m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce motion in American English
MOH·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce motion as MOH-shuhn (/ˈmoʊʃən/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Punish the foolish motion with a harsh push" or "She explained Newton's laws of motion to the students" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "motion" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "motion".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "motion" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He proposed a motion to extend the deadline by two weeks."
hee pruh·POHZD uh MOH·shuhn tuh uhk·STEHND dhuh DEHD·lahyn bahy TOO WEEKS
"Punish the foolish motion with a harsh push."
PUH·nuhsh dhuh FOO·luhsh MOH·shuhn wihth uh HARSH PUUSH
"She explained Newton's laws of motion to the students."
shee uhk·SPLAYND NOO·duhnz LAHZ uhv MOH·shuhn tuh dhuh STOO·duhnts
"She filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained illegally."
shee FAHYLD uh MOH·shuhn tuh suh·PREHS dhee EH·vuh·duhns uhb·TAYND uh·LEE·guh·lee
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "motion", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
motion→MOH·shuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MOH — keep everything else short and quick.
moh·SHUHN→MOH·shuhn
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
MOH·SHUHN→MOH·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "motion" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MOH-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "motion" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "MOH-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "motion" 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 "MOH-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "motion". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.