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 totally in American English
TOH·tuh·lee
Start here
Americans pronounce totally as TOH-tuh-lee (/ˈtoʊɾəli/). In "totally", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as TOH·tuh·lee. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I totally forgot about our appointment" or "The twist in the tale was totally typical" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "totally".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
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.
l/l/
SyllabicThe schwa before L disappears — L becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to a Dark L.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "totally" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I totally forgot about our appointment."
ahy TOH·duh·lee fer·GAHT uh·BOWT ar uh·POYNT·muhnt
"The twist in the tale was totally typical."
dhuh TWIHST ihn dhuh tayl wuhz TOH·duh·lee TIH·puh·kuhl
"The water in the bottle tasted totally bitter."
dhuh WAH·der ihn dhuh BAH·duhl TAY·stuhd TOH·duh·lee BIH·der
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "totally", 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.
TOH-tuh-lee→TOH·tuh·lee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TOH — keep everything else short and quick.
toh·TUH·LEE→TOH·tuh·lee
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.
TOH·TUH·lee→TOH·tuh·lee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "totally" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TOH-tuh-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 "totally"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "totally" sounds closer to "TOH-tuh-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 "totally" 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 "TOH-tuh-lee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "totally" 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 "TOH-tuh-lee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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