Can I omit the “t” in some words?

What I think you are describing is a common enough practice in some dialects of English spoken in Britain. It strikes me as Londonish or Southeast England. Let me find a video link to to post to see if that's what you mean.

If it's supposed to glottalize these words as in “button” it will be tough

There are lots of accents in the world and maybe one exists where you can omit those Ts, but I've never come across one. It would just sound incorrect and confusing.

Depends on your accent. For instance, in some Canadian accents, there's only one 'T' sound in "Toronto", and "Ottawa" is pronounced "Oddawa". I once worked on a team with a man from England who pronounced every 'T' sound in every word. It's not something I would get overly worried about. Use the pronunciations given in your reference materials, but understand that out in the wild, some people will be skipping t's.

As a non-native speaker, I’d recommend that you try to have good pronunciation before you decide to speak sloppily.

White American native speaker The t is omitted but definitely not glottalized! I think t only glottalizes before a syllabic n (button bʌʔn̩, certain srʔn̩). But the three words you gave all continue with vowels afterward, and the phonetic rendering you gave is exactly correct! I personally omit the t sometimes for fantasy, but not mentally or elementary I think. It’s an option but not a hard and fast pattern And I hear both for all the words 😊

Glottalisation is very common in British English. It is also (increasingly, from my own perspective) present some words in North American accents. Words like *better, butter, water, bottle* are often glottalised in many British English accents, but not so much in American (where it's closer to a 'd' or alveolar tap). Words like *Manhattan* and *certain* would be glottalised in both accents. But, to answer your question, *fantasy, mentally* and *elementary* would have glotallised or pronounced t in British English, but would indeed be **omitted in American accents**.

For the glottal stop The /t/ is pronounced as a glottal stop when it is between a vowel, /n/, or /r/ and followed by an /n/ (including a syllabic /n/), /m/, or non-syllabic /l/. (partner or certain for instance) For the silent /t/ two options The /t/ is optionally silent when it follows /n/ and precedes a vowel sound, /r/ (including all r-controlled vowels) or a syllabic /l/. (E.g. center or gentle) Or it can often be omitted when it occurs between two consonant sounds (except the consonants for /t̬/ and glottal stop). This is likely to occur when an -s ending is added to a word. (E.g. Acts or prints) For American English, in Southern British English, glottal t is quite different and has to do with stress pattern as far as I remember

In my American dialect the ‘t’ is glottalized only if the next consonant sound is an ‘n.’

In the first set of examples, it's merged with the n to become a nasal flap, basically. In the other examples, it's glottalized. Well, this is in my American dialect.

There are some words where the standard pronunciation is a silent 't' (listen, soften, often, buffet, ballet [more french loans]) Then depending on your target accent there are patterns where 't' will become softened, and depending on the accent become retracted, tapped, or glottalised. This often happens intervocalically in words like "butter" but not universally and not exclusively.

For now, I would suggest not omitting the t in most of those words. You will be better understood. However, in the US, we do omit the the t in "often" pretty consistently. British English may be different. As a native speaker, when I hear other native speakers omit the t sounds in fantasy, mentally, elementary, sentence it sounds a bit sloppy to me. I grew up in New Jersey, near New York City, so my speech patterns may not be the same as people from other parts of the US.

There seems to be some division of opinion on this topic. I don't think you should glottalize or omit anything in the sense that it is done in London or Southeast England, nor should you pronounce "T "as "D", as Americans sometimes do. You're not from either of those places. If you prefer British English, try to mimic "received pronunciation" as spoken by BBC newsreaders, among others. If you prefer American English, television news is pretty good, but more subject to regional variations than in Britain.

At least make an effort! It’ll sound lazy. In Britain, we’ll use a glottal stop, in America they vocalise the t (soft t) so it sounds a bit (or a lot) like - d, but to completely drop it will potentially sound like you can’t be bothered.

Wha?

Offs. There are a million accents. None of them are "correct". Stop worrying. If people understand you, then it's fine.

Depends on your dialect/accent. I’m from the North of England, and I would pronounce: Certain- Cer’un with a glottalised ‘t’ sound Button- Bu’un, also with a glottalised ‘t’ sound. However, someone from the South of England may pronounce them with all of their letters, i.e. “certain”

In many UK accents, some t's are glottalised, such as in "hate". In many US accents, t's after an "n" sound are omitted, just like in your examples, such as "elementary" having completely no t sound, the "a" vowel or even the "r" sound is directly after the "n". Both the UK and the US glottalise some t's, like in "can't" (this can make differentiating between "can" and "can't" very difficult in US accents because the vowel is generally the same, the only difference being the glottalisation at the end.

I omit the t in fantasy and elementary but not mentally. For the most part tho, I always glottilize the t after an n. I think mentally is an exception for me but I'm not sure why.

Doesn't work if you speak slowly but if you're fluent then in some events it just makes sense

I'm English (living in US) and I would pronounce all those t's. Some accents (both sides of the Atlantic, but more on the North American side) might drop the t's, but I think in general in most places you will sound more educated if you pronounce them. Put it this way, no one will think you're talking funny if you pronounce the t's, but some people might judge you if you don't.

Glottalization is obvious when it happens. The people you're complaining about are _eliding_ T entirely, and anyone arguing otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

This is called T-glottalization. Pretty common in America for relaxed speech, but not when speaking carefully. A linguist would technically say the T is realized as a glottal stop. Another common American pronunciation is T-flapping between vowels, which can make T and D sound alike.

I’m from California. We are known for our “lazy” Ts. All the words I read and say in my head have the T pronounced but if I am actually in conversation? They’re gone. Sacramento? Sacrameno Santa Ana? Sana Ana Any T in the middle is usually gone. If there is a double T? It’s a soft “d” sound. Better? Bedder Matter? Madder But if you have an accent already in English and have a hard time being understood or hard time with elocution, it’s better to learn with the sharper T. It makes things less difficult for people to understand you. Especially if you are planning to live in an English country? Until you understand the way their dialect and pronunciation works? Use the hard Ts. When you’re in the culture and the language, it naturally happens in conversation.

You can but you shouldn’t. As a learner, it’s best to learn the correct way first, then you can start dropping letters and speaking more colloquially. For the British side of things, the T is dropped when it’s doubled. Bottle, throttle, kettle etc. Accents can also cause a single T to be dropped but generally it’s only doubles. Again, you can learn this. But you should prioritise speaking clearly and being understood first and foremost.

I cannot think of any words that omit the t in whatever accent Floridians have. But there are definitely words that glottalize t or make it a d. No that's not true. I think there might be Italian words that English uses where t is omitted. Though at that point the spelling and pronunciation are not using English rules.

Both t dropping and t glottalization are common in English. Geoff Lindsey has a video on the subject on his excellent YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/v_0VY17Ufz4?si=yHIJbNzXOgfFoLCm

There is a distibct way in which some English learners (particularly SE Asian language natives) will drop the t in a word like Fantasy that is a very clear indicator of being non-native, which is not the same as how, say, a native of the east end of London would drop the t in Fantasy. The difference, however, is very subtle. As such, you're more likely to end up sounding _more_ foreign if you try to imitate these sorts of speech patterns, than native, so be wary.

Some accents will not pronounce certain letters or if you’re speaking fast

To pronounce the words properly, do pronounce the letter "t". Yes, you will hear people leaving the "t" out, or other letters in other words, but do pronounce them if they are not officially silent.

It's glottalized after vowels or open consonants like R (as in button or certain) and elided/omitted after closed consonants like N, as in mental and dental and so on. You can do it if you want... It certainly isn't common for people who speak English as a second language, and would set you apart and make your accent sound more naturalistic.

‘connexion’

FYI - Often has an actual silent T, so this shouldn't be included in your addition.

t being ommitted is bri'ish

It depends on which specific English accent you have, Here in the UK whether you drop or glottalize Ts or not varies by region/class/etc

i’d say you’re correct about the glottalization of certain and button, that’s how i pronounce them casually

T-glottalization is definitely a feature of some accents. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-glottalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-glottalization)

In my area, a lot of people mispronounce words like that. "T", especially if it's in the last part of the word gets dropped. For example, the city of Trenton might be Tren-In or Trent-INN 's just a local way to speak. If you are in any format setting or public speaking I would highly suggest you avoid any shortening of words.