How do you pronounce the word "often"?

Question

some people say "ofen", whilst others also pronounce as "of-ten",
which one is correct or both are acceptable?

Answer 1

It doesn't matter. People who say of-ten are usually from New York.

Answer 2

I always pronounced it with a /t/ -- [awf-tuhn].

Reference.com offers an interesting pronunciation note regarding the word "often." It seems that many pronunciations are considered acceptable.

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Pronunciation note Often was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the /t/ came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since restored the /t/, and today [aw-fuhn] [awf-tuhn] [of-uhn], [of-tuhn] exist side by side. Although it is still sometimes criticized, often with a /t/ is now so widely heard from educated speakers that it has become fully standard once again.

Answer 3

People who want to look as though they know what they are talking about (but don't bother looking up the right way of doing things) will pronounce the T. It is, however, a silent T. That doesn't mean to slur the word, "of'n," as you hear some sloppy (possibly more rural) speakers do. It is OFF - EN . Some dictionaries will accept the spoken "t," but it is less correct.

Answer 4

Hope this helps clear everything up...

During the 15th century English experienced a widespread loss of certain consonant sounds within consonant clusters, as the (d) in handsome and handkerchief, the (p) in consumption and raspberry, and the (t) in chestnut and often. In this way the consonant clusters were simplified and made easier to articulate. With the rise of public education and literacy and, consequently, people's awareness of spelling in the 19th century, sounds that had become silent sometimes were restored, as is the case with the t in often, which is now frequently pronounced. In other similar words, such as soften and listen, the t generally remains silent.

Answer 5

its most definitley pronounced Off-Ten. ofen might just be some local accent, where are you from? and if people are trying to tell you that ofen is correct, they are missinformed.

Answer 6

The "t" is not soft, so "of-ten is correct. Whilst estuary English pronounces it as "ofen", It is lazy speech and reflects poorly on the speaker.

Answer 7

Both acceptable but off-ten more correct

Answer 8

When I was in Catholic grade school, if we said off-ten, Sister Mary Grammer would get angry. The correct pronunciation is off-en. If you say off-ten you make the Virgin Mary cry

Answer 9

When I was in HS in NYC, we had a semester of reading aloud. Mos of the students couldn't read (I cannot spell), and would sound out the letters in a word to try and decipher the word.

So word such as "often" could have been "of" "ten" as easily as anything else, such as "oft" "en". Since we have 10 fingers, the word is probably "of ten" meaning many.

Answer 10

often is the correct way, ofen is the lazy way of saying it

Answer 11

It just depends on where you're from and the regional accent/dialect. If you take Received Pronunication as the standard and therefore 'correct', then it's ﺭftən (using international phonetic alhabet).