How to pronounce "the rest of them" in English — Connected Speech Guide (IPA /ðəˈrɛstəvðəm/)

How native English speakers pronounce "the rest of them" (IPA /ðəˈrɛstəvðəm/) — connected speech rule, example sentences, and audio for GA and RP. Free. of→/əv/; them→/ðəm/

the rest of them pronunciation (IPA /ðəˈrɛstəvðəm/) — Elision

What happens in this phrase

of→/əv/; them→/ðəm/

Example sentences

Take the rest of them.
the rest of them agreed.
Where are the rest of them?
the rest of them stayed.

Common mistakes by native language

Japanese speakers

Mistake: Pronouncing "of" with a full vowel and clear v sound, and giving "them" its full unreduced form, like "resuto obu zemu".

Why: Katakana English preserves "of" and "them" as fully articulated words with clear vowels, which conflicts with how heavily both are reduced in fast, natural English speech.

Fix: Reduce "of" to [əv] and "them" to a light [ðəm]: [ðəˈrɛstəvðəm]. The phrase should flow as one continuous unit, "thuh-REST-uv-thəm", with no strong stress on either function word.

Korean speakers

Mistake: Stressing "them" as strongly as "rest", since it appears at the end of the phrase and feels like it should carry emphasis.

Why: Korean sentence-final elements are often pronounced with clear articulation and sometimes added emphasis, so learners assume the final word of an English phrase deserves similar prominence.

Fix: Keep "them" light and unstressed — the real stress of the phrase falls on "rest", not on "of" or "them": REST-uv-thəm, with the final two words trailing off quickly and quietly.

Mandarin/Cantonese speakers

Mistake: Pronouncing "of them" as two clearly separated words with a small gap, treating them as independent units rather than a reduced trailing pair.

Why: Without a strong tradition of vowel reduction on function words, Mandarin and Cantonese speakers often keep "of" and "them" acoustically distinct rather than compressing them together after the stressed word "rest".

Fix: Blend "of them" into one smooth trailing unit right after the stressed "rest": rest-əv-ðəm, with both function words reduced and running together, never pronounced as separate, equally weighted syllables.

Similar phrase patterns

the best of both — of reduces to /əv/ in a parallel definite noun phrase: Same "the [noun] of [noun/pronoun]" structure with the identical weakening of "of", differing mainly in what follows it.
a matter of time — of reduces to weak vowel form: Shares the core reduction of "of", though this phrase additionally features a flapped t in "matter" that "the rest of them" doesn't have.
none of your business — of reduces to /ə/ before a possessive pronoun: A structurally close parallel where "of" again weakens heavily before a pronoun-like word, reinforcing how consistent this reduction is across idioms.

Practice sentences

Take the rest of them; I don't need any more. (offering remaining items to someone)
The rest of them agreed to the plan without any objections. (describing group consensus)
Where are the rest of them? We're missing three people. (asking about missing members of a group)
The rest of them stayed behind while we went ahead. (describing a group splitting up)
I only finished half the boxes — the rest of them are still in the garage. (describing incomplete tasks)

Notes

"The rest of them" refers to the remaining members or items of a group already mentioned or implied — people who stayed behind, objects not yet dealt with, or anything left over after some has been accounted for. It's a very common phrase in both spoken narration and everyday conversation, used whenever a speaker shifts focus from a subset back to the remainder of a larger group. Pronunciation-wise, both function words in the phrase reduce heavily in fluent speech: "of" weakens to [əv] and "them" softens to a light [ðəm], with almost all of the phrase's stress concentrated on "rest". Learners who pronounce "of" and "them" with full vowels and even stress will sound stilted, since native listeners expect this trailing pair to compress quickly and quietly after the one stressed content word.