uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce agenda in American English
uh·JEHN·duh
Start here
Americans pronounce agenda as uh-JEHN-duh (/əˈdʒɛndə/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The agenda is on the website" or "The meeting ran longer than expected due to the complex agenda" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "agenda".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
In real conversation
Hear "agenda" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The agenda for tomorrow's meeting has been distributed to all participants."
dhee uh·JEHN·duh fer tuh·MAR·ohz MEE·duhng huhz bihn duh·STRIH·byoo·tuhd tuh AHL par·TIH·suh·puhnts
"The agenda is on the website."
dhee uh·JEHN·duh ihz ahn dhuh WEHB·sahyt
"The meeting ran longer than expected due to the complex agenda."
dhuh MEE·duhng RAN LAHNG·ger dhuhn uhk·spehk·tuhd DOO tuh dhuh KAHM·plehks uh·JEHN·duh
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch JEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·jehn·DUH→uh·JEHN·duh
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UH·JEHN·duh→uh·JEHN·duh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "agenda" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "JEHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-JEHN-duh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "agenda" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "uh-JEHN-duh" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "agenda" 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 "uh-JEHN-duh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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