How to pronounce nice in American English

IPA /naɪs/ Syllables 1 · nahys Stress 1st syllable

NAHYS

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Americans pronounce nice as NAHYS (/naɪs/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Try to be nice" or "A very nice van" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "nice".

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

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.

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.

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 "nice" in the wild.

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

"A very nice van."

uh VEH·ree NAHYS VAN

"He used a cast iron skillet to get a nice sear on the meat."

hee YOOZD uh KAST AHY·ern SKIH·luht tuh GEHT uh NAHYS SEER ahn dhuh meet

"I walk to work when the weather is nice enough."

ahy WAHK tuh WURK wehn dhuh WEH·dher ihz NAHYS uh·NUHF

"It was really nice bumping into you today, take care!"

iht wuhz REE·lee NAHYS BUHM·puhng IHN·tuh yoo tuh·DAY TAYK KAIR

"Make a nice cake."

MAYK uh NAHYS KAYK

"Neither the silence nor the violence was nice."

NAHY·dher dhuh SAHY·luhns nor dhuh VAHY·uh·luhns wuhz NAHYS

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Questions

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