How to do a Scouse accent (Liverpool)

This is a guide to the accent of Liverpool - Scouse. It's a melting pot of sounds heavily influenced by Irish immigration, Welsh English and Northern English dialects. It's spoken by film star Jodie Comer, footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold and comedian John Bishop. Special thanks to @theredmentv for allowing me to use clips from their channel. If you want more examples of Scouse accents go check it out.

FREE BRITISH ACCENT ONLINE COURSE

👨🏼‍🏫 LEARN WITH TEACHER TOM
If you are searching for courses or books to help you learn British English, check out these great resources below:

FREE RESOURCES

COURSES

BOOKS

PRIVATE LESSONS

NEWSLETTER

WEBSITE

WANT MORE ENGLISH VIDEOS? 🎥

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Famous Scousers
00:50 History & Geography
01:48 The /K/ sound
03:46 Free Resources
04:03 The /T/ as /H/
05:14 The Tapped /R/
06:03 The /T/ as /TS/
06:54 Free Resources
07:14 The /ɜː/ Sound
08:28 The /H/ Sound
08:40 The /ʊ/ Sound
09:05 The /æ/ Sound
09:41 The /ð/ as /D/
10:06 Intonation
11:07 ACCENT TEST
12:00 Outro

[onlymise]

A Dubliner here .. I lived in england for a few years . The Pool was the only place I did not continually have to repeat myself .. Big Dub Influence in the scouse accent

[robinhughes]

Love the accent and they are the most friendly people in the world they always make you feel special and worthy and I'm a Londoner ❤

[carlh]

Start with a basic Lancashire accent, mix in a hefty dose of Irish and Northern Welsh, then stir in a pinch of Norwegian and you have the Scouse accent.

[BobAt]

I am a Scouser, but been in Scotland for 20years and still when i speak to people that I don't know it is not uncommon for them to say 'are you from Liverpool' see I still have a Scouse accent after 20 years which proves , once a Scouser always a Scouser .

[nickcarter]

Scouse is great! Liverpool is awesome! Friendly people! Would love to move there!

[danilaird]

I first heard this accent by The Beatles and then The Spice Girls' Mel C and I love it! I am from Trenton, New Jersey and we put d on that, these, this, etc. so it kind of reminds me of my own accent in ways but different in ways also. I had a huge crush on Mel C so I love the scouse accent.

[anncurrie]

It depends on what end of Liverpool you live in. The south end of Liverpool is more like John Lennon and Paul Mccartney, North end is Cilla Black and John Bishop. The new Liverpool accent! Well I don't know where that's from I have lived in Liverpool all my life (70 years) and I don't understand it 😅

[sandradowling-horgan]

As an Aussie Anglophile and mad Beatles fan, I love this video and the Scouse accent. I did a Beatles tour in Liverpool many years ago, and I hope to go with hubby one day in the future. Such friendly people in Liverpool.
Thanks for this interesting video 😊

[MM-Iconoclast]

I'm chatting wth a scouser online. They were soo impressed that I even knew the term - ha. But soon we'll probably switch to phone or zoom, so gotta make sure I can understand them! This video helped a lot! It'll be fun (foon!) for however long it lasts!

[Wurstkiste]

I am a native German. I grew up in a barracks with Englishmen for 18 years in the 70s, 1 kilometer from the Dutch border! And now you can guess where I know this dialect "Scouse" from!? That's right! It is amazingly identical to the Dutch pronunciation. Amazingly

[Isilwern]

I went to uni to Liverpool John Moores. Im Spanish, Asturias. And I love scouse because although sometimes is hard to get.... is really has the same musicality, the ts sound... as my regional language )Bable/Asturian) where we also mix and match Asturian worlds in Castillian. So, this feels like home to me and makes it easier for me to speak English without renouncing my homeland accent. Actually, when I was living there no one believed me when I said I'm Spanish, so imagine!!

[kanzeon]

Scouse is an amazing accent. One of the more richest when it comes to phonetic features and intonation

[jonathanj]

The t at the end of a word is only dropped out changed to a h when the following word starts with a constonent, if it is followed by a vowel or at the end of a sentence then we pronounce the t, except for "that" and "it" the t is always dropped with those two

[mohammedumarfarhan]

How r u Tom? It's been a long time. I used to follow you religiously back in 2017-20. It's so heartwhelming how ur channel as grown and how u help thousands around the globe to improve their English. Mah u always stay blessed mate

[gula_rata]

Thank you for this video! As a Japanese our English education system is just teaching American accent or Queens accent. But it sounds boring, so I want to sound like a Scouse. I watch Red Dwarf and studying Lister's speaking.

[jeansmith]

Loved this - you are really good! I usually hate my scouse accent - but you're right, it's pretty special!

[manuelapm]

I felt in love with the scouse accent, city and people as much that I left my life behind and moved to Liverpool. I m not joking ❤ But after 6 months of living in Merseyside one day I went to the pharmacy and I left "crying" hahah I couldn't understand a single word the pharmaceutical said, she had to write it down for me 😂 so frustrating but still loving it 😊

[nitishsaxena]

Love the Scouse accent!! from India. I wish there was a movie in only this accent 😂

[anthonyo.]

Liverpool East of Dublin YNWA, the dish Scouse came from Norwegian sailors who were in the city.

[marysobczak]

I love your site, true Scouse accents. I'm from Birkenhead, but have lived in Australia for 50 years. I still have my Scouse accent and proud of it.