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.
How to pronounce ending in American English
EHN·duhng
Start here
Americans pronounce ending as EHN-duhng (/ˈɛndəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Everyone agrees that it's a sad ending" or "The trilogy concludes with a satisfying but emotional ending" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "ending".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "ending" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Everyone agrees that it's a sad ending."
EHV·ree·wuhn uh·GREEZ dhuht ihts uh SAD EHN·duhng
"I was disappointed when the movie adaptation changed the ending."
ahy wuhz dih·suh·POYN·tuhd wehn dhuh MOO·vee a·duhp·TAY·shuhn CHAYNJD dhee EHN·duhng
"The trilogy concludes with a satisfying but emotional ending."
dhuh TRIH·luh·jee kuhn·KLOODZ wihth uh SA·duhs·fahy·uhng buht ih·MOH·shuh·nuhl EHN·duhng
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch EHN — keep everything else short and quick.
ehn·DUHNG→EHN·duhng
02
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
EHN·DUHNG→EHN·duhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "ending" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "EHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "EHN-duhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "ending" 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 "EHN-duhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "ending" 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 "EHN-duhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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