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 tentatively in American English
TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee
Start here
Americans pronounce tentatively as TEHN-tuh-tuhv-lee (/ˈtɛntəɾəvli/). In "tentatively", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. This is called the Silent T after N, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Let's tentatively plan for Sunday pending everyone's confirmation".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "tentatively".
4 syllables, 10 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.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Pronouncing the silent T after N.
In "tentatively", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. /t/ is completely silent — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.
tentatively→TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee
02
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "tentatively", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
TEHN-tuh-tuhv-lee→TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
tehn·TUH·TUHV·LEE→TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee
04
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·TUH·tuhv·lee→TEHN·tuh·tuhv·lee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "tentatively" 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-tuh-tuhv-lee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "tentatively"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "tentatively" sounds closer to "TEHN-tuh-tuhv-lee" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "tentatively" 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-tuh-tuhv-lee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "tentatively" 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-tuh-tuhv-lee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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