p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce petition in American English
puh·TIH·shuhn
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Americans pronounce petition as puh-TIH-shuhn (/pəˈtɪʃən/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He filed a petition to modify the child custody arrangement".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "petition".
3 syllables, 7 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.
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.
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.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
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.
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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 "petition", 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.
petition→puh·TIH·shuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TIH — keep everything else short and quick.
PUH·tih·SHUHN→puh·TIH·shuhn
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.
PUH·TIH·shuhn→puh·TIH·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "petition" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "puh-TIH-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "petition" 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 "puh-TIH-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "petition" 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 "puh-TIH-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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