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 statue in American English
STA·choo
Start here
Americans pronounce statue as STA-choo (/ˈstætʃu/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He carved a beautiful statue out of a single block of marble".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "statue".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then 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.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
ch/tʃ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
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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 STA — keep everything else short and quick.
sta·CHOO→STA·choo
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "statue" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "STA" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "STA-choo" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "statue" 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 "STA-choo" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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