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.
How to pronounce opened in American English
OH·puhnd
Start here
Americans pronounce opened as OH-puhnd (/ˈoʊpənd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She opened a savings account to set aside money for emergencies" or "I registered for classes as soon as the enrollment period opened" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "opened".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
In real conversation
Hear "opened" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I registered for classes as soon as the enrollment period opened."
ahy REH·juh·sterd fer KLA·suhz uhz SOON uhz dhee uhn·ROHL·muhnt PEER·ee·uhd OH·puhnd
"She opened a savings account to set aside money for emergencies."
shee OH·puhnd uh SAY·vuhngz uh·KOWNT tuh SEHT uh·SAHYD MUH·nee fer uh·MUR·juhn·seez
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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 "opened", the "d" 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.
opened→OH·puhnd
02
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "opened", 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.
opened→OH·puhnd
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch OH — keep everything else short and quick.
oh·PUHND→OH·puhnd
04
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.
OH·PUHND→OH·puhnd
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "opened" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "OH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "OH-puhnd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "opened" 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 "OH-puhnd" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "opened" 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 "OH-puhnd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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