uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce apartments in American English
uh·PART·muhnts
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Americans pronounce apartments as uh-PART-muhnts (/əˈpɑrtmənts/). In "apartments", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as uh·PART·muhnts. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The building has ninety apartments".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "apartments".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "apartments", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
apartments→uh·PART·muhnts
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "apartments", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
apartments→uh·PART·muhnts
03
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "apartments", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
apartments→uh·PART·muhnts
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch PART — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·part·MUHNTS→uh·PART·muhnts
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "apartments" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PART" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-PART-muhnts" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "apartments" 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-PART-muhnts" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "apartments"?
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 "apartments" 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-PART-muhnts" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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