v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
How to pronounce vegetables in American English
VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz
Start here
Americans pronounce vegetables as VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz (/ˈvɛdʒəɾəbəlz/). In "vegetables", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Fresh vegetables are harvested in the autumn" or "Could you grab some organic vegetables from the produce aisle?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "vegetables".
4 syllables, 10 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "vegetables" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Could you grab some organic vegetables from the produce aisle?"
kuud yoo GRAB suhm or·GA·nuhk VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz fruhm dhuh PROH·doos AHYL
"Fresh vegetables are harvested in the autumn."
FREHSH VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz er HAR·vuh·stuhd ihn dhee AH·duhm
"I grilled the vegetables over medium heat until they were tender."
ahy grihld dhuh VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz OH·ver MEE·dee·uhm HEET uhn·TIHL dhay wer TEHN·der
"She chopped the vegetables into small, uniform pieces for the stir fry."
shee CHAHPT dhuh VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz IHN·too SMAHL YOO·nuh·form PEE·suhz fer dhuh STUR FRAHY
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "vegetables", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz→VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "vegetables" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
vegetables→VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch VEH — keep everything else short and quick.
veh·JUH·TUH·BUHLZ→VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz
04
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
VEH·JUH·tuh·buhlz→VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "vegetables" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "VEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "vegetables"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "vegetables" sounds closer to "VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "vegetables" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "vegetables" 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 "VEH-juh-tuh-buhlz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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