th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
How to pronounce thought in American English
THAHT
Start here
Americans pronounce thought as THAHT (/θɑt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I thought he was tall" or "I thought you were going to be here" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "thought".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
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 "thought" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I honestly thought the coffee was too strong."
ahy AH·nuhst·lee THAHT dhuh KAH·fee wuhz TOO STRAHNG
"I must admit that I had not thought about it that way."
ahy muhst uhd·MIHT dhuht ahy huhd NAHT THAHT uh·BOWT iht DHAT WAY
"I thought he was tall."
ahy THAHT hee wuhz TAHL
"I thought the meeting was on Tuesday."
ahy THAHT dhuh MEE·duhng wuhz ahn TOOZ·day
"I thought you were coming to the theater."
ahy THAHT yoo wer KUH·muhng tuh dhuh THEE·uh·der
"I thought you were going to be here."
ahy THAHT yoo wer GOH·uhng tuh bee HEER
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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 "thought", 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.
thought→THAHT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "thought" 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 "THAHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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