k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce conclusions in American English
kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
Start here
Americans pronounce conclusions as kuhn-KLOO-zhuhnz (/kənˈkluʒənz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The sample size was large enough to draw valid conclusions".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "conclusions".
3 syllables, 10 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue 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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
zh/ʒ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Add vocal cord vibration.
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.
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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "conclusions", 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.
conclusions→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch KLOO — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHN·kloo·ZHUHNZ→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
03
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.
KUHN·KLOO·zhuhnz→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "conclusions" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "KLOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhnz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "conclusions" 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 "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhnz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "conclusions" 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 "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhnz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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