ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
How to pronounce herbs in American English
URBZ
Start here
Americans pronounce herbs as URBZ (/ɜrbz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She roasted the chicken with herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice" or "He cooked the pan with butter and herbs to make a delicious sauce" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "herbs".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "herbs" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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
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 "herbs"?
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 "herbs" 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 "URBZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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