Let's identify any potential roadblocks and address them proactively.

Words 9 Difficulty Intermediate Featured sound Silent T after N
LEHTS let's ahy·DEHN·tuh·fahy identify EH·nee any puh·TEHN·shuhl potential ROHD·blahks roadblocks and and uh·DREHS address dhuhm them proh·AK·tuhv·lee proactively
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In casual American English, "Let's identify any potential roadblocks and address them proactively" sounds like "LEHTS ahy-DEHN-tuh-fahy EH-nee puh-TEHN-shuhl ROHD-blahks and uh-DREHS dhuhm proh-AK-tuhv-lee". 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 "identify", 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.

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".

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Why it sounds different

What makes this sentence sound American.

In "identify", 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, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as ahy-DEHN-tuh-fahy.

The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

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

⌣
Consonant-to-Vowel Linking between "let's" & "identify"Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.
ɪ→∅
Short Contractions (it's, that's) in "let's"In fast speech, the vowel in "let's" vanishes — the "ih" is completely elided, leaving only a quick "ts" cluster — this is a feature of casual, connected speech; in careful speech, the vowel is retained.
t→∅
Silent T after N in "identify"In "identify", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.
(j/w)
Vowel-to-Vowel Linking between "identify" & "any"A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.
ə→◌
Silent Schwa Before L/M/N/R in "potential"Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
•
Unreleased Stops in "roadblocks"Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
Word by word

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

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

let's LEHTS identify ahy·DEHN·tuh·fahy any EH·nee potential puh·TEHN·shuhl roadblocks ROHD·blahks and and address uh·DREHS them dhuhm proactively proh·AK·tuhv·lee
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 "identify", 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.

ahy-DEHN-tuh-fahy→ahy·DEHN·tuh·fahy
02

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".

uh-DREHS→uh·DREHS
03

Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.

In "and", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.

and→and
04

Treating every L the same.

The L in "potential" 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.

puh-TEHN-shuhl→puh·TEHN·shuhl
Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why is "and" 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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