m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce maintain in American English
mayn·TAYN
Start here
Americans pronounce maintain as mayn-TAYN (/meɪnˈteɪn/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Maintain the rate of exchange for the trade" or "She takes breaks every hour to maintain focus and productivity" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "maintain".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "maintain" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TAYN — keep everything else short and quick.
MAYN·tayn→mayn·TAYN
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "maintain" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TAYN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "mayn-TAYN" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "maintain" 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 "mayn-TAYN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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