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 results in American English
ruh·ZUHLTS
Start here
Americans pronounce results as ruh-ZUHLTS (/rəˈzʌlts/). In "results", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as ruh·ZUHLTS. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The lab will send the test results back" or "These results are exactly what we wanted" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "results".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "results" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Our research indicates that this approach will yield better results."
OW·er REE·surch IHN·duh·kayts dhuht DHIHS uh·PROHCH wihl YEELD BEH·der ruh·ZUHLTS
"She follows the results of the tennis grand slams closely."
shee FAH·lohz dhuh ruh·ZUHLTS uhv dhuh TEH·nuhs GRAND SLAMZ KLOH·slee
"The election results are finally available."
dhee uh·LEHK·shuhn ruh·ZUHLTS er FAHY·nuh·lee uh·VAY·luh·buhl
"The experiment failed to produce the expected results."
dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt FAYLD tuh pruh·DOOS dhee uhk·spehk·tuhd ruh·ZUHLTS
"The lab will send the test results back."
dhuh LAB wihl SEHND dhuh TEHST ruh·ZUHLTS BAK
"The results of the experiment exceeded our initial expectations."
dhuh ruh·ZUHLTS uhv dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt ihk·SEE·duhd owr ih·NIH·shuhl ehk·spehk·TAY·shuhnz
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "results", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
results→ruh·ZUHLTS
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "results" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
results→ruh·ZUHLTS
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch ZUHLTS — keep everything else short and quick.
RUH·zuhlts→ruh·ZUHLTS
04
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.
RUH·ZUHLTS→ruh·ZUHLTS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "results" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "ZUHLTS" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ruh-ZUHLTS" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "results" 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 "ruh-ZUHLTS" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "results" 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 "ruh-ZUHLTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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