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 teammate in American English
TEEM·mayt
Start here
Americans pronounce teammate as TEEM-mayt (/ˈtimˌmeɪt/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She passed the ball to her teammate who was open".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "teammate".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
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.
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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 "teammate", 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.
teammate→TEEM·MAYT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TEEM — keep everything else short and quick.
teem·MAYT→TEEM·MAYT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "teammate" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TEEM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TEEM-mayt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "teammate" 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 "TEEM-mayt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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