How to pronounce “live”
“live” is said two ways
/lɪv/
liv
To be alive, to reside. Short i, as in give.
/laɪv/
lyve
Happening now — a live show, a live wire. Rhymes with hive.
Listen for the vowel, not the letters
The spelling never moves; the sounds inside it do. Practise the two back to back, so your mouth stops defaulting to whichever one you learnt first.Both forms live in one sentence here: “They live above the studio where the live shows are recorded.”Each button plays a short phrase rather than the bare word: the model voice takes its stress from the words around it, so asking it for “live” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the verb and the adjective. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “live” in one beat
live
/lɪv/
Everything in this card describes the verb form. As an adjective it is /laɪv/.
The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- livelɪv
- IPA (American)
- /lɪv/
- IPA (British)
- /lɪv/
- Respelling
- liv (verb) · lyve (adjective)
- Syllables
- 1 — live
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /lɪv/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- verb, adjective, adverb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
Where “live” goes wrong
- Often heard
“lyve in London”
the verb is liv with a short i; lyve is the adjective for broadcasts and wires
What “live” means
- verb
inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of
“People lived in Africa millions of years ago”
- verb
lead a certain kind of life; live in a certain style
“we had to live frugally after the war”
- verb
continue to live through hardship or adversity
“We went without water and food for 3 days”
Say it in a sentence
“They live above the studio where the live shows are recorded.”“live”, answered
How do you pronounce “live”?
“live” has two pronunciations: /lɪv/ as a verb and /laɪv/ as an adjective — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the sounds inside it do, and nothing on the page tells you which one a sentence wants. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the verb form. It is one unbroken piece — /lɪv/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “live” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /lɪv/ — a single beat.
Which pronunciation of “live” is correct?
Both are. /lɪv/ (liv) as a verb; /laɪv/ (lyve) as an adjective. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does, and the two are as different as any two words. Both appear here: “They live above the studio where the live shows are recorded.”
What does “live” mean?
As a verb: inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of For example: “People lived in Africa millions of years ago” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “live”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /lɪv/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “live” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.