s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce still in American English
STIHL
Start here
Americans pronounce still as STIHL (/stɪl/). The L in "still" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as STIHL. You'll hear it in sentences like "He is still learning to drive" or "The store is still open, isn't it?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "still".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
In real conversation
Hear "still" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Are we still meeting at seven o'clock?"
ar wee STIHL MEE·duhng uht SEH·vuhn uh·KLAHK
"As far as I know, the meeting is still scheduled for ten."
uhz FAR uhz ahy NOH dhuh MEE·duhng ihz STIHL SKEH·joold fer TEHN
"He is still learning to drive."
hee ihz STIHL LUR·nuhng tuh DRAHYV
"I bet the wooden bat is still under the bed."
ahy BEHT dhuh WUU·duhn BAT ihz STIHL UHN·der dhuh BEHD
"I still think it's a really good deal."
ahy STIHL thihngk ihts uh REE·lee GUUD DEEL
"I think the dishes are still in the sink."
ahy THIHNGK dhuh DIH·shuhz er STIHL ihn dhuh SIHNGK
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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
Treating every L the same.
The L in "still" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
still→STIHL
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "still" 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 "STIHL" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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