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.
How to pronounce vintage in American English
VIHN·tuhj
Start here
Americans pronounce vintage as VIHN-tuhj (/ˈvɪntɪdʒ/). In "vintage", 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, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as VIHN·tuhj. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He collects vintage stamps from all over the world" or "The photograph was taken using a vintage film camera" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "vintage".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front 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.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
In real conversation
Hear "vintage" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He collects vintage movie posters from the golden age of cinema."
hee kuh·LEHKTS VIHN·tuhj MOO·vee POH·sterz fruhm dhuh GOHL·duhn AYJ uhv SIH·nuh·muh
"He collects vintage stamps from all over the world."
hee kuh·LEHKTS VIHN·tuhj STAMPS fruhm AHL OH·ver dhuh WURLD
"The photograph was taken using a vintage film camera."
dhuh FOH·duh·graf wuhz TAY·kuhn YOO·zuhng uh VIHN·tuhj FIHLM KAM·ruh
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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 "vintage", 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.
vintage→VIHN·tuhj
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch VIHN — keep everything else short and quick.
vihn·TUHJ→VIHN·tuhj
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.
VIHN·TUHJ→VIHN·tuhj
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "vintage" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "VIHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "VIHN-tuhj" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "vintage" 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 "VIHN-tuhj" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "vintage" 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 "VIHN-tuhj" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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