uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce obtain in American English
uhb·TAYN
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Americans pronounce obtain as uhb-TAYN (/əbˈteɪn/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She needed to obtain a building permit from the city".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "obtain".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
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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 "obtain", 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.
obtain→uhb·TAYN
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TAYN — keep everything else short and quick.
UHB·tayn→uhb·TAYN
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.
UHB·TAYN→uhb·TAYN
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "obtain" 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 "uhb-TAYN" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "obtain" 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 "uhb-TAYN" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "obtain" 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 "uhb-TAYN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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