American Accent Pronunciation: N + T = Silent T (video)
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.
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.
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…
Hi Melanie,
How do you pronounce the word “accounting”? Is it a “silent t” or a “d” sound?
Thanks,
Good question!
In fast speech, you can skip the ‘t’ in ‘accounting.’ If you are speaking slowly, then the ‘t’ is pronounced.
= )
Thanks a lot. Because I remember that some pronounce accounting as “accounding”, but it should be “accouning,” right?
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.’
Thank you
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.
hi melanie! i am stella,
how do you pronounce the word ‘adventure’, is the ‘t’ silent?
Hi, Stella!
Good question! The ‘t’ in ‘adventure’ is not silent. The -ture is pronounced ‘cher’ /tʃɚ/, like in ‘watcher’ or ‘catcher.’
= )
thank you very very very much!
stella
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?
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.
= )
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.
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 =)
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!
= )
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!
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!
= )
Thank u very much, for teaching me a nice way.
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….