I think the ship will sink into the thick mud.

Words 10 Difficulty Intermediate Featured sound Silent T after N
ahy i THIHNGK think dhuh the SHIHP ship wihl will SIHNGK sink IHN·tuh into dhuh the THIHK thick MUHD mud
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In casual American English, "I think the ship will sink into the thick mud" sounds like "ahy THIHNGK dhuh SHIHP wihl SIHNGK IHN-tuh dhuh THIHK MUHD". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Silent T after N: the T after N drops out entirely. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Common mistakes

Pronouncing the silent T after N.

In "into", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. /t/ is completely silent — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.

Treating every L the same.

The L in "will" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.

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Why it sounds different

What makes this sentence sound American.

In "into", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. This is called the Silent T after N, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as IHN-tuh.

The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.

•
Unreleased Stops in "think"Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
·
Reduced Words (to, for, of) in "the"Full vowel reduces to schwa /ə/ or other weak vowel. Consonants may simplify.
⌣
Consonant-to-Vowel Linking between "sink" & "into"Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.
t→∅
Silent T after N in "into"In "into", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.
Word by word

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Each word has its own page with examples, common mistakes, and related words.

i ahy think THIHNGK the dhuh ship SHIHP will wihl sink SIHNGK into IHN·tuh the dhuh thick THIHK mud MUHD
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 silent T after N.

In "into", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. /t/ is completely silent — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.

IHN-tuh→IHN·tuh
02

Treating every L the same.

The L in "will" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.

wihl→wihl
03

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "think", 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.

THIHNGK→THIHNGK
04

Pausing between the words.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.

SIHNGK→SIHNGK
Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why is "the" said so quickly in this sentence?
Function words — articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns — reduce to short, unstressed schwa shapes in casual American speech. Pronouncing them fully like the dictionary entry is a dead giveaway of a textbook accent. Native speakers stress only the content words and let everything else collapse.
How are the words connected in casual American speech?
Americans don't pause between words. A consonant at the end of one word links forward into the vowel that starts the next; two vowels in a row get bridged by a tiny W or Y glide; an identical consonant repeated across a word boundary is held just once. The result is a continuous flow rather than a textbook word-by-word delivery.
Is this how the sentence is taught in textbooks?
Textbooks usually teach the citation form — every word pronounced fully, every consonant crisp, every vowel pure. Americans actually flap their Ts, drop function-word H's, link consonants forward into vowels, and reduce unstressed syllables to schwa. The respell on this page shows the casual form you'll hear in real conversations rather than the textbook version.

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