p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce prepare in American English
pruh·PAIR
Start here
Americans pronounce prepare as pruh-PAIR (/prəˈpɛr/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Prepare the air for the fair affair" or "He reviewed past exams to prepare for the upcoming final" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "prepare" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "prepare".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
In real conversation
Hear "prepare" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He reviewed past exams to prepare for the upcoming final."
hee ree·VYOOD PAST uhg·ZAMZ tuh pruh·PAIR fer dhee UHP·kuh·muhng FAHY·nuhl
"Prepare the air for the fair affair."
pruh·PAIR dhee AIR fer dhuh FAIR uh·FAIR
"She practiced past exam questions to prepare for test formats."
shee PRAK·tuhst PAST uhg·ZAM KWEHS·chuhnz tuh pruh·PAIR fer TEHST FOR·mats
"I studied for hours to prepare for the midterm exam tomorrow."
ahy STUH·deed fer OW·erz tuh pruh·PAIR fer dhuh MIHD·turm uhg·ZAM tuh·MAH·roh
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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch PAIR — keep everything else short and quick.
PRUH·pair→pruh·PAIR
02
Pronouncing the first 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.
PRUH·PAIR→pruh·PAIR
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 "prepare" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PAIR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "pruh-PAIR" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "prepare" 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 "pruh-PAIR" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "prepare"?
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 "prepare" 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 "pruh-PAIR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "prepare". 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.