p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce promises in American English
PRAH·muh·suhz
Start here
Americans pronounce promises as PRAH-muh-suhz (/ˈprɑməsəz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The next generation of wireless technology promises faster speeds" or "Quantum computing promises to solve previously impossible problems" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "promises".
3 syllables, 8 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.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "promises" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Quantum computing promises to solve previously impossible problems."
KWAHN·tuhm kuhm·PYOO·tuhng PRAH·muh·suhz tuh SAHLV PREE·vee·uh·slee uhm·PAH·suh·buhl PRAH·bluhmz
"The next generation of wireless technology promises faster speeds."
dhuh NEHKST jeh·nuh·RAY·shuhn uhv WAHY·er·luhs tehk·NAH·luh·jee PRAH·muh·suhz FA·ster SPEEDZ
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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 PRAH — keep everything else short and quick.
prah·MUH·SUHZ→PRAH·muh·suhz
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.
PRAH·MUH·suhz→PRAH·muh·suhz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "promises" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "PRAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "PRAH-muh-suhz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "promises" 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 "PRAH-muh-suhz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "promises" 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 "PRAH-muh-suhz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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