/vɝbz/
verbs is pronounced /vɝbz/. verbs refers to words expressing action, occurrence, or state of being, typically as the base or past participle forms of a verb in grammatical constructions. In linguistics, ‘verbs’ denotes the category of words that serve as predicates in clauses, encoding tense, aspect, mood, voice, and agreement. The term also functions as the plural of verb, used when discussing many verb forms or instances.
Say it backverbs refers to words expressing action, occurrence, or state of being, typically as the base or past participle forms of a verb in grammatical constructions. In linguistics, ‘verbs’ denotes the category of words that serve as predicates in clauses, encoding tense, aspect, mood, voice, and agreement. The term also functions as the plural of verb, used when discussing many verb forms or instances.
"The verb tense indicates the time of an action."
"In our study, verbs are categorized by conjugation and aspect."
"She asked how many verbs are irregular in English."
Pronounce as /vɜrbz/ in US, and /vɜːbz/ in UK/AU. The initial sound is /v/ with lips gently touching teeth, followed by a stressed rhotic /ɜː/ (in non-rhotic accents, it may sound like /ə/). End with /bz/—the /b/ is voiced, then the z sound. The /r/ is pronounced in most US varieties; in many UK accents you’ll hear a reduced rhoticity, but the vowel remains central to the syllable. Stress is on the single syllable word.
Common errors: mispronouncing the vowel as a short /ɪ/ or /ə/ and mis-sequencing the consonants so it sounds like /vərbz/ with a reduced vowel. Correct by using the strong central /ɜː/ or /ɜ/ depending on accent, and ensure the /bz/ cluster is preserved (don’t devoice the z). Practice saying /vɜːbz/ slowly, then link quickly to avoid erasing the /ɜː/ before /bz/. Finally, avoid inserting a silent or unwarranted vowel between /v/ and /ɜː/ in careful speech.
US: /vɜːrbz/ with rhotic /r/ and a clear /ɜː/ or /ɜr/ depending on speaker. UK/AU: /vɜːbz/ with non-rhotic tendency in some British accents; vowel often lengthened to /ɜː/ and the /r/ is not pronounced in many UK contexts. AU tends toward /ɜː/ as in UK, but with Australian vowel quality that may be slightly more centralized. In all, the final /bz/ is consistent, but the vowel and rhoticity differ.
The difficulty centers on the vowel nucleus /ɜː/ which many learners substitute with /ɪ/ or /ə/, and on the voiced cluster /bz/ after the vowel; some speakers insert a schwa or misplace tongue position between /v/ and /ɜː/ leading to /vərbz/ or /vəbz/. Focus on a tight, central vowel, avoid reducing the vowel to a short schwa, and ensure the /b/ remains soft before the /z/. Also, keep the /r/ precise if your dialect uses rhotics.
The word’s key quirk is the short, tight vowel followed by a voiced bilabial cluster; you must avoid flapping or glottalization in some accents. Keep jaw relatively relaxed, lips rounded slightly for /v/ and avoid turning /vɜː/ into /vəɚ/. In careful speech, the sequence is crisp: /vɜːbz/ or /vɜrbz/ with steady breath pressure before the voiced /b/.
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The word verb derives from the Latin verb- from verbum meaning ‘a word’ or ‘word, verb, action.’ The Latin term verbum was used to classify words that denote action or state, and it passed into Old French as verbe, then Middle English as verbe or verben. In English, the singular ‘verb’ has long been used in grammar to denote a word that expresses action, occurrence, or a state of being, with plural ‘verbs’ used when discussing multiple such words or the category itself. The important shift was the grammatical sense: from naming a particular word to naming a grammatical category. Over time, English expanded verb forms (tenses, aspects, modal auxiliaries) and the plural form remained stable as the set of such words expands. First known English uses of the term appear in scholastic grammars from the 16th to 18th centuries, with “verb” appearing in Latin-influenced grammar texts that formalized parts of speech.
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Words that rhyme with "verbs"
-rbs sounds
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