How to Pronounce T and D between Consonants

How to Pronounce T and D between Consonants

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Tagged With: Dropped T

What happens to the T in ‘exactly’, or the D in ‘grandma’?  Americans sometimes drop these two consonants when they come between two other consonants.  Look at more examples in this video.

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Video Text:

In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over the pronunciation of T and D between two consonants. When the T and D sounds come between two other consonant sounds, many Americans will drop them. You can do it too. It might make words easier to pronounce and link, and smooth out your speech. Let’s look at several examples. First, exactly. I get requests for this word quite a bit. When we have the word ‘exact’, we will make a True T because it’s part of an ending consonant cluster. Exact, tt, tt. But when we add the -ly ending, it now comes between two consonants. You’ll hear a lot of native speakers say ‘exactly’, with no T sound. Exactly, exactly. Almost no one will say ‘exactly’, with a True T. Exactly.

This happens a lot when we link words. Take, for example, the phrase ‘grand piano’. The word ‘grand’, on its own or at the end of a sentence, grand, will usually have a light D release. Grand, dd, dd. But when it’s not the last word and the next word begins with a consonant, most people will drop that D. So, “grand piano” becomes “gran’ piano”. Grand piano, no D. Grand piano. Grand theft auto. Just one more. Probably not ‘just one more’. Now, the word ‘one’ begins with a vowel letter, but the first sound is the W consonant. Just one more. Just once. Just for you. Must be funny. Must be. Probably not ‘must be’. Must be funny. Must be nice. Stand for. What does it stand for? Stand for. Probably not ‘stand for’. Stand for.

I often get questions relating to these situations. Dropping the T and D in these cases can help smooth out your speech, so try it out. If you can think of other examples, put them in the comments below and use other people’s examples to practice.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.