h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce hear in American English
HEER
Start here
Americans pronounce hear as HEER (/hɪr/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I can hear you clearly" or "Can you hear the sheer fear clearly?" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "hear" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "hear".
1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eer/ɪr/
Start with the high 'ih' position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips slightly.
In real conversation
Hear "hear" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Can you hear the sheer fear clearly?"
kuhn yoo HEER dhuh SHEER FEER KLEER·lee
"I was surprised to hear about the changes at your company."
ahy wuhz ser·PRAHYZD tuh HEER uh·BOWT dhuh CHAYN·juhz uht yer KUHM·puh·nee
"Let's go around the table and hear everyone's perspective on this matter."
LEHTS GOH uh·ROWND dhuh TAY·buhl and HEER EHV·ree·wuhnz per·SPEHK·tuhv ahn dhihs MA·der
"The early bird gets the worm, or so I hear."
dhee UR·lee BURD GEHTS dhuh WURM or SOH ahy HEER
"The witnesses were sequestered so they could not hear other testimonies."
dhuh WIHT·nuh·suhz wer suh·KWEH·sterd SOH dhay kuhd NAHT HEER UH·dher TEH·stuh·moh·neez
"We went to a jazz club to hear some improvisation live."
wee wehnt tuh uh JAZ KLUHB tuh HEER suhm ihm·prah·vuh·ZAY·shuhn LAHYV
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 "hear"?
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 "hear" 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 "HEER" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "hear". 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.