How to pronounce tend in American English

IPA /tɛnd/ Syllables 1 · tehnd Stress 1st syllable

TEHND

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Americans pronounce tend as TEHND (/tɛnd/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I tend to agree with the majority opinion on this matter" or "I set multiple alarms because I tend to hit the snooze button" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "tend".

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.

eh/ɛ/

Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

d/d/

Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.

In real conversation

Hear "tend" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"I set multiple alarms because I tend to hit the snooze button."

ahy SEHT MUHL·tuh·puhl uh·LARMZ buh·KUHZ ahy TEHND tuh HIHT dhuh SNOOZ BUH·tuhn

"I tend to agree with the majority opinion on this matter."

ahy TEHND tuh uh·GREE wihth dhuh muh·JOR·uh·tee uh·PIHN·yuhn ahn dhihs MA·der

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "tend" 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 "TEHND" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.