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.
How to pronounce decisions in American English
duh·SIH·zhuhnz
Start here
Americans pronounce decisions as duh-SIH-zhuhnz (/dəˈsɪʒənz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She has the power of attorney to make decisions for her father" or "We should document all decisions and share them with the absent members" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "decisions".
3 syllables, 8 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.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "decisions" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He consulted a financial advisor before making any major investment decisions."
hee kuhn·SUHL·tuhd uh fuh·NAN·shuhl uhd·VAHY·zer buh·FOR MAY·kuhng EH·nee MAY·jer ihn·VEHST·muhnt duh·SIH·zhuhnz
"She has the power of attorney to make decisions for her father."
shee huhz dhuh POW·er uhv uh·TUR·nee tuh MAYK duh·SIH·zhuhnz fer her FAH·dher
"We should document all decisions and share them with the absent members."
wee shuud DAH·kyuh·mehnt AHL duh·SIH·zhuhnz and SHAIR dhuhm wihth dhee AB·suhnt MEHM·berz
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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 "decisions", 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.
decisions→duh·SIH·zhuhnz
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SIH — keep everything else short and quick.
DUH·sih·ZHUHNZ→duh·SIH·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.
DUH·SIH·zhuhnz→duh·SIH·zhuhnz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "decisions" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "duh-SIH-zhuhnz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "decisions" 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 "duh-SIH-zhuhnz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "decisions" 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 "duh-SIH-zhuhnz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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