How to pronounce hi in American English

IPA /haɪ/ Syllables 1 · hahy Stress 1st syllable

HAHY

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Americans pronounce hi as HAHY (/haɪ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Hi, how are you?".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "hi".

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.

ahy/aɪ/

Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.

In real conversation

Hear "hi" in the wild.

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

"Hi, how are you?"

HAHY HOW er yoo

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Questions

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