Learn how to practice this phrase by breaking it down sound by sound, knowing what’s stressed and what’s not. Then put it all together to feel confident using it word in American English conversation.
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Video Transcript:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over how to pronounce ‘United States’.
This week’s Word of the Week is actually two words: ‘United States’. ‘United’. It’s a three-syllable word with stress on the middle syllable. United. So, it begins with the EW as in FEW diphthong. Then we have the N consonant sound, so the tongue will lift and touch here: un-. Then we have the AI as in BUY diphthong: uni-, uni-. Make sure you drop your jaw enough for that first sound: uni-, uni-ted. So here we’re going to have a Flap T because it comes between two vowel sounds (the AI diphthong and the schwa). -ted, -ted, -ted. So the tongue tip will go to the roof of the mouth, -te-, pull down and go right back up: -ted, -ted. United. United.
States. This begins with the ST consonant cluster, ss, ss, ss. So, the tongue tip is down, the teeth are closed, states, states. The front part of the tongue can reach up and touch the roof of the mouth here, rather than bringing the tip up. It’s a short cut with the ST cluster. Tongue tip down, front part to the roof of the mouth. St-, st-, st-, states, states. Then we have the AY as in SAY diphthong, so the jaw does need to drop a good bit for that, sta-, sta-. And finally, the TS consonant cluster, -ts, -ts, states. United States.
I’m from the United States.
That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it out yourself. Make up a sentence with the word, record it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to watch it.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
Hear the difference immediately.
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