How to pronounce That's definitely not what I meant. in American English

Words 6 Difficulty Beginner Featured sound Unreleased Stops

dhats that's DEH·fuh·nuht·lee definitely NAHT not wuht what ahy i MEHNT meant

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Americans pronounce "That's definitely not what I meant" as "dhats DEH-fuh-nuht-lee NAHT wuht ahy MEHNT" in casual speech. Three things bend the textbook pronunciation. The headline is the Unreleased Stops — the final stop consonant closes without a puff of air. You'll hear it on definitely and again on not — a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

78%

Intonation

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Fluency

62%

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "definitely", 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.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

The "t" at the end of "what" links to the vowel starting "i" — it flaps to sound like a quick "d", with the tongue briefly tapping the ridge behind the upper teeth. Same flap as within-word (R1) but spanning two words.

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The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.

ɪ→∅

Short Contractions (it's, that's) in "that's"In fast speech, the vowel in "that's" vanishes — the "a" is completely elided, leaving only a quick "ts" cluster — this is a feature of casual, connected speech; in careful speech, the vowel is retained.

Unreleased Stops in "definitely"In "definitely", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air.

Flap T Across Words between "what" & "i"The "t" at the end of "what" links to the vowel starting "i" — it flaps to sound like a quick "d", with the tongue briefly tapping the ridge behind the upper teeth.

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that's dhats definitely DEH·fuh·nuht·lee not NAHT what wuht i ahy meant MEHNT

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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.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "definitely", 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.

DEH-fuh-nuht-lee→DEH·fuh·nuht·lee

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

wuht→wuht

Pronouncing the vowel inside the contraction.

In fast speech, the vowel in "that's" vanishes — the "a" is completely elided, leaving only a quick "ts" cluster — this is a feature of casual, connected speech; in careful speech, the vowel is retained. In single-syllable -ts contractions (it's = it + is, that's = that + is, what's = what + is, let's = let + us), the unstressed vowel of the enclitic ("is" /ɪ/ or "us" /ə/) is completely elided in fast speech, leaving only the final /ts/ cluster.

dhats→dhats

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why do the T sounds turn into D-like sounds in this sentence?

That's the flap-T rule: when /t/ sits between two vowels — inside a single word, or across the boundary between two words — Americans replace the crisp T with a quick D-like flap. It's one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech and one of the first things to copy if you want to sound less textbook.

Is this how the sentence is taught in textbooks?

Textbooks usually teach the citation form — every word pronounced fully, every consonant crisp, every vowel pure. Americans actually flap their Ts, drop function-word H's, link consonants forward into vowels, and reduce unstressed syllables to schwa. The respell on this page shows the casual form you'll hear in real conversations rather than the textbook version.

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Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

What's happening in this sentence.

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Hard T at the end of a word, not a flap.

Pronouncing the vowel inside the contraction.

Questions people ask about this.

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