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 tensions in American English
TEHN·shuhnz
Start here
Americans pronounce tensions as TEHN-shuhnz (/ˈtɛnʃənz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The economic outlook remains uncertain due to global tensions" or "Geopolitical tensions have escalated in the disputed territory" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "tensions" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "tensions".
2 syllables, 7 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.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "tensions" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Geopolitical tensions have escalated in the disputed territory."
jee·oh·puh·LIH·duh·kuhl TEHN·shuhnz huhv EH·skuh·lay·duhd ihn dhuh duh·SPYOO·duhd TEH·ruh·tor·ee
"The economic outlook remains uncertain due to global tensions."
dhee eh·kuh·NAH·muhk OWT·luuk ruh·MAYNZ uhn·SUR·tuhn DOO tuh GLOH·buhl TEHN·shuhnz
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "tensions", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
tensions→TEHN·shuhnz
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
tehn·SHUHNZ→TEHN·shuhnz
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.
TEHN·SHUHNZ→TEHN·shuhnz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "tensions" 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-shuhnz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "tensions" 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 "TEHN-shuhnz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "tensions" 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-shuhnz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "tensions". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.