PRACTICE LIBRARY · ABOUT 5 MINUTES · GENERAL AMERICAN
General American yod dropping: new, tune and student without the “y”
In General American, new is “noo”, tune is “toon” and student is “stoodent”. RP and many other accents slip a small “y” in before the vowel. General American drops it, but only after certain consonants.
That small glide is called yod, /j/: the sound at the start of “yes”. RP says new as /njuː/; General American says /nuː/.
The references use an AI voice with a General American accent. You'll need about five minutes and your phone's voice recorder. This page doesn't record you.
Start the exercise0:00–1:00 · THE PATTERN
Which consonants lose the “y”
After t, d, n and s, the yod disappears. After other consonants it stays, so music is never “moosic”.
Dropped: new · tune · duke · student · Tuesday
Kept: music · beautiful · cute · few · huge
Before you go on, record yourself saying “The new student started on Tuesday.” once in your everyday voice.
1:00–2:30 · WORDS
Straight from the consonant to “oo”
news · tune · duke · student · Tuesday · duty
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- Play each word and repeat it. Go straight from the N, T or D into “oo”. If you feel the middle of your tongue rise towards the roof of your mouth first, that's the yod.
- Say news, tune, duke, then plain new, slowly, then at normal speed. Each should start like “noon” or “too”.
If your accent says “Chewsday” or “jooty”, as many British and Australian speakers do, General American uses a plain T and D instead: “Toozday”, “doody”. Swapping in a “ch” isn't the same as dropping the yod.
2:30–3:15 · WHERE IT STAYS
Don't drop it everywhere
Overcorrecting is easy once the pattern clicks. Here the yod stays put, because it follows M and B:
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- Play produce new music. Produce and new drop the yod; music keeps it.
- Play what a beautiful city. Beautiful keeps its yod. You'll also hear the flap T in what a and city.
3:15–4:00 · PHRASES
Keep it dropped at speed
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- Play each phrase, then say it at a natural pace. The yod tends to sneak back when you speed up, especially in new student, with two in a row.
4:00–5:00 · TWO SENTENCES
Find every yod, then record
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- Before playing, go through “The new student started on Tuesday.” and mark the words that would have a yod in RP.
- Play it and check. New, student and Tuesday all drop it.
- Now “It is a duty to keep the news neutral.” Duty, news and neutral drop it too.
- Record the first sentence again and play it after your everyday take. Listen only for the yod. Write down one word to work on next time.
Variation matters. Dropping the yod after T, D and N is standard in General American. Some American speakers, especially older Southern speakers, keep it in words like new and Tuesday, and RP keeps it throughout.
KEEP GOING IN THE APP
Practise it with feedback
Yod dropping is the second lesson on Accentuate's General American path, right after flap T. It runs from words to phrases to full sentences, and you can record each one and get directional feedback.
Feedback is directional. A score isn't a precise diagnosis of one sound, or proof that you sound convincingly American.