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 tender in American English
TEHN·der
Start here
Americans pronounce tender as TEHN-der (/ˈtɛndər/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I grilled the vegetables over medium heat until they were tender".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "tender".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
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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 TEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
tehn·DER→TEHN·der
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 "tender" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TEHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TEHN-der" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "tender"?
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 "tender" 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 "TEHN-der" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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