How to pronounce "his eyes" in English — Connected Speech Guide (IPA /hɪˈzaɪz/)

How native English speakers pronounce "his eyes" (IPA /hɪˈzaɪz/) — connected speech rule, example sentences, and audio for GA and RP. Free. z→eyes link

his eyes pronunciation (IPA /hɪˈzaɪz/) — Linking

What happens in this phrase

z→eyes link

Example sentences

I love his eyes.
his eyes are blue.
Look at his eyes.
his eyes were closed.

Common mistakes by native language

Japanese speakers

Mistake: Devoicing the final consonant of "his" to [s] and adding a pause before "eyes": "HISU, AIZU".

Why: Japanese has no voiced-z equivalent at the end of a word in this context, and katakana loanwords devoice and separate final consonants with an extra vowel.

Fix: Keep "his" fully voiced as [hɪz] and link the z directly onto "eyes": [hɪˈzaɪz], one smooth flowing phrase.

Korean speakers

Mistake: Pronouncing "his" with a clipped, unvoiced final sound before a short break, then starting "eyes" separately.

Why: Korean lacks a voiced /z/ sound entirely, so learners often substitute a voiceless [s] and treat the word as phonetically "closed".

Fix: Voice the final consonant of "his" fully and let it glide into the vowel of "eyes": [hɪˈzaɪz], keeping the buzz of [z] going right up to the diphthong.

Chinese speakers

Mistake: Producing "his" and "eyes" as two distinct syllables with a small gap, and losing the voicing on the final z.

Why: Mandarin does not distinguish voiced and voiceless sibilants in this position, so the z/s contrast and the linking that depends on it are both easy to miss.

Fix: Link the voiced z of "his" straight into "eyes" with no gap: [hɪˈzaɪz], keeping continuous voicing across the whole phrase.

Similar phrase patterns

as soon as — a final s/z links onto a following vowel: A longer phrase built on the same sibilant-to-vowel linking principle, showing how common this pattern is with words ending in s or z.
in it — n links onto a following vowel: A parallel linking pattern with a nasal instead of a sibilant — both show that English never pauses between a final consonant and a following vowel.
an egg — n links onto a following vowel: Another vowel-initial second word, useful for practicing the general rule that any word-final consonant reaches across to a following vowel regardless of which consonant it is.

Practice sentences

His eyes lit up when he saw the gift. (describing a reaction)
I could see his eyes were tired. (describing appearance)
Close his eyes gently before the photo. (giving instructions)
Her father's eyes and his eyes look identical. (comparing family features)
His eyes never left the screen. (describing focus)

Notes

"His eyes" links a voiced sibilant to a following diphthong, and getting the linking right depends first on getting the voicing right: "his" ends in [z], not [s], even though the spelling might suggest otherwise. Once the z is correctly voiced, it links effortlessly onto the vowel that opens "eyes", producing [hɪˈzaɪz] as one continuous phrase rather than two separate words. This is the same general linking rule seen throughout connected English speech — no pause exists between a word-final consonant and a following vowel — but it is worth practicing specifically with voiced sibilants like z, since many learners either devoice the sound or add an unnecessary break at the word boundary, both of which make the phrase sound stilted. RP and General American treat this phrase identically, with no regional variation in the linking or the vowel quality of "eyes". Because possessive pronouns like "his", "her", and "its" frequently precede vowel-initial nouns, this exact linking pattern recurs constantly across everyday descriptions of people and objects.