How To Pronounce Lieutenant

In British English, lieutenant is pronounced /lefˈten.ənt/. The narrow phonetic transcription is [lefˈtʰẽn.ə̃nt̚]. In American English, it is pronounced /luːˈten.ənt/.

Lieutenant has three syllables, and the main stress falls on the second syllable. The British and American pronunciations are different, so listen to both.

Slashes / / show the phonemic transcription, the sounds that change meaning. Square brackets [ ] show the phonetic transcription, with the finer detail of how the sounds are actually made.