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.
How to pronounce reason in American English
REE·zuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce reason as REE-zuhn (/ˈrizən/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Remembering the reason for the rich race" or "There's no reason to be upset about this" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "reason" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "reason".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "reason" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Remembering the reason for the rich race."
ruh·MEHM·ber·uhng dhuh REE·zuhn fer dhuh rihch RAYS
"The chief reason for the season is extremely deep."
dhuh cheef REE·zuhn fer dhuh SEE·zuhn ihz uhk·STREEM·lee DEEP
"There's no reason to be upset about this."
DHAIRZ NOH REE·zuhn tuh bee uhp·SEHT uh·BOWT dhihs
"What is the official reason for the delay?"
wuht ihz dhee uh·FIH·shuhl REE·zuhn fer dhuh duh·LAY
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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "reason", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
reason→REE·zuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch REE — keep everything else short and quick.
ree·ZUHN→REE·zuhn
03
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.
REE·ZUHN→REE·zuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "reason" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "REE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "REE-zuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "reason" 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 "REE-zuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "reason" 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 "REE-zuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "reason". 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.