How to pronounce line in American English

IPA /laɪn/ Syllables 1 · lahyn Stress 1st syllable

LAHYN

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Americans pronounce line as LAHYN (/laɪn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Ten men ran in the thin green line" or "I tried to find the right time to sign the line" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "line".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

l/l/

Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.

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.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "line" in the wild.

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

"I tried to find the right time to sign the line."

ahy TRAHYD tuh FAHYND dhuh RAHYT TAHYM tuh SAHYN dhuh LAHYN

"I was out of line and I accept responsibility for that."

ahy wuhz OWT uhv LAHYN and ahy uhk·SEHPT ruh·spahn·suh·BIH·luh·tee fer DHAT

"Ten men ran in the thin green line."

TEHN MEHN RAN ihn dhuh THIHN GREEN LAHYN

"The checkout line is really long, so we might have to wait."

dhuh CHEHK·owt LAHYN ihz REE·lee lahng SOH wee mahyt hav tuh WAYT

"The defense attorney objected to the line of questioning."

dhuh duh·FEHNS uh·TUR·nee uhb·JEHK·tuhd tuh dhuh LAHYN uhv KWEHS·chuh·nuhng

"The dispute over the property line was settled out of court."

dhuh dih·SPYOOT OH·ver dhuh PRAH·per·tee LAHYN wuhz SEH·duhld OWT uhv KORT

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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