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 they're in American English
dhair
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Americans pronounce they're as dhair (/ðɛr/). You'll hear it in sentences like "They're probably just stuck in traffic" or "The salary they're offering is excellent" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "they're".
1 syllable, 2 sounds. 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'.
In real conversation
Hear "they're" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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 "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 "they're"?
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 "they're" 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 "dhair" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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