In casual American English, "Her address is seventeen-eighty West Street" sounds like "her A-drehs ihz seh-vuhn-TEEN AY-dee WEHST STREET". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Flap T: the T between vowels turns into a quick D-like flap. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.
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What makes this sentence sound American.
In "eighty", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as AY-dee.
What's happening in this sentence.
Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.
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Each word has its own page with examples, common mistakes, and related words.
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "eighty", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
Saying a clean "dr" instead of a "j" sound.
In "address", the "dr" cluster blends into a "jr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /d/ shifts toward /dʒ/ ("j"), so DR sounds like "jr".
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "street", the "" 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.
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "seventeen", the short unstressed vowel before "" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.