m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce motives in American English
MOH·tuhvz
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Americans pronounce motives as MOH-tuhvz (/ˈmoʊɾəvz/). In "motives", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as MOH·tuhvz. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I wonder what his motives were".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "motives".
2 syllables, 6 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.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "motives", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
MOH-tuhvz→MOH·tuhvz
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MOH — keep everything else short and quick.
moh·TUHVZ→MOH·tuhvz
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·TUHVZ→MOH·tuhvz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "motives" 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-tuhvz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "motives"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "motives" sounds closer to "MOH-tuhvz" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "motives" 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-tuhvz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "motives" 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-tuhvz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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