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.
How to pronounce negotiate in American English
nuh·GOH·shee·ayt
Start here
Americans pronounce negotiate as nuh-GOH-shee-ayt (/nəˈgoʊʃiˌeɪt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I am authorized to negotiate on behalf of my organization" or "We should negotiate the payment terms to accommodate our budget" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "negotiate".
4 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "negotiate" in the wild.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "negotiate", 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.
negotiate→nuh·GOH·shee·AYT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch GOH — keep everything else short and quick.
NUH·goh·SHEE·AYT→nuh·GOH·shee·AYT
03
Pronouncing the first 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.
NUH·GOH·shee·ayt→nuh·GOH·shee·AYT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "negotiate" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "GOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "nuh-GOH-shee-ayt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "negotiate" 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 "nuh-GOH-shee-ayt" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "negotiate" 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 "nuh-GOH-shee-ayt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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