Pronunciation · Words with fewer syllables than they look

How to pronounce “restaurant”

RES-tront

2 syllables · stress on “RES”

REStront

Britishˈrestrɒnt

Americanˈrestərɑːnt

In short

“restaurant” is pronounced RES-tront: 2 syllables, with the stress on “RES”. The word is French and keeps a nasalised ending that English has flattened. Most British speakers say it in two syllables; the au is not a separate beat. The version to avoid is res-tau-RANT — three syllables with a full “rant” at the end.

Say “restaurant” in 3 steps

1British model: two syllables, RES-tront.
2Stress the first syllable.
3The au after the t is swallowed — do not give it its own beat.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: res-tau-RANT — three syllables with a full “rant” at the end

The word is French and keeps a nasalised ending that English has flattened. Most British speakers say it in two syllables; the au is not a separate beat.

Hear real people say it

Model audio is consistent; real speech is not. Hearing several actual speakers is what makes a word recognisable when someone says it at full speed.

Real speakers

No free human recording of “restaurant” exists yet in the public archives we draw on, so the audio above is our model voice. It is accurate for this word — a human clip would simply add natural variation on top.

Practise it out loud

Reading about a sound does not change your mouth. Say it, hear it back, and fix one thing at a time.

Say it yourself

0/6 practised

Listen first, then record. You get feedback on the individual sounds, the stress and the rhythm — no account needed, and nothing is stored.

Three speakers per accent

Recordings are used only to generate this feedback and are not stored. Your accent is never penalised: IELTS scores intelligibility, and so do we.

British vs American

American English usually keeps three syllables, RES-tuh-rahnt, with a fuller final vowel. Both are standard.

The sounds inside this word

Each links to a full guide with mouth position, audio and drills. If a word keeps failing, the problem is usually one of these.

rr as in red ee as in bed ss as in see tt as in tea ɒo as in hot nn as in no

More words with fewer syllables than they look

Same pattern, same fix. Learning them as a group is far faster than one at a time.

comfortableKUMF-tuh-bul vegetableVEJ-tuh-bul chocolateCHOK-lut interestingIN-truh-sting temperatureTEM-pruh-chuh businessBIZ-nus

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce restaurant?

restaurant is pronounced RES-tront, written /ˈrestrɒnt/ in IPA. British model: two syllables, RES-tront.

How many syllables are in restaurant?

two: RES-tront. The stress falls on “RES”.

What is the most common mistake with restaurant?

res-tau-RANT — three syllables with a full “rant” at the end. The word is French and keeps a nasalised ending that English has flattened. Most British speakers say it in two syllables; the au is not a separate beat.

Is restaurant pronounced differently in British and American English?

American English usually keeps three syllables, RES-tuh-rahnt, with a fuller final vowel. Both are standard. IELTS accepts either accent, so choose one model and stay consistent.

The full sound library

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