Additionally, the vowel sound in cut, bus, does, butter, and hut is called a wedge, and it's represented by a phonetic symbol that looks like an upside down "v". That sound shares a similar place of articulation, or pronounciation with the vowel in the word "th
e". Try,
the cut
the bus
the does
the butter
the hut
The sound represented by the letter "u" is pronounced like "e" in "the", but your jaw should be slightly lower, as MM suggests, but not much lower though, just slighty.
