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.
How to pronounce target in American English
TAR·guht
Start here
Americans pronounce target as TAR-guht (/ˈtɑrgət/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He listens to podcasts and watches movies in the target language" or "The archer aimed carefully at the target before releasing the arrow" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "target".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "target" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He listens to podcasts and watches movies in the target language."
hee LIH·suhnz tuh PAHD·kasts and WAH·chuhz MOO·veez ihn dhuh TAR·guht LANG·gwuhj
"The archer aimed carefully at the target before releasing the arrow."
dhee AR·cher AYMD KAIR·fuh·lee uht dhuh TAR·guht buh·FOR ree·LEE·suhng dhee AIR·oh
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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 "target", the "t" 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.
target→TAR·guht
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TAR — keep everything else short and quick.
tar·GUHT→TAR·guht
03
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.
TAR·GUHT→TAR·guht
04
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 "target" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TAR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TAR-guht" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "target" 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 "TAR-guht" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "target"?
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 "target" 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 "TAR-guht" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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