ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
How to pronounce ongoing in American English
AHN·goh·uhng
Start here
Americans pronounce ongoing as AHN-goh-uhng (/ˈɑnˌgoʊəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The right to bear arms is a subject of ongoing debate" or "The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "ongoing".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "ongoing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Diplomatic channels remain open despite the ongoing disagreements."
dih·pluh·MA·tuhk CHA·nuhlz ruh·MAYN OH·puhn duh·SPAHYT dhee AHN·goh·uhng dih·suh·GREE·muhnts
"Gender equality in the workplace remains an ongoing struggle."
JEHN·der uh·KWAH·luh·tee ihn dhuh WURK·plays ruh·MAYNZ uhn AHN·goh·uhng STRUH·guhl
"The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made."
dhee uhn·veh·stuh·GAY·shuhn ihz AHN·goh·uhng and NOH uh·REHSTS huhv bihn MAYD
"The right to bear arms is a subject of ongoing debate."
dhuh RAHYT tuh BAIR ARMZ ihz uh SUHB·jehkt uhv AHN·goh·uhng duh·BAYT
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch AHN — keep everything else short and quick.
ahn·GOH·UHNG→AHN·GOH·uhng
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
AHN·goh·UHNG→AHN·GOH·uhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "ongoing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "AHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "AHN-goh-uhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "ongoing" 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 "AHN-goh-uhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "ongoing" 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 "AHN-goh-uhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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