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 detectives in American English
duh·TEHK·tuhvz
Start here
Americans pronounce detectives as duh-TEHK-tuhvz (/dəˈtɛktəvz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Detectives are investigating the crime scene for clues".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "detectives".
3 syllables, 9 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.
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.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "detectives", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
detectives→duh·TEHK·tuhvz
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TEHK — keep everything else short and quick.
DUH·tehk·TUHVZ→duh·TEHK·tuhvz
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·TEHK·tuhvz→duh·TEHK·tuhvz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "detectives" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TEHK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "duh-TEHK-tuhvz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "detectives" 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-TEHK-tuhvz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "detectives" 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-TEHK-tuhvz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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