a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
How to pronounce afternoons in American English
a·fter·NOONZ
Start here
Americans pronounce afternoons as a-fter-NOONZ (/ˌæftərˈnunz/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The discussion section meets once a week on Friday afternoons".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "afternoons".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch NOONZ — keep everything else short and quick.
A·FTER·noonz→A·fter·NOONZ
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "afternoons" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "NOONZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "a-fter-NOONZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "afternoons"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "afternoons" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "a-fter-NOONZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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