The word is "often". Do you say offen or off-ten?

Question

How do YOU say it?

Answer 1

To the best of my knowledge, unless persistance of usage has made inroads here, 'off-ten' is an incorrect and unacceptable pronunciation of 'often' = "off-en'

Well, OOPS! I beg your pardon! Just checked this on dictionary.com, and both pronunciations are indeed given as alternatives. Language is an organic thing, and what is unacceptable at one time can indeed work its way into the
mainstream of allowable usage, can't it!

Answer 2

Interesting that some people say "offen" in their everyday speech, but then try to "correct" it in formal use by pronouncing the T.

I ALWAYS say it without the T, and was happy to discover that this has been standard for a long time. In fact, pronouncing the T has only become 'also acceptable' very recently, and that apparently only because many people THINK the spelling demands it, and that they are correcting an error.

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But if you look at the pattern that gave us the 'silent t' --and how we ALWAYS treat it as silent in *other* similar words-- it makes perfect sense.

The stem word is "oft" --in which the t is pronounced. But when the ending "en" is added, the t sound is lost (though it remains in the spelling). There are, in fact, MANY examples of this sort of shift in English and in every other case the t becomes silent when followed by an -en or -le.

Note especially - soft (pronounced) vs. soften (silent).
Compare: list -> listen; glisten; fast [as in 'held fast/secure'] -> fasten; haste -> hasten; chaste -> chasten; nest -> nestle; Christ -> christen; castle; mistletoe; whistle; wrest -> wrestle; trestle; gristle; thistle; hustle; jostle; bristle; apostle; ostler.

Of course, we COULD change the spelling in all of these, dropping the t in all these words. But notice that keeping the letter often makes clear how words like "soft" and "soften" are related. In fact, spelling is NOT all about indicating pronunciation (else how could we who speak different dialects of the same language understand each other in writing?); it often shows something about the history and relationship of words.

Answer 3

Offen since as someone else mentioned, the 't' is silent according to the rules of phonics and pronunciation. I suppose that some people think that pronouncing the 't' sounds more cultured(?) I have always kept the 't' silent and stuck by the phonetic rules ;)

Answer 4

I say 'offen.' Off-ten is also correct because some people say so.

Answer 5

1

Answer 6

It is pronouced 'offen' with the 't' being silent.

Answer 7

OFFEN- 1 SYLLABLE

Answer 8

it really all depends who I am talkin to....like when I answer fones at work I use PROFFESSIONAL Dialogue.....lol but at work its OFF-TEN.....any other time it wait most off the time its OFFTEN......i never really paid attention lol!

Answer 9

i ushly say often

Answer 10

of-ten is how I say it