h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce heart in American English
HART
Start here
Americans pronounce heart as HART (/hɑrt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The heart of the art is hard to start" or "She monitors her heart rate during exercise" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "heart".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "heart" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"A large bar of chocolate is harsh on the heart."
uh LARJ BAR uhv CHAH·kluht ihz HARSH ahn dhuh HART
"He monitors vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure."
hee MAH·nuh·terz VAHY·duhl SAHYNZ suhch uhz HART RAYT and BLUHD PREH·sher
"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
ahy HOHP yoo kuhn FAHYND iht ihn yer HART tuh fer·GIHV mee
"She monitors her heart rate during exercise."
shee MAH·nuh·terz her HART RAYT DUUR·uhng EHK·ser·sahyz
"The heart of the art is hard to start."
dhuh HART uhv dhee ART ihz HARD tuh START
"The surgeon performed a complex heart transplant successfully."
dhuh SUR·juhn per·FORMD uh KAHM·plehks HART TRAN·splant suhk·SEHS·fuh·lee
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "heart", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
heart→HART
02
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 "heart"?
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 "heart" 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 "HART" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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