How to pronounce whose

Say HOOZ. The American pronunciation is /huz/. In British English it is /huːz/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.

Say it like HOOZ. Whose is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress.

VoiceSpeed

Click the play button next to American or British to hear how to pronounce whose. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.

US American/huz/HOOZ

UK British/huːz/HOOZ

Whose pronunciation, sound by sound

Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.

American and British speakers say whose in essentially the same way: /huz/ in the US and /huːz/ in the UK.

British respelling: HOOZ.

determiner

Of whom, belonging to whom; which person's or people's.“Whose (wallet) is this?”
Of whom, belonging to whom.“This is the man whose dog caused the accident.”
Of which, belonging to which.“We saw several houses whose roofs were falling off.”

pronoun

That or those of whom or belonging to whom.“Several people have lost their suitcases. Whose have you found?”
That or those of whom or belonging to whom.“This car is blocking the way, but Mr Smith, whose it is, will be here shortly.”

From Middle English whos, from Old English hwæs, from Proto-Germanic *hwes, genitive case of *hwaz (“who”) *hwat (“what”).

Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of whose.

Say HOOZ. The American pronunciation is /huz/. In British English it is /huːz/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.

Whose is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: HOOZ.

Almost exactly. The American form is /huz/ and the British form is /huːz/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.

Whose sounds the same as who's in American English. The spelling and meaning are what tell them apart.