th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
How to pronounce thirteen in American English
ther·TEEN
Start here
Americans pronounce thirteen as ther-TEEN (/θərˈtin/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The meeting is in room thirteen" or "Did you say the temperature is thirteen degrees?" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "thirteen" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "thirteen".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "thirteen" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch TEEN — keep everything else short and quick.
THER·teen→ther·TEEN
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 is "thirteen" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TEEN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ther-TEEN" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "thirteen"?
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 "thirteen" 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 "ther-TEEN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "thirteen". 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.