uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce opinion in American English
uh·PIHN·yuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce opinion as uh-PIHN-yuhn (/əˈpɪnjən/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I asked him for his opinion" or "He gave her his honest opinion" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "opinion".
3 syllables, 7 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.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
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.
y/j/
Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, but stop just short of touching. /j/ is an approximant, not a stop. The tongue tip stays down, lightly resting near the back of your bottom front teeth. Voice runs through the whole gesture, and the tongue glides smoothly down into the next vowel. The lips stay neutral or pre-shape for the upcoming vowel (rounding early for OO in <em>youth</em>, for example).
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.
In real conversation
Hear "opinion" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He gave her his honest opinion."
hee GAYV er ihz AH·nuhst uh·PIHN·yuhn
"He has a neutral opinion on the subject."
hee huhz uh NOO·truhl uh·PIHN·yuhn ahn dhuh SUHB·juhkt
"I am firmly of the opinion that transparency is essential."
ahy uhm FURM·lee uhv dhee uh·PIHN·yuhn dhuht tran·SPAIR·uhn·see ihz uh·SEHN·shuhl
"In my opinion, this is the best option we have."
ihn mahy uh·PIHN·yuhn DHIHS ihz dhuh BEHST AHP·shuhn wee hav
"It's a matter of personal opinion."
ihts uh MA·der uhv PUR·suh·nuhl uh·PIHN·yuhn
"Public opinion polls suggest a close race between the candidates."
PUH·bluhk uh·PIHN·yuhn POHLZ suhg·JEHST uh KLOHS RAYS buh·TWEEN dhuh KAN·duh·dayts
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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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "opinion", 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.
opinion→uh·PIHN·yuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch PIHN — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·pihn·YUHN→uh·PIHN·yuhn
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.
UH·PIHN·yuhn→uh·PIHN·yuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "opinion" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PIHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-PIHN-yuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "opinion" 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 "uh-PIHN-yuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "opinion" 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 "uh-PIHN-yuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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