w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
How to pronounce what in American English
wuht
Start here
Americans pronounce what as wuht (/wʌt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "What did you do then?" or "What size are those shoes?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "what".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue 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.
In real conversation
Hear "what" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Could you be more specific about what you need?"
kuud yoo bee MOR spuh·SIH·fuhk uh·BOWT wuht yoo NEED
"He always buys more than what is on the shopping list."
hee AHL·wayz BAHYZ MOR dhuhn WUHT ihz ahn dhuh SHAH·puhng LIHST
"He checks the weather forecast before deciding what to wear."
hee CHEHKS dhuh WEH·dher FOR·kast buh·FOR duh·SAHY·duhng WUHT tuh WAIR
"He didn't want to talk about what happened."
hee DIH·duhnt WAHNT tuh TAHK uh·BOWT WUHT HA·puhnd
"He paused because he forgot what he was talking about."
hee PAHZD buh·KUHZ hee fer·GAHT wuht hee wuhz TAH·kuhng uh·BOWT
"He seemed genuinely upset after hearing what happened."
hee SEEMD JEHN·yoo·uhn·lee uhp·SEHT AF·ter HEER·uhng wuht HA·puhnd
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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 "what", 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.
what→wuht
02
Pronouncing the first 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.
WUHT→wuht
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "what" 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 "wuht" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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