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.
How to pronounce exactly in American English
ihg·ZAKT·lee
Start here
Americans pronounce exactly as ihg-ZAKT-lee (/ɪgˈzæktli/). In "exactly", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as ihg·ZAKT·lee. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "That's exactly what I was trying to say" or "These results are exactly what we wanted" — more examples below.
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Record yourself saying "exactly" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "exactly".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "exactly" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I have exactly nineteen dollars in my wallet."
ahy hav ihg·ZAKT·lee nahyn·TEEN DAH·lerz ihn mahy WAH·luht
"She followed her grandmother's recipe exactly without making any changes."
shee FAH·lohd her GRAN·muh·dherz REH·suh·pee ihg·ZAKT·lee wih·DHOWT MAY·kuhng EH·nee CHAYN·juhz
"That's exactly what I was trying to say."
dhats ihg·ZAKT·lee wuht ahy wuhz TRAHY·uhng tuh SAY
"These results are exactly what we wanted."
DHEEZ ruh·ZUHLTS er ihg·ZAKT·lee wuht wee WAHN·tuhd
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "exactly", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
exactly→ihg·ZAKT·lee
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "exactly", 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.
exactly→ihg·ZAKT·lee
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch ZAKT — keep everything else short and quick.
IHG·zakt·LEE→ihg·ZAKT·lee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "exactly" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "ZAKT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ihg-ZAKT-lee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "exactly" 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 "ihg-ZAKT-lee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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