dh/ð/
Place your tongue tip between or behind your front teeth, turn your vocal cords on, and push air through the gap.
How to pronounce them in American English
dhuhm
Start here
Americans pronounce them as dhuhm (/ðəm/). The TH in "them" can be produced with the tongue tip pressing just behind the upper teeth rather than coming all the way through — an easier, faster articulation. This is called the Quick TH (the, this, that), how Americans collapse little words. It comes out as dhuhm. You'll hear it in sentences like "Did you get all of them?" or "Both of them are healthy and strong" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "them".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. 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.
In real conversation
Hear "them" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Both of them are healthy and strong."
BOHTH uhv dhuhm er HEHL·thee and STRAHNG
"Can we get together with them later?"
kuhn wee GEHT tuh·GEH·dher wihth dhuhm LAY·der
"Did you get all of them?"
dihd yuh GEHT AHL uhv uhm
"He recorded the lectures to listen to them again later."
hee ruh·KOR·duhd dhuh LEHK·cherz tuh LIH·suhn tuh dhuhm uh·GEHN LAY·der
"I enjoy writing short stories and sharing them online."
ahy uhn·JOY RAHY·duhng SHORT STOR·eez and SHAIR·uhng dhuhm AHN·lahyn
"I have to drive twelve hours to visit them."
ahy hav tuh DRAHYV TWEHLV OW·erz tuh VIH·zuht dhuhm
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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 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.
DHUHM→dhuhm
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "them" 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 "dhuhm" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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