How to pronounce three in American English

IPA /θri/ Syllables 1 · three Stress 1st syllable

THREE

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Americans pronounce three as THREE (/θri/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Think of three things" or "Three trees are green" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "three".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

th/θ/

Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

In real conversation

Hear "three" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"He asked for new clothes after three months of work."

hee ASKT fer NOO KLOHZ AF·ter THREE MUHNTHS uhv WURK

"He has been going to the gym three times a week."

hee huhz bihn GOH·uhng tuh dhuh JIHM THREE TAHYMZ uh WEEK

"He was born in nineteen ninety-three."

hee wuhz BORN ihn nahyn·TEEN NAHYN·dee THREE

"He's been studying English for almost three years."

heez bihn STUH·dee·uhng IHNG·gluhsh fer AHL·mohst THREE YEERZ

"I brush my teeth three times a day."

ahy BRUHSH mahy TEETH THREE TAHYMZ uh DAY

"I need to pick up my sister at three."

ahy NEED tuh PIHK UHP mahy SIH·ster uht THREE

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "three" 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 "THREE" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.