The company announced layoffs due to declining revenue streams.

Words 9 Difficulty Beginner Featured sound Vowel-to-Vowel Linking
dhuh the KUHM·puh·nee company uh·NOWNST announced LAY·ahfs layoffs DOO due tuh to duh·KLAHY·nuhng declining REH·vuh·noo revenue STREEMZ streams
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In casual American English, "The company announced layoffs due to declining revenue streams" sounds like "dhuh KUHM-puh-nee uh-NOWNST LAY-ahfs DOO tuh duh-KLAHY-nuhng REH-vuh-noo STREEMZ". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Vowel-to-Vowel Linking: a tiny W or Y glide bridges the two vowels. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Common mistakes

Leaving a gap between two vowels.

Between "" and "", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.

Pronouncing every consonant in the cluster.

The "" at the end of "" is dropped before the consonant starting "" — the surrounding consonants flow directly together — common in flowing natural speech; in careful or formal speech, the sound is often kept. The /t/ or /d/ at the end is dropped — surrounding consonants flow directly.

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Why it sounds different

What makes this sentence sound American.

Between "company" and "announced", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. This is called the Vowel-to-Vowel Linking, a connected-speech trick that makes phrases flow. It comes out as KUHM-puh-nee.

The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

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

·
Reduced Words (to, for, of) in "the"Full vowel reduces to schwa /ə/ or other weak vowel. Consonants may simplify.
(j/w)
Vowel-to-Vowel Linking between "company" & "announced"A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.
✕
Silent T/D Across Words between "announced" & "layoffs"The /t/ or /d/ at the end is dropped — surrounding consonants flow directly.
Word by word

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Each word has its own page with examples, common mistakes, and related words.

the dhuh company KUHM·puh·nee announced uh·NOWNST layoffs LAY·ahfs due DOO to tuh declining duh·KLAHY·nuhng revenue REH·vuh·noo streams STREEMZ
Watch out

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.

01

Leaving a gap between two vowels.

Between "" and "", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.

KUHM-puh-nee→KUHM·puh·nee
02

Pronouncing every consonant in the cluster.

The "" at the end of "" is dropped before the consonant starting "" — the surrounding consonants flow directly together — common in flowing natural speech; in careful or formal speech, the sound is often kept. The /t/ or /d/ at the end is dropped — surrounding consonants flow directly.

uh-NOWNST→uh·NOWNST
03

Pronouncing the function word too fully.

"the" is a function word — in connected speech, the full vowel reduces to a quick "" sound and consonants may simplify. Full vowel reduces to schwa /ə/ or other weak vowel. Consonants may simplify.

dhuh→dhuh
04

Saying a clean TH.

The TH in "the" can be produced with the tongue tip pressing just behind the upper teeth rather than coming all the way through — an easier, faster articulation. Tongue tip presses behind teeth instead of coming through (easier articulation).

dhuh→dhuh
Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why is "the" said so quickly in this sentence?
Function words — articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns — reduce to short, unstressed schwa shapes in casual American speech. Pronouncing them fully like the dictionary entry is a dead giveaway of a textbook accent. Native speakers stress only the content words and let everything else collapse.
How are the words connected in casual American speech?
Americans don't pause between words. A consonant at the end of one word links forward into the vowel that starts the next; two vowels in a row get bridged by a tiny W or Y glide; an identical consonant repeated across a word boundary is held just once. The result is a continuous flow rather than a textbook word-by-word delivery.
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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