uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce otherwise in American English
UH·dher·wahyz
Start here
Americans pronounce otherwise as UH-dher-wahyz (/ˈʌðərˌwaɪz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "We should go, otherwise we'll be late".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "otherwise" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "otherwise".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
dh/ð/
Place your tongue tip between or behind your front teeth, turn your vocal cords on, and push air through the gap.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 UH — keep everything else short and quick.
uh·DHER·WAHYZ→UH·dher·WAHYZ
02
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 "otherwise" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "UH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "UH-dher-wahyz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "otherwise"?
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 "otherwise" 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 "UH-dher-wahyz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "otherwise". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.