz hee SNEEZ

"Does he think the soap is in the sink?"

duhz hee THIHNGK dhuh SOHP ihz ihn dhuh SIHNGK

"Even though it was late, he decided to finish his work."

EE·vuhn dhoh iht wuhz LAYT hee duh·SAHY·duhd tuh FIH·nuhsh hihz WURK

"He advocates for sustainable practices to protect our planet."

hee AD·vuh·kayts fer suh·STAY·nuh·buhl PRAK·tuh·suhz tuh pruh·TEHKT ar PLA·nuht

"He advocates for the protection of marine sanctuaries."

hee AD·vuh·kayts fer dhuh pruh·TEHK·shuhn uhv muh·REEN SANGK·choo·air·eez

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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