uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce enough in American English
uh·NUHF
Start here
Americans pronounce enough as uh-NUHF (/əˈnʌf/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "It's important to get enough rest" or "Three or four people should be enough" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "enough".
2 syllables, 4 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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "enough" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Does the judge have enough money for lunch?"
duhz dhuh JUHJ hav uh·NUHF MUH·nee fer LUHNCH
"Her threadbare coat was not warm enough."
her THREHD·bair KOHT wuhz NAHT WORM uh·NUHF
"I walk to work when the weather is nice enough."
ahy WAHK tuh WURK wehn dhuh WEH·dher ihz NAHYS uh·NUHF
"It's important to get enough rest."
ihts uhm·POR·tuhnt tuh GEHT uh·NUHF REHST
"The rough cough was enough to frighten Fred."
dhuh RUHF KAHF wuhz uh·NUHF tuh FRAHY·tuhn FREHD
"The sample size was large enough to draw valid conclusions."
dhuh SAM·puhl SAHYZ wuhz LARJ uh·NUHF tuh DRAH VA·luhd kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
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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 NUHF — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·nuhf→uh·NUHF
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.
UH·NUHF→uh·NUHF
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "enough" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "NUHF" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-NUHF" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "enough" 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 "uh-NUHF" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "enough" 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 "uh-NUHF" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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