k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce continue in American English
kuhn·TIHN·yoo
Start here
Americans pronounce continue as kuhn-TIHN-yoo (/kənˈtɪnju/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Do you want to continue or take a break?" or "She received funding to continue her research next year" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "continue".
3 syllables, 7 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.
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.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front 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.
yoo/ju/
Start with the tongue mid-front raised high, almost touching the roof of the mouth (but not touching). Glide into a tight lip circle as the tongue back lifts.
In real conversation
Hear "continue" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Do you want to continue or take a break?"
doo yuh WAHNT tuh kuhn·TIHN·yoo or TAYK uh BRAYK
"E-commerce sales have surged as shopping habits continue to evolve."
EE KAH·mers SAYLZ hav SURJD uhz SHAH·puhng HA·buhts kuhn·TIHN·yoo tuh uh·VAHLV
"She received funding to continue her research next year."
shee ruh·SEEVD FUHN·duhng tuh kuhn·TIHN·yoo her ruh·SURCH NEHKST YEER
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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 TIHN — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHN·tihn·YOO→kuhn·TIHN·yoo
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.
KUHN·TIHN·yoo→kuhn·TIHN·yoo
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "continue" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TIHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhn-TIHN-yoo" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "continue" 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-TIHN-yoo" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "continue" 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-TIHN-yoo" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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