m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce maybe in American English
MAY·bee
Start here
Americans pronounce maybe as MAY-bee (/ˈmeɪbi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "maybe".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MAY — keep everything else short and quick.
may·BEE→MAY·bee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "maybe" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MAY-bee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "maybe" 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 "MAY-bee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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