p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce pursue in American English
per·SOO
Start here
Americans pronounce pursue as per-SOO (/pərˈsu/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The market research supports our decision to pursue this direction".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "pursue".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips 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.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch SOO — keep everything else short and quick.
PER·soo→per·SOO
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 "pursue" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "per-SOO" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "pursue"?
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 "pursue" 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 "per-SOO" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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