How to pronounce R in English
For the English R the tongue touches nothing. Pull the tongue back and up, curl the tip slightly toward the roof of the mouth without touching it, round your lips a little and use your voice. If the tongue taps or vibrates, you have made a different sound.
Say the R words
Press Listen, then Say it. Green means the word was understood.
- red/rɛd/
- right/raɪt/
- room/rum/
- very/ˈvɛri/
- sorry/ˈsɑri/
- around/əˈraʊnd/
- three/θri/
- bring/brɪŋ/
- car/kɑr/
- bird/bɝd/
- world/wɝld/
- rural/ˈrʊrəl/
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Two ways to make it
Speakers use one of two tongue shapes and both sound the same.
- Curled R: the tip of the tongue curls up and back.
- Bunched R: the tip stays down and the body of the tongue bunches up toward the back teeth.
In both, the sides of the tongue press against the upper back teeth, the lips round slightly, and the tip touches nothing.
R after a vowel
American English pronounces every written R: “car”, “hard”, “teacher”. Standard British English drops R when no vowel follows, so “car” is a long “cah” and “teacher” ends in a schwa. Both are correct; choose one and stay with it.
| Word | Sounds like | What to notice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| car | /kɑr/ | US: R pronounced. UK: silent R. | |
| bird | /bɝd/ | One R-colored vowel, not “bee-rd”. | |
| world | /wɝld/ | R-colored vowel, then L, then D. | |
| girl | /ɡɝl/ | Same vowel as “bird”, then a dark L. | |
| work | /wɝk/ | Same vowel as “bird”. It is not “walk”. |
Common mistakes
- Rolled or tapped R (Russian, Spanish, Italian speakers): the tongue hits the ridge behind the teeth. Hold the tongue still and away from it.
- R like L (Japanese, Korean speakers): for L the tongue tip touches the ridge; for R it never does.
- Throat R (French, German speakers): the sound is made at the back. Move the action to the front and round the lips.
- R like W: the lips do all the work. Keep the tongue pulled back and raised.
Questions people ask
Why is “rural” so hard?
It has two R sounds around an R-colored vowel and ends in a dark L. Say it in two beats: “roor-ul”.
Should I pronounce R at the end of words?
In American English, yes. In British English only when the next word starts with a vowel: “far away” has an R, “far” alone does not.
How do I practise?
Start from a long “uh”, slowly pull the tongue back until the sound changes to “er”, and hold it. Then add a vowel: “er-ed”, “red”.
Related
- The TH soundTongue between the teeth: the two TH sounds, with words to say and check.
- Dark L and light LWhy the L in “light” and the L in “full” are different sounds.
- Minimal pairsA listening game with 24 word pairs that differ by one sound: ship or sheep?
- British vs AmericanR, T, the “bath” vowel and 30 words that are said differently.