s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce something in American English
SUHM·thuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce something as SUHM-thuhng (/ˈsʌmθəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Something is wrong" or "Something is better than nothing" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "something" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "something".
2 syllables, 6 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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
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 "something" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Are you looking for something casual or formal?"
ar yuh LUU·kuhng fer SUHM·thuhng KA·zhoo·uhl er FOR·muhl
"I have a feeling that something is wrong."
ahy hav uh FEE·luhng dhuht SUHM·thuhng ihz RAHNG
"On the contrary, I think the evidence suggests something different."
AHN dhuh KAHN·trair·ee ahy thihngk dhee EH·vuh·duhns suhg·JEHSTS SUHM·thuhng DIH·fruhnt
"She asked questions when she did not understand something."
shee ASKT KWEHS·chuhnz wehn shee dihd NAHT uhn·der·STAND SUHM·thuhng
"Something came up and I have to cancel our plans tonight."
SUHM·thuhng KAYM UHP and ahy HAV tuh KAN·suhl ar PLANZ tuh·NAHYT
"Something is better than nothing."
SUHM·thuhng ihz BEH·der dhuhn NUH·thuhng
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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch SUHM — keep everything else short and quick.
suhm·THUHNG→SUHM·thuhng
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.
SUHM·THUHNG→SUHM·thuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "something" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SUHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SUHM-thuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "something" 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 "SUHM-thuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "something" 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 "SUHM-thuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "something". 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.