English Teacher Melanie

Helping English learners move from the classroom into the real world!

  • Home
  • Vocabulary
  • Grammar
  • Study Tips
  • Reading

American Accent Pronunciation: N + T = Silent T (video)

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Melanie

American Accent Pronunciation: N + T = Silent T (video)

January 3, 2013 by Melanie

Share99
Tweet6
+16
Share
Shares 111

In this English lesson, you’re going to learn something that will help you better UNDERSTAND American English speakers, AND it will help you SOUND more American.

You’re going to learn how to pronounce words like center, disappointed, & internet

 

In fast speech, American English speakers often don’t pronounce the T after an N in a word. [Click here to tweet this!]

 

Listen carefully to these 5 words & repeat after me:

entertain
counter
printer
twenty
accountable

When you make the /n/ sound, the tongue goes up and the front of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth. This is the same as the starting position for the ‘t’ sound. So instead of trying to make two separate sounds, just don’t say the T!

This is a very common feature of fast speech.

Here are some more examples:

international
percentage
seventy
wanted
painter

It’s not wrong to fully pronounce the ‘t’ and say ‘international.’ In fact, you’ll hear Americans say both ‘international’ and ‘innernational.’ You should listen for both and know that they are the same word.

This also happens with the n + d combination, since the ‘t’ and ‘d’ sounds are the exact same mouth position.

handsome
landscape
grandparents
understand
underneath

Let’s try some practice sentences:

I don’t understand!

I was really disappointed with my interview.

I flew from Toronto to Atlanta.

I went over to my friend’s house.

That’s it! Don’t worry if this difficult for you at first! It takes 21 days to form a new habit, so keep practicing!

I hope this video helped you better understand the American accent.

 

Share99
Tweet6
+16
Share
Shares 111

Filed Under: Blog, Pronunciation Tagged With: consonants, videos

Comments

  1. Edson Nascimento says

    February 2, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    Hello Teacher Melaine!

    I’m a brazilian guy who love your posts, everytime when I enter in it I really find out things to improve my English.
    Now I’ll manage this exercise in the company and college.

    Thanks at all.

  2. Arzu says

    March 25, 2013 at 2:59 am

    Hello teacher Melanie…
    I am Arzu.I am Azeri.thank you for these lessons..I want to speak american english
    fluently and I love american accent..I am try to speak..thank you so much…

  3. Anh says

    April 18, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    Hi Melanie,

    How do you pronounce the word “accounting”? Is it a “silent t” or a “d” sound?

    Thanks,

    • Melanie says

      April 18, 2013 at 8:36 pm

      Good question!

      In fast speech, you can skip the ‘t’ in ‘accounting.’ If you are speaking slowly, then the ‘t’ is pronounced.

      = )

      • Anh says

        April 21, 2013 at 1:54 pm

        Thanks a lot. Because I remember that some pronounce accounting as “accounding”, but it should be “accouning,” right?

        • Melanie says

          April 21, 2013 at 7:49 pm

          You are correct! It may have sounded similar to a ‘d’ because the starting tongue position for the /d/ sound is the same as the tongue position for the /n./ When you’re speaking fast, it sounds like ‘accouning.’

          • Anh says

            April 25, 2013 at 2:37 am

            Thank you

  4. magimaidass says

    July 1, 2013 at 2:37 pm

    hello teacher. Its me magi from India.
    Its my deed to appreciate you that you are doing good job.
    I m also taking american accent training now and certain things are quite impressive
    let me tell this to other of my friends.
    keep going teacher.

  5. stella says

    August 1, 2013 at 7:08 am

    hi melanie! i am stella,

    how do you pronounce the word ‘adventure’, is the ‘t’ silent?

    • MelanieMelanie says

      August 5, 2013 at 2:47 pm

      Hi, Stella!

      Good question! The ‘t’ in ‘adventure’ is not silent. The -ture is pronounced ‘cher’ /tʃɚ/, like in ‘watcher’ or ‘catcher.’

      = )

      • stella says

        August 6, 2013 at 6:48 am

        thank you very very very much!
        stella

  6. Denis says

    August 29, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    Hi, Melanie
    I’m Denis form Ukraine.
    Surprisingly deep explanation of t reduction here and in the lesson about buying a dress – have never met so detailed tutorial.
    I have one question though
    I’m watching “Iron Man” right now, and , very often they say “can’t” in so reduced way that it sounds like “can” 100%. For example 1:19
    – You don— remember?
    – I can— help you.
    How can you understand it correctly?

    • MelanieMelanie says

      September 3, 2013 at 2:30 pm

      Hi, Denis!

      Thank you for your kind words about my explanations.

      Actually, there is an important difference that you need to listen for between ‘can’ and ‘can’t.’ Don’t listen for the T. Listen to the vowel sound and the /n/. Both are shortened in negative contractions. In a contraction like ‘can’t,’ the T is held. There is no release of air at the end of it. It shortens or cuts off the /n/, which shortens the vowel sound, too.

      It takes a lot of time & practice to hear & make the difference. I can hear the difference because I’ve been listening to English all my life, but I understand this is something very difficult for English learners.

      = )

  7. julio says

    October 5, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Dear Melanie, I am grateful to you for your useful site devoted entirely for non-native english speaking students . About the silent T : On my way to LA the flight had a connection in Atlanta and yes, when the captain announced that the plane was about to land in Atlanta and I didn´t hear the T. Another word that I should practice without pronouncing the T is ” Continental ” kind regards.

  8. Jerry says

    February 5, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    Hi Melaine,

    Thanks for the detailed breakdown. This is something that has always concerns me as an ESL speaker. I have a couple of question:

    1/ so in fast speech understand would be pronounced as “unnerstand” is that correct?
    2/ I also noticed at 2.41 of the video you sounded like “I went over DO my friend’s house”. I’ve notices native speakers always pronounce “to” like “do” in a lot of instances, and I would appreciate it if you could give a comprehensive rule as to how to pronounce the “t” sound in these instances.

    Thank you so much
    A zealous American accent learner =)

    • MelanieMelanie says

      February 6, 2014 at 2:07 pm

      Hi, Jerry!

      Good questions!

      1. Yes, you are correct. In fast speech ‘understand’ sounds more like ‘unnerstand.”

      2. Actually, I didn’t say TO or DO! There are two reasons for this:
      a. In the sentence “I went over to my friend’s house”, TO is a function word. It’s a grammar word that makes the sentence grammatically correct, but it isn’t an important word. In natural, fast speech, function words are not stressed, and they are often reduced. So, when I said that sentence the vowel became the reduced vowel sound /ə/ (the schwa sound).

      b. The word ‘over’ was before TO. ‘Over’ ends in the vowel r sound /ɚ/. So, the letter T in TO is at the beginning of an unstressed syllable (it’s a reduced function word), and it is in between two vowel sounds: /ɚ/ and /ə/. When that happens, the T becomes a “tapped T” sound: It’s not a T sound nor is it a D sound. It’s in between. Your tongue does a quick tap on the roof of your mouth.

      Good luck to your with your American accent!
      = )

  9. Miranda says

    February 5, 2014 at 11:01 pm

    Hi Melaine,

    Your video helps me a lot. I’ve heard a lot of american friends of mine pronounce “today” and “tonight” like “doday” and “donight”. For example, the word “tonight” in “What are you doing tonight?” sounds to me like “donight”, or “tomorrow” in “see you tomorrow” sounds like “duh-morrow”. Does this make sense? Can you explain why such words are pronounced in such a way, and in what cases should I pronounce them like that so I would sound more like American accent? I hope my question is clear enough. Thank you. Best regards!

    • MelanieMelanie says

      February 6, 2014 at 2:18 pm

      Hi, Miranda!

      This is an excellent question! Actually, I don’t think you’re hearing a /d/ at all! I think you’re hearing /n/, but it sounds like /d/ because both have the same starting mouth position.

      Here’s what’s going on:
      1. In the words TODAY and TONIGHT, the first syllable TO is unstressed. It’s pronounced /tə/.
      2. In fast, natural speech, the /ɪŋ/ ING sound at the end of DOING is not pronounced. People often say DOIN, dropping the ING at the end of the word, and the word sounds like /duən/.
      3. So, now you have an N before a T! In natural, fast speech, the T is often not pronounced after an N.
      4. So, “doing tonight” ends up sounding like “What are you /duə nə/ night?”

      This is why English learners have such a hard time understand natural spoken American English!

      Good luck with your American accent!
      = )

  10. Abdullah says

    April 29, 2014 at 3:16 am

    Thank u very much, for teaching me a nice way.

  11. simin says

    June 5, 2014 at 7:52 am

    Hi Melanie,
    I m so glad to see u and ur help!
    I m a teacher actually and want to be better and improve in english amap!!
    tnx a lot….

Posted in Blog, PronunciationTagged Blog, Pronunciation

Post navigation

Previous: December 2012
Next: English Vocabulary: Don’t Call It a Toilet!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Food or Foods? Fruit or Fruits? When is It OK to Use Foods and Fruits?
  • Vocabulary Spotlight on: Relationships
  • Vocabulary – Sometimes, Sometime & Some Time
  • Learn Some English Words about SEX from James Bond Movies!
  • How to Use the Verb “Go”

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Archives

  • January 2025
  • October 2017
  • May 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • May 2015
  • January 2015
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • September 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • May 2011
  • February 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009

Categories

  • Blog
  • Blogiversary
  • Canada
  • Canada Fun Facts!
  • Grammar
  • Podcast
  • Popular
  • Pronunciation
  • Reading
  • Seasonal
  • Study Tip
  • Study Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Vocabulary
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Amazon Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in