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.
How to pronounce nervous in American English
NUR·vuhs
Start here
Americans pronounce nervous as NUR-vuhs (/ˈnɜrvəs/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She appeared quite nervous before her big presentation" or "He was nervous about the oral examination for his language class" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "nervous".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "nervous" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He specializes in neurology and treats disorders of the nervous system."
hee SPEH·shuh·lahy·zuhz ihn nuu·RAH·luh·jee and TREETS dih·SOR·derz uhv dhuh NUR·vuhs SIH·stuhm
"He was nervous about the oral examination for his language class."
hee wuhz NUR·vuhs uh·BOWT dhee OR·uhl ihg·za·muh·NAY·shuhn fer hihz LANG·gwuhj KLAS
"She appeared quite nervous before her big presentation."
shee uh·PEERD KWAHYT NUR·vuhs buh·FOR her BIHG preh·zuhn·TAY·shuhn
"The nervous system transmits signals between the brain and the body."
dhuh NUR·vuhs SIH·stuhm tran·SMIHTS SIHG·nuhlz buh·TWEEN dhuh BRAYN and dhuh BAH·dee
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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 NUR — keep everything else short and quick.
nur·VUHS→NUR·vuhs
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
NUR·VUHS→NUR·vuhs
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "nervous" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "NUR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "NUR-vuhs" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "nervous" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "NUR-vuhs" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "nervous"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "nervous" 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 "NUR-vuhs" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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