they
/ᴛʜā/
pronoun
  1. Used to refer to the ones previously mentioned or implied.
  2. (Usage Problem) Used to refer to the one previously mentioned or implied, especially as a substitute for generic he.
    Every person has rights under the law, but they don't always know them.
  3. Used to refer to people in general.
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition. More at Wordnik
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Cambridge Dictionary
dictionary.cambridge.org › us › pronunciation › english › they
How to pronounce THEY in English
2 weeks ago - How to pronounce THEY. How to say THEY. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Learn more.
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Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com › us › definition › english › they
they pronoun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Instead, after everybody, everyone, anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, etc. one of the plural pronouns they, them, and their is often used: Does everybody know what they want?Somebody’s left their coat here.I hope nobody’s forgotten to bring their passport with them.
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Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org › wiki › they
they - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
theyWikipedia · [edit] (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: thā, IPA(key): /ðeɪ/ (Northumbria, unstressed) IPA(key): /ðə/ Rhymes: -eɪ · [edit] Etymology tree · Proto-Indo-European *tóy · Proto-Germanic *þai · Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ) Old Norse þeirbor.
Discussions

Their, There, They're. Pronounced the same?
They're pronounced exactly the same for me (Canadian). More on reddit.com
🌐 r/EnglishLearning
77
38
July 30, 2024
Does anyone else pronounce "they're" differently to "their" and "there"?
Even more interesting is my pronunciation of 'to'. In this context, I pronounce it 'from'. But seriously. I pronounce 'they're' differently depending on whether it is stressed in the sentence. Stressed /ðɛər/; unstressed /ðər/ More on reddit.com
🌐 r/linguistics
49
41
June 19, 2011
"and they" pronunciation | WordReference Forums
Hi all, Could "and they" be pronounced like "an'ay" in a fast speech? Thanks in advance, More on forum.wordreference.com
🌐 forum.wordreference.com
November 5, 2019
"They" pronoun
"i went to the doctor today" "What did they say?" "They told me to stop using reddit" We use "they" all the time. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/EnglishLearning
95
47
February 18, 2024
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HowtoPronounce
howtopronounce.com
How To Pronounce: Online Multilingual Pronunciation Dictionary
Learn how to correctly say a word, name, place, drug, medical and scientific terminology or any other difficult word in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and other languages with our multilingual pronunciation and phonetics dictionary made out of audio pronunciations of words, their meanings, synonyms, sentences, translations and more contributed by the worldwide HowToPronounce.com Community.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/englishlearning › their, there, they're. pronounced the same?
r/EnglishLearning on Reddit: Their, There, They're. Pronounced the same?
July 30, 2024 -

Question to the natives: is there any difference between either of the three? Also, if you do distinguish them, it would be interesting for me to know what accent you have. I've almost convinced myself that I can sometimes hear the /j/ sound in "they're" in some accents. Am I tripping?

Find elsewhere
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Cambridge Dictionary
dictionary.cambridge.org › us › pronunciation › english › they-re
How to pronounce THEY’RE in English
1 week ago - How to pronounce THEY’RE. How to say THEY’RE. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Learn more.
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Get Pronounce
getpronounce.com › how-to-pronounce › they
How to pronounce "they"
To say it correctly, start by forming your lips into an ‘oo’ shape and then opening your mouth slightly to produce the ‘th’ sound. Next, move your tongue to the back of your mouth and make the ‘ey’ sound. To practice, try saying ‘they’ several times in a row. When you feel comfortable with the pronunciation, try saying it in a sentence.
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Learn to Pronounce THEY and DAY - American English Pronunciation Lesson #learnenglish - YouTube
Learn how to pronounce THEY and DAY in this American English Pronunciation Lesson. This video targets a confusing word pair: DAY and THEY. Say them correctl...
Published   April 4, 2012
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/linguistics › does anyone else pronounce "they're" differently to "their" and "there"?
r/linguistics on Reddit: Does anyone else pronounce "they're" differently to "their" and "there"?
June 19, 2011 -

I'm from Victoria, Australia, and I've noticed that no-one I know and no-one I've ever heard does this except me, most of my friends can't even hear the difference.

I don't know how to write this phonetically but the difference is, as well as I can describe it, like the difference between 'air' and 'aya' only less distinct than 'aya' would be.

EDIT: While recording I may have modified it by thinking about it too hard, but I think this is close to how I would say the two in conversation (as I don't distinguish between 'their' and 'there').

EDIT: I posted this question because I couldn't find anything on it using Google, is there a name for this or is it a relatively unknown phenomenon (the pronunciation of these words not as homophones)?

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Facebook
facebook.com › TheAccentsWay › videos › how-to-use-the-pronoun-they › 1200095860746958
How to use the pronoun 'THEY' | DID YOU KNOW there are 3 cases in...
13K views, 1K likes, 95 loves, 28 comments, 94 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Accent's Way English with Hadar: DID YOU KNOW there are 3 cases in which we use the pronounce THEY?! 🤯 This is...
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Quora
quora.com › How-do-you-pronounce-the-word-they-in-English
How to pronounce the word 'they' in English - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): Firstly: The word “They” rhymes with, for example, Hay, Hey, Say, Whey, Ray, Pay, Spey, Got that? Simple isn’t it? The only other thing to be addressed Is the first two letters “Th”. Here we have to remember that this combination of two letters can be sounded in TWO ...
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WordReference
forum.wordreference.com › english only › english only
"and they" pronunciation | WordReference Forums
November 5, 2019 - This is to do with how in Old English (English before 1100), the word was hem (which became our 'em), and then the Viking word them was borrowed later and this eventually became the normal word. (The Old English word for they is hi and we never use this now.) ... I would suggest that you should not aim for that pronunciation.
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YouTube
youtube.com › english with collins dictionary
How to pronounce THEY in American English - YouTube
This video shows you how to pronounce THEY in American English. Speaker has an accent from Washington, D.C. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/e...
Published   March 27, 2023
Views   1K
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
How to pronounce "there" they're" and "their" #shorts - YouTube
Learn how to pronounce "there" they're" and "their" #shortsAccurate English social media: visit website: https://www.accurateenglish.comInstagram: https://ww...
Published   November 4, 2021
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WordReference
forum.wordreference.com › english only › english only
pronunciation: They'll | WordReference Forums
August 5, 2015 - 2) They'll = Thail/Theil (like hamlet wrote). 1 syllable. ... Here we use all the above versions like perpend wrote above, but also when not emphasized sometimes we say thell, as if it rhymed with well or bell. I think the pronunciation would be written /ˈðel/
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YouGlish
youglish.com › pronounce › they › english › us
They | 3613887 pronunciations of They in American English
Self-Record & Review: Record yourself saying 'they' in sentences. Listen back to identify areas for improvement. YouTube Pronunciation Guides: Search YouTube for how to pronounce 'they' in English.
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ShowMeWord
showmeword.com › definition › english_word › they
They: definition, pronunciation, transcription, examples
Definition of the English word 'they', American and British pronunciation, transcription, examples
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Forvo
forvo.com › word › they're
they're pronunciation: How to pronounce they're in English
Pronunciation guide: Learn how to pronounce they're in English with native pronunciation. they're translation and audio pronunciation