k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce causing in American English
KAH·zuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce causing as KAH-zuhng (/ˈkɔzɪŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The earth rotates on its axis, causing day and night" or "Climate change is causing sea levels to rise globally" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "causing".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "causing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather events."
KLAHY·muht CHAYNJ ihz KAH·zuhng MOR FREE·kwuhnt and suh·VEER WEH·dher uh·VEHNTS
"Climate change is causing sea levels to rise globally."
KLAHY·muht CHAYNJ ihz KAH·zuhng SEE LEH·vuhlz tuh RAHYZ GLOH·buh·lee
"The earth rotates on its axis, causing day and night."
dhee URTH ROH·tayts ahn ihts AK·suhs KAH·zuhng DAY and NAHYT
"The traffic light was broken, causing confusion at the intersection."
dhuh TRA·fuhk LAHYT wuhz BROH·kuhn KAH·zuhng kuhn·FYOO·zhuhn uht dhee ihn·ter·SEHK·shuhn
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch KAH — keep everything else short and quick.
kah·ZUHNG→KAH·zuhng
02
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
KAH·ZUHNG→KAH·zuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "causing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KAH-zuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "causing" 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 "KAH-zuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "causing" 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 "KAH-zuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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