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 stronger in American English
STRAHNG·ger
Start here
Americans pronounce stronger as STRAHNG-ger (/ˈstrɑŋɡər/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Retail sales figures came in stronger than analysts had predicted" or "Environmental activists are calling for stronger government action" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "stronger".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then 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.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
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.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
In real conversation
Hear "stronger" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Environmental activists are calling for stronger government action."
uhn·vahy·ruhn·MEHN·tuhl AK·tuh·vuhsts er KAH·luhng fer STRAHNG·ger GUH·vern·muhnt A·shuhn
"Retail sales figures came in stronger than analysts had predicted."
REE·tayl SAYLZ FIH·gyerz KAYM ihn STRAHNG·ger dhuhn A·nuh·luhsts huhd pruh·DIHK·tuhd
"Your argument would be stronger with additional supporting evidence."
yor AR·gyuh·muhnt wuud bee STRAHNG·ger wihth uh·DIH·shuh·nuhl suh·POR·tuhng EH·vuh·duhns
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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 STRAHNG — keep everything else short and quick.
strahng·GER→STRAHNG·ger
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "stronger" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "STRAHNG" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "STRAHNG-ger" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "stronger"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "stronger" 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 "STRAHNG-ger" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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