How to pronounce when in American English

IPA /wɛn/ Syllables 1 · wehn

wehn

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Americans pronounce when as wehn (/wɛn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She felt sad when the movie ended" or "When does the grocery store close?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "when".

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

w/w/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.

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.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "when" in the wild.

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

"Come back when you've had some lunch."

KUHM BAK wehn yoov HAD suhm LUHNCH

"Did he slip when he was trying to sleep?"

dihd hee SLIHP wehn hee wuhz TRAHY·uhng tuh SLEEP

"Don't desert your friends when they need you."

DOHNT duh·ZURT yer FREHNDZ wehn dhay NEED yoo

"He expressed his disappointment when they canceled the event."

hee uhk·SPREHST hihz dih·suh·POYNT·muhnt wehn dhay KAN·suhld dhee uh·VEHNT

"He gets frustrated when he cannot express himself clearly."

hee GEHTS FRUH·stray·duhd wehn hee KA·naht uhk·SPREHS hihm·SEHLF KLEER·lee

"He learned best when he could apply concepts to real examples."

hee LURND BEHST wehn hee kuud uh·PLAHY KAHN·sehpts tuh REEL uhg·ZAM·puhlz

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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