h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce himself in American English
hihm·SEHLF
Start here
Americans pronounce himself as hihm-SEHLF (/hɪmˈsɛlf/). The L in "himself" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as hihm·SEHLF. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He tried to pull himself out of the pool using a pole" or "He fixed the leaky faucet himself to save on repair costs" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "himself".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "himself" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He fixed the leaky faucet himself to save on repair costs."
hee FIHKST dhuh LEE·kee FAH·suht hihm·SEHLF tuh SAYV ahn ruh·PAIR KAHSTS
"He gets frustrated when he cannot express himself clearly."
hee GEHTS FRUH·stray·duhd wehn hee KA·naht uhk·SPREHS hihm·SEHLF KLEER·lee
"He tried to pull himself out of the pool using a pole."
hee TRAHYD tuh PUUL hihm·SEHLF OWT uhv dhuh POOL YOO·zuhng uh POHL
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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
Treating every L the same.
The L in "himself" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
himself→hihm·SEHLF
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SEHLF — keep everything else short and quick.
HIHM·sehlf→hihm·SEHLF
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "himself" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SEHLF" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "hihm-SEHLF" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "himself" 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 "hihm-SEHLF" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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