How to pronounce "yesterday" in English
ˈjɛstərdeɪ
YES·tər·day
Primary stress: YES
Hear native speakers say yesterday in context across real video clips
Linguistic Pronunciation Masterclass: “yesterday”
Phonetic mechanics, syllable architecture, and conversational cadence
Syllable Architecture & Stress Distribution
YES
Gliding diphthong with sustained vocal resonance.
tər
Neutral schwa (⁄ə⁄): relaxed jaw, brief unstressed breath.
day
Neutral schwa (⁄ə⁄): relaxed jaw, brief unstressed breath.
Primary emphasis falls on the first syllable ("YES"). Raise your pitch and sustain the vowel length on this syllable while relaxing the surrounding syllables.
Common Pronunciation Traps & Learner Mistakes
The Trap: Avoid pronouncing every vowel with full acoustic weight. Non-native speakers often over-enunciate unstressed vowels.
How Native Speakers Say It: Only give full vowel clarity to the primary stressed syllable. Relax all unstressed vowels into a neutral, low-energy schwa (⁄ə⁄).
Connected Speech & Natural Conversational Flow
When "yesterday" is followed by a word starting with a vowel, glide the final consonant into the opening vowel (e.g. "yesterday is" sounds like "yesterday-iz").
Maintain the stress-timed rhythm of English: compress unstressed syllables rapidly so the beat of "yesterday" aligns naturally with adjacent words.
Authentic Spoken Quotes from Native Video Context
“yesterday, you know, next year better than this year.”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
“Yesterday I had a session with the Black and Latinx members of my team, and I heard such stories.”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
“"Yesterday, security staff at Bletchley Park started an investigation following the discovery of a body of intelligence officer John”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
“yesterday morning of uh Trump actually talking about not allowing West African immigrants to come into the country um”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
“Yesterday was such a shock, but also just so-- it's so nice to see that people love it.”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
“Yesterday, we were with a group of 80 teenagers, and we were looking at their Snap scores.”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
Practice Speaking “yesterday”
Listen to native pronunciation, record yourself repeating the sentence into your microphone, and receive real-time word-by-word accuracy scoring.
yesterday, you know, next year better than this year.
Hear it in context: “yesterday”
26,226 clipsThe English word “yesterday” is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as ˈjɛstərdeɪ (phonetic respelling: YES-tər-day). Phonologically, it consists of 3 syllables (YES · tər · day), with primary lexical stress placed on the 1st (initial) syllable (YES). Grammatically, “yesterday” functions as a noun, adverb. SayItVid indexes 26,226 authentic English video clips demonstrating how native speakers articulate “yesterday” in natural connected speech across American (US: 8 sampled), British (UK), and Australian (AUS) accents.
Spoken Video Transcripts & Contextual Quotes (5 Verified Clips)
- 🇺🇸 USClip #1 · @14:54
“it, you try to make tomorrow better than yesterday, you know, next year better than this year. Everybody just keeps doing the same thing. And that's because than this year. Everybody just keeps”
- 🇺🇸 USClip #2 · @29:10
“I think that's a great way to put it. Yesterday I had a session with the Black and Latinx members of my team, and I heard such stories. of my team, and I heard such stories.”
- 🇺🇸 USClip #3 · @32:37
“a reference to our friend. "Yesterday, security staff at Bletchley Park started an investigation following the discovery of a body of intelligence officer John started an investigation following”
- 🇺🇸 USClip #4 · @34:35
“from uh Nigeria sent me a video yesterday morning of uh Trump actually talking about not allowing West African immigrants to come into the country um talking about not allowing West African”
- 🇺🇸 USClip #5 · @2:28
“It was just the most incredible thing. Yesterday was such a shock, but also just so-- it's so nice to see that people love it. it's so nice to see that people love it.”
Definition & Meaning: “yesterday”
- The day immediately before today; one day ago.
- The past, often in terms of being outdated.
- On the day before today.
- As soon as possible.
Example Sentences (3)
- “Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow.”
- “yesterday's technology”
- “yesterday, you know, next year better than this year. Everybody just keeps doing the same thing. And that's because”
Common Phrases & Collocations
Pronounce: “yesterday”
- Pronunciation:
- YES-tər-day
- Syllables:
- YES · tər · day
- Written Hyphenation:
- yes · ter · day
- Primary stress:
- YES
- IPA:
- ˈjɛstərdeɪ
- Hear it in context
- yesterday
Words that Rhyme with “yesterday”
-ɛstərdeɪWords that Sound Identical (Homophones)
Unique Sound"yesterday" (⁄ˈjɛstərdeɪ⁄) has no true homophones in standard English — there are no other words with identical pronunciation. Unlike sound-alike pairs like there / their or peace / piece, "yesterday" has a completely distinct phonetic identity.
Frequently asked questions about yesterday
How do you pronounce “yesterday”?
“yesterday” is pronounced ⁄ˈjɛstərdeɪ⁄ (YES-tər-day). Listen to the native-speaker clips above to hear it in real conversation.
How many syllables are in “yesterday”?
“yesterday” has 3 syllables: YES · tər · day.
Where is the stress in “yesterday”?
The primary stress in “yesterday” is on “YES”. Listen for that stressed syllable in the clips above.
What does “yesterday” mean?
The day immediately before today; one day ago.
How can I hear “yesterday” used in real sentences?
This page has 26226 real-world video examples of “yesterday” with synchronized subtitles. Use Previous / Next (or ← / → keys) to hear each one at the exact moment it is spoken.
What is the most common pronunciation mistake when saying “yesterday”?
Avoid pronouncing every vowel with full acoustic weight. Non-native speakers often over-enunciate unstressed vowels. Only give full vowel clarity to the primary stressed syllable. Relax all unstressed vowels into a neutral, low-energy schwa (⁄ə⁄).