How to pronounce It is not far from here. in American English

Words 6 Difficulty Beginner Featured sound Unreleased Stops

iht it ihz is NAHT not FAR far fruhm from HEER here

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Americans pronounce "It is not far from here" as "iht ihz NAHT FAR fruhm HEER" in casual speech. Three things bend the textbook pronunciation. The headline is the Unreleased Stops — the final stop consonant closes without a puff of air. It lands on not, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Fluency

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "not", 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.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

The "t" at the end of "it" links to the vowel starting "is" — it flaps to sound like a quick "d", with the tongue briefly tapping the ridge behind the upper teeth. Same flap as within-word (R1) but spanning two words.

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The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

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

Flap T Across Words between "it" & "is"The "t" at the end of "it" links to the vowel starting "is" — it flaps to sound like a quick "d", with the tongue briefly tapping the ridge behind the upper teeth.

→ə

Reduced Words (to, for, of) in "it""it" is a function word — in connected speech, the full vowel reduces to a quick "iht" sound and consonants may simplify.

Unreleased Stops in "not"In "not", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air.

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it iht is ihz not NAHT far FAR from fruhm here HEER

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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.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "not", 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.

NAHT→NAHT

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

iht→iht

Pronouncing the function word too fully.

"it" is a function word — in connected speech, the full vowel reduces to a quick "iht" sound and consonants may simplify. Full vowel reduces to schwa /ə/ or other weak vowel. Consonants may simplify.

iht→iht

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why do the T sounds turn into D-like sounds in this sentence?

That's the flap-T rule: when /t/ sits between two vowels — inside a single word, or across the boundary between two words — Americans replace the crisp T with a quick D-like flap. It's one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech and one of the first things to copy if you want to sound less textbook.

Why is "it" 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.

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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Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

What's happening in this sentence.

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

Pronouncing the function word too fully.

Questions people ask about this.

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