How to pronounce he's in American English
heez
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Americans pronounce he's as heez (/hiz/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "he's" sounds like heez.
The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, how Americans glue words together so they sound like one phrase. It comes out as heez.
In real conversation
Hear "he's" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He's a good friend of mine."
heez uh GUUD FREHND uhv MAHYN
"He's been living in the city for six weeks."
heez bihn LIH·vuhng ihn dhuh SIH·dee fer SIHKS WEEKS
"He's been studying English for almost three years."
heez bihn STUH·dee·uhng IHNG·gluhsh fer AHL·mohst THREE YEERZ
"He's been working on that project all evening."
heez bihn WUR·kuhng ahn dhat PRAH·jehkt AHL EEV·nuhng
"He's decided to accept the new job offer."
heez duh·SAHY·duhd tuh uhk·SEHPT dhuh noo JAHB AH·fer
"He's going to put on a jacket because it's cold."
heez GOH·uhng tuh PUUT AHN uh JA·kuht buh·KUHZ ihts KOHLD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "he's" 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 "heez" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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