Correct pronunciation of "CAN'T"?

Question

okay, i'm confused. i've heard two version, "can" or "cent". What is the right pronounced?

Answer 1

Can't is the contraction of the word cannot...It is pronounced like CAN [able to] with a T on the end...

AND BTW, other answerers - can't is proper English - just as don't is, won't, doesn't etc...it is a CONTRACTION.

So the the asker wanted to know how to pronounce the contraction , not the derivative word.

Answer 2

Cant, cent, ****, cawnt, canut, kinnit.... Lots of different ways to say it, depending on the person's accent and cultural background! Cant would be the correct version, and the variations go on from there. An apostrophe in a word removes one or more letters, and as a general rule those removed letters are then silent. So can-not becomes cant.

Every rule has its exceptions, though. There's many words that are given an apostrophe on paper only, yet when the word is read aloud, the missing letters are sounded out. An example would be: "XYZ Corp. Lt'd." -where you'd pronounce both "corporation" and "limited."

Answer 3

If you're asking about the C at the beginning, it is "hard", like a K. After that it rhymes with "ant". (For many British speakers that a will sound like "ah", or the "au" in their pronunciation of "aunt".)

Now the exact sound of the vowel may vary from one English dialect to another. So, for instance, for some the short a ends up sounding like a short e, so the word sounds like "Kent". And I guess "carnt" is the way they pronounce in some British dialect. . . but it's neither Received Pronunciation [the British standard] nor Standard American English.

Answer 4

"can" with a t sound at the end. The other pronounciation sounds like the way some southerners speak, but it's not the dictionary-correct pronounciation. You might notice that some people pronounce "pen" as "pin" although that's not technically correct.

It depends on where people live and the accent that is typical there. There is nothing that I find stranger than people from other countries who speak English with southern accents for some reason.

Answer 5

It depends where you're from. My mother would pronounce it to rhyme with aunt with her anglo-irish accent, and some would pronounce it like Immanuel Kant. I wouldn't say either of them are wrong.

Answer 6

the a is said either as in father (most common in the UK&Australia);

or as in cat (most common in the US).

the C has always the K sound

If you still have any doubt after this explanation, you are surely in need of learning more about English sounds, try this:

http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/PhonResources.html

Answer 7

CARNT - it's a long 'aah' sound. You can't pronounce it 'can' because it has an opposite meaning; you can't pronounce it 'cent' because Americans and Europeans will get muddled up.

Answer 8

If you skeak Spanish the pronuciation should be "Kaent" is a short term for can not (no puedo) . It shoul sound like that. Good luck with your research!

Answer 9

It depends on which part of the UK you live,ie., your local accent, but the correct pronunciation is 'kahnt'. (The 'a' is formed at the back of the mouth, as if you're going to say: car).

Answer 10

It is pronounced like Carnt

Put a silent 'R' in there

In spoken English it sounds like carn't although it is a shortened version of I can not.