j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce job in American English
JAHB
Start here
Americans pronounce job as JAHB (/dʒɑb/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Jack has a job" or "Why did you volunteer for that job?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "job".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "job" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He respects the difficult job that law enforcement officers do."
hee ruh·SPEHKTS dhuh DIH·fuh·kuhlt JAHB dhuht LAH uhn·FOR·smuhnt AH·fuh·serz doo
"He's decided to accept the new job offer."
heez duh·SAHY·duhd tuh uhk·SEHPT dhuh noo JAHB AH·fer
"How is the new job treating you so far?"
HOW ihz dhuh noo JAHB TREE·duhng yoo SOH FAR
"I attended the career fair to explore job opportunities."
ahy uh·TEHN·duhd dhuh kuh·REER FAIR tuh uhk·SPLOR JAHB ah·per·TOO·nuh·teez
"It took a lot of time to finish the job."
iht TUUK uh LAHT uhv TAHYM tuh FIH·nuhsh dhuh JAHB
"It's an odd job, but someone ought to do it."
ihts uhn AHD JAHB buht SUHM·wuhn AHT tuh DOO iht
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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 "job", the "b" 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.
job→JAHB
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "job" 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 "JAHB" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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