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 start in American English
START
Start here
Americans pronounce start as START (/stɑrt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Start the car now" or "What time does the movie start?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "start".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "start" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He was disqualified from the race for a false start."
hee wuhz dih·SKWAH·luh·fahyd fruhm dhuh RAYS fer uh FAHLS START
"I prefer to organize my research before I start."
ahy pruh·FUR tuh OR·guh·nahyz mahy REE·surch buh·FOR ahy START
"I struggle to finish books that start very slowly."
ahy STRUH·guhl tuh FIH·nihsh BUUKS dhuht START VEH·ree SLOH·lee
"It was a bad day from start to finish."
iht wuhz uh BAD DAY fruhm START tuh FIH·nuhsh
"It was smart to start the car before it got dark."
iht wuhz SMART tuh START dhuh KAR buh·FOR iht GAHT DARK
"It's a really good idea to start now."
ihts uh REE·lee GUUD ahy·DEE·uh tuh START NOW
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "start", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
start→START
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 do I pronounce the R in "start"?
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 "start" 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 "START" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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