sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
How to pronounce sharing in American English
SHAIR·uhng
Start here
Americans pronounce sharing as SHAIR-uhng (/ˈʃɛrəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I enjoy writing short stories and sharing them online" or "She uses a ride-sharing app when she needs a quick ride" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "sharing".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "sharing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I enjoy writing short stories and sharing them online."
ahy uhn·JOY RAHY·duhng SHORT STOR·eez and SHAIR·uhng dhuhm AHN·lahyn
"She uses a ride-sharing app when she needs a quick ride."
shee YOO·zuhz uh RAHYD SHAIR·uhng AP wehn shee NEEDZ uh KWIHK RAHYD
"We need to foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing."
wee NEED tuh FAH·ster uhn uhn·VAHY·ruhn·muhnt wair EHV·ree·wuhn FEELZ KUHMF·ter·buhl SHAIR·uhng
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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 SHAIR — keep everything else short and quick.
shair·UHNG→SHAIR·uhng
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.
SHAIR·UHNG→SHAIR·uhng
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 "sharing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SHAIR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SHAIR-uhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "sharing" 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 "SHAIR-uhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "sharing"?
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 "sharing" 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 "SHAIR-uhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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