# says  [pronunciation]



## Jigoku no Tenshi

Hello Everybody!

I wonder how do you pronounce "says"? that's right "says", Because, I thought It was just like "say" but with an "S" at the end of it, or like 6 in Spanish (seis), but I heard an English teacher with another pronunciation, like "ces" just like cell but with an "S" for the "ll" instead, or send but without the "nd" and an "S" instead, so I'm Confussed now. I bet I confussed you with the sounds explanation, but It's hard to me spelling sounds like you do, of course without the IPA symbols

So the question for all the English Speakers How is properly said "says"?

I hope you can help


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## Joelline

Hi,

As an AE speaker, I generally pronounce "says" like SEZ (rhyming with "fez":  short e).

Joelline


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## la reine victoria

In BE it is also pronounced SEZ.






LRV


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## gotitadeleche

I also pronounce it _sez_ (same _e_ sound as in bed), but I have a tape of an English doctor (I don't know what part of England) who pronounces it _saze_ (or as you said, like _say_ with a _z_ sound on the end).


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## elextro987

i say it _saze/say _with an_ s it sounds more proper doesnt it
sez sounds really slangy
_


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## JamesM

elextro987 said:


> i say it _saze/say _with an_ s it sounds more proper doesnt it_
> _sez sounds really slangy_


 
Welcome to the forum, elextro987!  

It may be simply a regional difference, but it would sound distinctly odd to me to hear "says" pronounced as "say" with a "z" (or "s") sound at the end.

Both pronunciations are used in American English, according to Merriam-Webster, but I can't say that I've heard it more than a few times in my life from a U.S. native.


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## konungursvia

The most common pronunciation is /sez/ rhyming with fez, but the original pronunciation, still heard in Oxfordshire and southern Blighty, is /seiz/, rhyming with days.


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## Alxmrphi

BE, we use both, "saze" I think is a lot more common over there than in America, but generally as the others have said, it's "sez"


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## ajohan

It often depends on the speed of delivery and whether or not there is elision and emphasis.
He says it's fine /sez/
So that is what he says (with 'that and 'says' as the tonic syllables) /seiz/


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## sound shift

I say /sez/.
I had a mate from Lancashire who said /seyz/.


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## ernest_

It is /seiz/ and the proof is that in London they say /saiz/.
--
But "said" is /sed/ this is true.


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## Tom Spinanera

The only people I have ever heard saying "saze" are from the north of England. You can't go wrong anywhere with "sez".
Even if I were overpronouncing to make a point I would still use "sez".


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## my-own-fantasy

> It may be simply a regional difference, but it would sound distinctly odd to me to hear "says" pronounced as "say" with a "z" (or "s") sound at the end.


Hi,
I agree with the above quote. I would find it very strange to hear it pronounced like that. (as in rhyming with maze...)
I have never heard someone say it like that. None of my peers, teachers, family, nor I say it like that.
Hope it helps!


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## ajohan

I do, but as Tom Spinera says /seiz/, I'm from the N of E. Good observation Tom


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## Forero

I have never heard _says_ as _say_ + _z_, only as "sez".  Same vowel as "said" and "bed".


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## tanager

In fact, I have seen "says" purposely written "sez" by authors writing dialogue (Pynchon, for one).


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## Jigoku no Tenshi

Forero said:


> I have never heard _says_ as _say_ + _z_, only as "sez". Same vowel as "said" and "bed".


 
"Said" it's the same case, Since "say" is pronounce "Say" non-natives might think that "said" is pronounced "say + d" but it's not!, it is "Sed" just like "bed", since there are people who actually say "say + z" or "Saze", Now I wonder if there are people who also say "Say + d" or  "Sade"?


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## Forero

Here's a summary of what I think we've got so far:

Long "a" sound: pay, pays, paid, lay, lays, laid, say.
Short "e" sound: said.
Short "e" sound except in certain locales (e.g. Northern England): says.


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## Forero

I'm wondering if "says" pronounced regularly ("say" + z) is due to Scots influence or if "says" pronounced irregularly ("sez") is an innovation due to French influence in the London, Sussex, etc.

Does anywhere besides northern England use the regular pronunciation?


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## mplsray

tanager said:


> In fact, I have seen "says" purposely written "sez" by authors writing dialogue (Pynchon, for one).


 
But at this point, is it not true that you have no way of knowing whether Pynchon was using eye-dialect (using a nonstandard spelling, such as _lissen,_ of a standard pronunciation) or pronunciation spelling (phonetically representing a pronunciation which is objectively different from his own)? In other words, the fact that Pynchon uses the spelling _sez_ for a character is no guarantee that Pynchon himself does not pronounce _says_ as "sez."

The same is true of people who write _wuz_ for _was._ It's necessary to do some research to determine whether the people who use such a spelling are writing eye dialect or simply using a pronunciation spelling.

I expect the vast majority of native speakers of English who say "sez" for _says_ and "wuz" for _was_ would be offended to find their speech quoted using those spellings----I pronounce them that way and I would certainly be offended--which is why I would always recommend _sez_ and _wuz_ be avoided.

Upon reconsideration: It occurs to me that by pointing out the use of _sez_ in dialogue, you may simply have been pointing out that _someone, somewhere,_ pronounces _says_ that way, which is, of course, true. My message was written based upon the idea that you may have thought Pynchon (and the other writers who use _sez_) did not themselves pronounce _says_ that way, an assumption on my part that may well be incorrect.


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## sound shift

Forero said:


> I'm wondering if "says" pronounced regularly ("say" + z) is due to Scots influence or if "says" pronounced irregularly ("sez") is an innovation due to French influence in the London, Sussex, etc.
> 
> Does anywhere besides northern England use the regular pronunciation?



I don't know what influences have been at work on the pronunciation of this word, but I do think it is misleading to call /seyz/ the _regular _pronunciation, as it is clearly neither the majority pronunciation nor the one recommended by the prescriptivists.


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## Forero

sound shift said:


> I don't know what influences have been at work on the pronunciation of this word, but I do think it is misleading to call /seyz/ the _regular _pronunciation, as it is clearly neither the majority pronunciation nor the one recommended by the prescriptivists.



By regular pronunciation I mean the one that follows the pronunciation rule of most verbs.  In particular, the rule of simply adding a _z_ sound to an infinitive that ends in a vowel.  The verbs that follow the rule outnumber those that don't (pays, stays, lays, prays, preys, overlays, etc.).


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## fillthespectrum

It also depends on the person, his or her background, etc. 

I speak a mix of AusE and NZE and I use "saze" but a friend (Australian-born, Scottish mother) found this absolutely hilarious and somewhat strange. 

I think most people in Australia use "sez" so maybe I'm just a bit odd.  And I have no idea why I pronounce it differently to other people either.


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## Loob

If you go to the WRF dictionary entry for "says" and click on 'US' or 'UK' after Listen, you can hear it pronounced.

Loob


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## gurseal

Generally pronounced like sez, rhymes with pez, right?


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## shiawasena gaijin

that's right.


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## gurseal

Thanks, shiawasena gaijin.


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## ewie

That's how I pronounce it here across the Atlantic Ocean, Gursea.


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## panjandrum

gurseal said:
			
		

> Generally pronounced like sez, rhymes with pez, right?





			
				ewie said:
			
		

> That's how I pronounce it here across the Atlantic Ocean, Gursea.


I'm confused.  I always thought _*pez*_, a 19th century variant of _peas_, was pronounced in the same way as the current *peas*.

But on the point; says rhymes with bays, days, jays, lays, pays, rays and ways.


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## ewie

Oh, I was thinking of *these Pez*, Panjo.


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## Cagey

The _WR Dictionary_'s audio clips of the AmE and BrE pronunciations of says sound very alike to me, and are similar to my pronunciation of _pez_.
_
Merriam-Webster_ has two pronunciations of _says_, one as above, and a second that resembles Panjandrum's description.  It does not identify them by dialect.

Perhaps a BrE speaker will tell us how accurate these are.


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## Loob

My _says _rhymes with "fez", and not with "days"....

(I don't know how to say "pez", except in Spanish.)


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## se16teddy

Some English people pronounce _says_ to rhyme with _days_ , but the commoner pronunciation is that it rhymes with _fez_.


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## ajo fresco

It always rhymes with with _fez_ here.  

The only time I've heard it rhymed with _days, ways_, etc., is for poetic effect, or by non-native speakers (I'm in no way suggesting that panjandrum falls into the latter category! )


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## elroy

My _says_ rhymes with _fez_, and the other pronunciation sounds non-native to me, too.  Is that the common pronunciation in Ireland?


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## panjandrum

elroy said:


> My _says_ rhymes with _fez_, and the other pronunciation sounds non-native to me, too.  Is that the common pronunciation in Ireland?


Both are used - and on reflection, I suspect that _sez_, like _fez_, is the more common version.
It depends on the speaker, the context, and the significance of _says _in the sentence.


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## gurseal

gurseal said:


> Generally pronounced like sez, rhymes with pez, right?


I must have done a poor job of searching for an existing thread on this topic, but I _did_ search. Honest.


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## Loob

I found the previous thread the "easy" way, gurseal  - by putting _pronunciation says _into Dictionary Look-up at the top of the page and choosing the English definition dictionary...


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## sound shift

I knew a bloke from Oldham (near Manchester, England) whose "says" rhymed with "days". He pulled me up for pronouncing it "sez" (but to no avail, as I still say it that way ).


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## Keith w

I find this a very interesting debate. I was brought up in the City of York, in the North of England and have always said "says" to rhyme with "days", taught by both my mother (who was an elocution teacher) and also by teachers at school.

To use "sez" as a pronunciation of "says" was considered vulgar and slang. To my ears "sez" sounds extremely coarse. 

I think much of this has to do with differences in generations. If you ask many people in this country to pronounce "says", those of retirement age and above will use "says" to rhyme with "days". Those who are younger will generally say "sez". As has previously been stated, there are also probably geographical influences as well as those relating to class. It is hard to imagine Winston Churchill, Noel Coward or Queen Mary, or any of the wartime BBC anouncers, such as John Snagge or Alvar Liddell,  using "sez".

So if you want to sound like Eliza Doolittle before the transformation use "sez", if you want to be passed off as a duchess use "says" to "rhyme" with "days"!

Keith


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## ewie

Queen Mary probably had a footman to say it _for her_

Welcome to the forum, Keith


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## espider

Normally sez, but when there is real emphasis, e.g "he SAYS that he is going to do it, but ........(I have my doubts)", it could become closer to "saze". In Cockney or Brummie 


-

as I was saying, in Cockney or Brummie, closer to "size" (as in pies)


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## Alxmrphi

espider... I agree, I was going to say it is more like "sayz", which is probably the same pronunciation as what you put "saze".


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## espider

Alex Murphy

being a Woolyback from Rock Ferry, I fully understand from your profile that your mother tongue is Martian! I can also hear in my head a (true) Scouser emphasising "sez" and coming out with "saze".


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## Brioche

Keith w said:


> I find this a very interesting debate. I was brought up in the City of York, in the North of England and have always said "says" to rhyme with "days", taught by both my mother (who was an elocution teacher) and also by teachers at school.
> 
> To use "sez" as a pronunciation of "says" was considered vulgar and slang. To my ears "sez" sounds extremely coarse.
> 
> I think much of this has to do with differences in generations. If you ask many people in this country to pronounce "says", those of retirement age and above will use "says" to rhyme with "days". Those who are younger will generally say "sez". As has previously been stated, there are also probably geographical influences as well as those relating to class. It is hard to imagine Winston Churchill, Noel Coward or Queen Mary, or any of the wartime BBC anouncers, such as John Snagge or Alvar Liddell,  using "sez".
> 
> So if you want to sound like Eliza Doolittle before the transformation use "sez", if you want to be passed off as a duchess use "says" to "rhyme" with "days"!
> 
> Keith




/seiz/ is a speak-as-you-spell pronunciation.

/sez/ is the traditional pronunciation of 'says'.
It has the same vowel in Received Pronunciation as 'said'.

See Daniel Jones "_English Pronouncing Dictionary_".

The archaic thou form 'saith' was also pronounced with same vowel as 'said'.

It would be very interesting to find recordings of Churchill or Coward where they use the word. My money is on /sez/.


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## Keith w

Thank you for the welcome ewie!

I find this very odd. I feel as though I have woken up in a parallel universe (must be the hadron collider!). I have still to find any one over the age of sixty five who would use 'sez' rather than 'sayze' and they are not all northerners! A lady I know who grew up in north London before the war, and who speaks with what would now be considered a 'well to do' clipped accent, was quite horrified to think she might say "sez"! I only became aware of its use on the BBC from the mid 1990's.

Some where I have an lp of Sir Winston reading his wartime speaches. I'll dig it out and see (or hear!) what he uses. Similarly I have Noel Coward singing his songs but he might have changed words to rhyme.

Sez still feels very uncomfortable to say - much along the lines of 'innit' - argh!

Keith


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## Alxmrphi

Well I kind of don't see the point of this discussion, I mean obviously there are two ways (accents aside) that people say this word, like "neither and neither" (NEEEther.. NIIIIther) or plenty of other examples.

The answer is there are two ways, I mean we can accept that people with accents say things differently, this is just something a bit more common.
If there is a person that says (no pun intended) it one way and another a different way now, why would it have been different 60 years ago?

Winston Churchill isn't the leader on perfect pronunciation either, (I don't mean that in a bad way, but I just mean drawing comparisons from certain people doesn't draw a conclusion) .. because back then I imagine it would have been said differently.


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## Keith w

Not wanting to annoy Mr Murphy (which I would hate to do), I would like to add that I have found two recordings which give an example of the pronunciaton of 'says' in the 1940's. 

One example is Alvar Lidell reading the news, the other is an unnamed BBC reporter. In both instances they pronounce 'says' as "serrz" and not the blunt 'sez' of today.

I'll go and hide in a corner now and shut up!


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## ewie

_Serrz_, Keith?  Do you mean like _sirs_?


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## Keith w

Hello ewie,

almost like sirs, but not quite. Something like across between sirs and sars!

I couldn't find an instance of Churchill unfortunately, although it might have been difficult to decipher through his speech impediment anyway.

Keith


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## espider

Grayson and Mr Cholomondley (Chumley?)- Warner (Keith W and Alex Murphy know the Harry Enfield characters I mean) may well have self-consciously said "saze", but that was then and this is now. Now, and irrespective of any class distinction, affected or otherwise, the norm is "sez", any deviation from that being, in my opinion, primarily a matter of stress and/or dialect and/or affectation and/or old age!


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## Åland

Keith w said:


> I find this a very interesting debate. I was brought up in the City of York, in the North of England and have always said "says" to rhyme with "days", taught by both my mother (who was an elocution teacher) and also by teachers at school.
> 
> To use "sez" as a pronunciation of "says" was considered vulgar and slang. To my ears "sez" sounds extremely coarse.
> 
> Keith



I completely agree with Keith w about _sez _being considered the slang version of _saiz_. As I also live within that area, it must be some sort of (very) local dialect. It makes me blush to think of all the (English language) students that I've taught who I've told to say _saiz _instead of _sed_.  

Åland


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## natkretep

Just a little note about Simon Hoggart's comment about Gordon Brown's pronunciations in his parliamentary sketch in the Guardian:





> His "saze" instead of "sez" for "says" is a  Scottish and northern thing, so doesn't really count.


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## funnyradion

How about the words "stays", "bays" and "plays"?
I have an exercise which asks me to cross out the different sound /s/ among says, stays, bays and plays. It really makes me confused. (
Help me, please!


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## Alxmrphi

I don't understand your question?
What options do you have?


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## funnyradion

I have 4 options: says, stays, plays and bays. What -s is different from the others?


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## Alxmrphi

funnyradion said:


> I have 4 options: says, stays, plays and bays. What -s is different from the others?



Ah, it's _says_.
It can also be pronounced "sez", though the way that rhymes with the other words is also valid.


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## funnyradion

By the way, could you please show me the rule of pronounce -s after vowel sounds?


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## Alxmrphi

funnyradion said:


> By the way, could you please show me the rule of pronounce -s after vowel sounds?



It's always [z].


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## funnyradion

oh, i get it!  Thanks so much for your help. However, Can I ask another question? says /sez/ "e" is also a vowel? why do we pronounce /z/ here?


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## Alxmrphi

funnyradion said:


> oh, i get it!  Thanks so much for your help. However, Can I ask another question? says /sez/ "e" is also a vowel? why do we pronounce /z/ here?



"e" is a vowel says, and when /s/ (like it is written) comes after a vowel, it is pronounced as [z] (like we said before).


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## funnyradion

how about "bays" or "plays". They are pronounced /beis/ or /beiz/ ? _ is also a vowel? _


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## Alxmrphi

funnyradion said:


> how about "bays" or "plays". They are pronounced /beis/ or /beiz/ ? _ is also a vowel? _


_

After diphthongs it can vary, "base" and "bays" are what you have written.
But it's [z] with 'bays' and 'plays'._


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## funnyradion

Actually, I don't want to bother you? Maybe I am too slow to catch up with what you said. So, with "says", it is /sez/, with "plays", it is /pleiz/, with "bays", it is /beiz/ and with stay, it is also /steiz/. Am I right? So, how can I cross out one of them to be a different sound? (


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## JamesM

I can't think of a word in English that ends in "ys" that doesn't use the "z" sound.

The sound difference in this case is in the vowel sound, not the ending.


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## Alxmrphi

Because one is [e] and the others are [ei].
If it's only about the "s" sound, then they are all the same, that's what you'll have to answer.


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## funnyradion

Yeah, I got your idea! I appreciate it very much!  You're so kind and gentle (to me ) 
Thanks thanks thanks!


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## natkretep

Funnyradion, do have a look at these threads:

The pronunciation of the (S) letter
pronunciation of final -ed and final -s
/s/ or /z/ pronunciation at the end of nouns

The main thing to remember is if the <s> represents the plural suffix of a noun (_tomatoes_, _bees_), or represents the suffix for verb (present tense, 3rd person singular - _goes, denies_) then it is always a /z/ sound if the words ends with a vowel sound.

In words like _base_ or _case_, the <s> does not represent a suffix.

So your question was not about /s/ v. /z/, but about the vowel sound, as Alex has indicated. (If you read further up this thread though, you will see that some English speakers use the same vowel in _plays_ and _says_ - so maybe it wasn't a good test question.)


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## Poland91pl

[This question has been added to a previous thread asking about the pronunciation of "says".  DonnyB - moderator]
I was taught not to pronounce the “ y” sound in” says “. So the pronunciation is / sez /. Would any native speaker US CA UK OR AUS say it like / seiz “? As in “ he says “ ?


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## Chasint

Poland91pl said:


> Would any native speaker US CA UK OR AUS say it like / seiz “? As in “ he says “ ?


To save you reading the whole thing: Yes, some regional accents have _seiz_ but, for most native speakers, it is pronounced _sez._



> WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2021
> 
> says  _(sez),_v.
> 
> 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. of  *say.*
> says - WordReference.com Dictionary of English


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