How to pronounce “tense”
Say “tense” in one beat
tense
/tɛns/
The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- tensetɛns
- IPA (American)
- /tɛns/
- IPA (British)
- /tɛns/
- Respelling
- TENS
- Syllables
- 1 — tense
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /tɛns/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb, adjective
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
What “tense” means
- noun
a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
- verb
become stretched or tense or taut
“the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed;”
- verb
increase the tension on
“alternately relax and tense your calf muscle”
Say it in a sentence
“The past tense of 'go' catches out every beginner.”“tense”, answered
How do you pronounce “tense”?
“tense” is pronounced /tɛns/ (TENS) — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /tɛns/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “tense” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /tɛns/ — a single beat.
What does “tense” mean?
As a noun: a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time For example: “The past tense of 'go' catches out every beginner.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “tense”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /tɛns/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “tense” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.