How to pronounce what's in American English
WAHTS
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Americans pronounce what's as WAHTS (/wɑts/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "what's" sounds like WAHTS.
In fast speech, the vowel in "what's" vanishes — the "ih" is completely elided, leaving only a quick "ts" cluster — this is a feature of casual, connected speech; in careful speech, the vowel is retained. This is called the Short Contractions (it's, that's), the casual shortcut native speakers reach for without thinking. It comes out as WAHTS.
In real conversation
Hear "what's" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"What's the best way to get downtown from here?"
WAHTS dhuh BEHST WAY tuh GEHT down·TOWN fruhm HEER
"What's the latest news on the situation?"
WUHTS dhuh LAY·duhst NOOZ ahn dhuh sih·choo·AY·shuhn
"What's the plan for this weekend?"
WAHTS dhuh PLAN fer dhihs WEE·kehnd
"What's the possibility of rain tomorrow afternoon?"
WUHTS dhuh pah·suh·BIH·luh·tee uhv RAYN tuh·MAH·roh af·ter·NOON
"What's the price of that amazing prize?"
WUHTS dhuh PRAHYS uhv dhat uh·MAY·zuhng PRAHYZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "what's" 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 "WAHTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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