Hey guys, it’s Hadar. And this is the Accent’s Way, your way to finding clarity, confidence, and freedom in English. This video is for Francisco, who asked me how to pronounce the word ‘focus’. Focus. I often hear this word pronounced as ‘fowcuws’ or ‘focuws’. So, let’s break it down and listen to the subtle nuances in the word.

It begins with ‘fow’. So it’s an F sound, the bottom lip touches the top teeth. And then it’s a long ‘ow’ as in ‘go’ – ‘fow’. So it’s not a new pure O sound, it’s a long ‘ow’ vowel. So basically, you open your mouth for the O and then you close it towards a W sound ‘fow’. So you really want to visualize this word spelled with W – ‘fowcus’.

Then you shift to a K sound, a schwa, and an S – k’s. All right? So again, although the letter U is there, it is not pronounced. It’s a schwa, it’s reduced. k’s. ‘fow-k’s’. And since the first syllable is the primary stress, it’s a little higher in pitch – ‘FOW-k’s’. ‘Let’s focus, guys’. ‘It’s a great focus group’. ‘You have to focus’.

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