How to pronounce den in American English

IPA /dɛn/ Syllables 1 · dehn Stress 1st syllable

DEHN

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Americans pronounce den as DEHN (/dɛn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The dark dog dug a deep den in the dirt".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "den".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

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.

eh/ɛ/

Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly 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.

In real conversation

Hear "den" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"The dark dog dug a deep den in the dirt."

dhuh DARK DAHG DUHG uh DEEP DEHN ihn dhuh DURT

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Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "den" 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 "DEHN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.