How can I pronounce “15” and “50” so that Siri understands me?

I'm going to be real with you- native English speakers all the time have to ask each other to clarify if we said -ty or -teen when speaking fast. Like, all the time. I personally always stress the -teen on 13, 14, etc. (unless I'm actually counting). 

This is a tricky one, even when talking to other humans. We often clarify “fifty, that’s five-zero”, or, “fiftEEEN; one-five” It’s easier to emphasize the N at the end of “fifteen” than the lack of an N at the end of “fifty”. However, you can still lean on the vowel: “fifTEEE”. Another option is to set the timer for forty-nine or fifty-one minutes.

You're probably going to have less luck if you extend the ee sound since fifty ends in ee. You will probably want to emphasize the "n" of fifteen which is also difficult to pick up. You will need to change the emphasis. So fifty is unstress and fif'teen is stressed. Good luck!

If you are trying to set a timer for 50 minutes, but Siri sets one for 15 minutes, then the problem is not with pronunciation of fifteen, but with fifty. It’s difficult to say what the problem is without hearing you, but you should stress the first sound, rather than second when saying ‘fifty’. Why not try saying ‘F I di’ instead? It might work.

50 fifty /ˈfɪfti/ vs 15 fifteen /fɪfˈtiːn/ Notice where ' is in the words? The first syllable is stressed in 50. So try to exaggerate it when saying fifty like fif!!!! ty. And the last syllable is stressed in 15 so for this one, say it like fif---- teen!!! Same for 16&60, 17&70 and so on but don't forget the N at the end for teen-ending numbers. Once you get used to it, it'll sound natural If you're Japanese, there's similar one. Ame vs Ame. One means candy and the other means rain but the pitch is different.

"Siri, set a timer for 49 minutes" :-)

As the other comment said, FIFty has emphasis on the first syllable while fifTEEN has emphasis on the second syllable.

Siri and Alexa have trouble understanding me from time to time and I’m a native speaker. Speech to AI and speech to text has a long way to go

As a native speaker, I have had the same problem getting voice recognition to distinguish between the two. Others have mentioned emphasizing the N in "fifteen," but to me, that's better for distinguishing to humans. Talking to a voice assistant, I over-emphasize syllables in both words-- the "TEEN" in "fif-TEEN" as others have said, but also the "FIF" in "FIF-ty." That's where the natural emphasis falls in each of the words, and putting a little extra stress on both really seems to help the software understand. EDIT: I took a solid 15 minutes typing this comment and this has now been said by several people. Oops. There you have it, though.

fifTEEN, FIFty

If I’m trying to get an AI assistant to understand a number, I spell out every digit. “Five-zero” or “one-five”. They are just too unreliable to try “fifty” or “fifteen”. Even for a human listener, it’s sometimes hard to tell.

When you say 50, stress the first syllable. FIF-ty. When you say 15, stress both syllables, or the second one. If you’re already doing this, you may be having trouble with the English N sound. Asian languages often make this sound father back in the mouth, and sometimes don’t fully nasalize it. In English, you should be touching the tip of your tongue behind your teeth, and FULLY blocking all air coming out of your mouth. Make sure you’re doing this, and see if Google understands. Edit: it looks like your problem was actually with saying 50, not 15. In that case you probably do not have the stress right. English stress is a difficult concept for speakers of languages without it, like French and maybe Japanese. If you are a Japanese speaker, you have long and short vowels in your language. The difference between ti and tii could be similar to the issue you’re having.

Speak more slowly and enunciate more clearly. Perhaps put a dummy vowel after the N → fif-TEEN-nuh

I don't have Apple's Siri. Instead, I use Samsung's Bixby. But it'll understand me if i pronounce 30, 40, and 50 as: * 30: "Set a timer for *dirty* minutes." (Alternatively, you can set a timer for "half an hour") * 40: "Set a timer for *For Dee* minutes." (Or you can say, "Set a timer for *Foe Dee* minutes.") * 50: "Set a timer for *Fiddy* minutes Basically, instead of pronouncing it with a Tee, pronounce it with a Dee.

If it makes you feel better, Siri pulls this shit with me, too, and I’m a native speaker. It may help to over-enunciate the N in “teen” rather than just stretching the vowel.

Both start the same way - fif One is then the word teen and the other is Tee. Try saying it like two words using both of those pronunciations and see if Google recognizes it

fif-TEEEEN-UH

People request timers set for "fifteen minutes" far more often than for "fifty minutes." Siri is "autocorrecting" what it hears based on what it expects you to say.

I'm a native English speaker and have problems with Siri all the time. Siri is dumb.

This is a universal issue, I assure you, native and non-native speakers alike. The easiest and most organic way to better pronounce those two words is emphasize the stress. Fifty would be FIF-ty, and fifteen would be fif-TEEN. Another thing you could do, especially when talking to a device, is try adding the smallest “uh” sound after the “n” of fifteen (fif-TEEN-*uh) so it stands out. I tell my students in choir to do this all the time so they’re better understood. I also do it myself when my Alexa is being particularly hard of hearing that day.

If you figure it out, let us know! We can’t really do it reliably either. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I set timers for 49 minutes, if necessary.

I’m a native English speaker and Siri still can’t tell which one I’m saying, and I enunciate very well. 😭

Make sure you really pronounce the 'n' at the end of Fifteen (15). For Fifty (50), say the "e" sound at the end for a bit longer than you need to.

It’s a common issue even with native speakers to understand and be understood when they say those words. Best advice I have is to slow down and annunciate it but even then you’ll still probably have issues.

All these comments, no right answers.  "siri, set a timer for fourty-nine minutes"

Perhaps emphasizing the sound is what’s throwing Siri off. In 15, the stress falls on “teen” and in fifty the stress falls on “fif” That said, the difference is pretty subtle. It’s common for even native speakers to ask each other “did you say 15 or 50?”

Actually it's not the length that differs. The sound in "fifty" is very relaxed, while "fifteen" makes you stretch your lips in a smile if pronounced properly. So even if you make the sound short but articulate too much, you'll get "fifteen" instead of "fifty". Besides, it might easily be Siri who doesn't understand your accent, might easily be nothing wrong with your pronunciation at all. Idk if you can teach Siri to understand you. Upd ok maybe I have an advice: try to put a larger pause between "fifty" and "minutes". It could be that Siri hears "nm" instead of "m", because, when you're speaking fast, those consonants can merge to the point that they're indistinguishable for Siri

When you say “fifty” the last syllable should be unstressed, and typically the t is pronounced somewhat like a d. When you say “fifteen,” both syllables are stressed equally.

"One-five" "Five-zero" This is an issue that English speakers come across as well. In radio communications, that's how you would say those things for clarity.

It's a thing that non-natives don't get: the stress is different, '**fif**\-ty vs fif-'**teen**

Stress: fif-TEEN FIF-ty

This is for American English, so this may vary elsewhere. But the best tip in my opinion is to pronounce the "t" in numbers like 30, 40, 50, 60...etc as a "d". So 30 is pronounced more like "thirdy". Also, make sure you're always accenting the first syllable. THIR-dee, FOR-dee, FIF-dee, etc. For 13-19, the "t" is always a hard t, never like a d. Which syllable gets accented may vary in different accents but it's generally acceptable to accent either syllable in 13-19, whereas you would never accent the second syllable in 20, 30, 40, etc....

Siri makes that mistake with native speakers all the time. Based on your post it sounds like you’re missing the “-n” at the end, which is why Siri thinks you’re saying fiftyyyyyyyy minutes even when you stress it.

Fif-dee. Soften the "tee" sound. Most people say fif-dee. If you say "fif-tee", many people will hear "fifteen". Same for 16, 17, 18, and 19. Fif-TeeN. Hit the "tee" and "en" sounds hard.

If it makes you feel any better, native speakers struggle with it too. We tend to soften the final syllable, especially when it ends in a consonant, so fifty and fifteen are often indistinguishable. Your only hope is to stress the -een, but that’s tough to do and sound natural.

Inflection. fif-TEEN and FIF-tee

Don’t emphasize it like teeeeeeeen Emphasize the n and add a slight uh sound at the end so it’s fif-tee-Nuh

Say Tina. Fiftina. So you over emphasize the “n” “teen”. Adding a after should prompt Siri to her you end the word and not leave it as “tee” Teena

Try this: 15 = "fiff-TEEN" 50 = "fiff-DEE"

Native English speaker: I have this happen all the time. I set the timer for 49 minutes instead… As others have mentioned, human listeners miss-hear all the time because they really are very similar.

Native speakers have the same problem. Personally I've opted for Fif-TEE and Fif-Teennnnn like REALLY emphasise the N

Life hack set a timer for 14 minutes and 59 seconds

I just want to point out, that even robots can't understand native speakers. My Dad always used to give Siri shit. "Siri, call (name)." Siri: Calling (different name). "Siri, you're a dumbass."

I would just say separate the numbers. She should understand just as well if you say " set a timer for one five minutes" or you could try phrasing it as a quarter of an hour. I just tested both of those on my phone and it works just fine. It's a Google pixel, so it's a different system, but I would presume Siri can probably figure that out too.

I always say something like "thirteen-uh" so that the "n" is clearly heard.

It reminds me immediately of this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDnxzrbxn4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDnxzrbxn4) , with a voice-activated elevator.

In the US a lot of us say 50 like Fif-dee so maybe that would help?

either go fifTEEEEENNNNNNN/FIFty or js set a timer for 49 minutes and 59 seconds

You stretch out the "een" for 13, 14, 15 etc. You hard stop the "ty" in 30, 40, 50.

In American English, I would say fifteen for 15, but fif-Dee for 50.

I often find myself saying “fifty, that’s five o” or “fifteen, that’s one five” to make sure there’s no confusion.

Native speaker here. I just tested this using Siri. Most of the time when I said “fifty minutes,” Siri picked it up as “fifteen.” The only reliable way to trigger a 50 minute timer was to say “five zero minutes.” Interestingly, when I tried to emphasize “fif-TY,” Siri always set a 15-minute alarm. I assume this is because “fifteen” naturally has emphasis on the last syllable, while “fifty” naturally has a bit more emphasis on the first syllable. So, when I emphasize the last syllable, Siri actually becomes more confident that I meant “fifteen.” Emphasizing the first syllable in “FIF-ty” made it more likely to trigger a 50-minute alarm, but it wasn’t 100% consistent.

For me the „t“ sound in Fifty sounds like a „d“, while in fifteen it sound like a hard „t“ sound.

I don’t know how you sound when you say each word, so I’m not sure which part to say to focus on. But if you pronounce fifty as if it’s spelled “fivdy”, I have to think that would have a much lower chance of being misconstrued as “fifteen” 

I’m a native English speaker and I just ask Siri to set a timer for 49 or 14 minutes.

Siri is an idiot. The number of 50 minute timers that I’ve sat that got put in as 15 is ridiculous. And that’s as a native speaker. No help, just solidarity.

As a (bilingual) native English speaker, Siri does the same to me. For 50, you just have to say ‘five zero’.

Siri and Alexa do the same thing to me and I speak perfect English having been born in the USA. I once set a 50 minute timer on Alexa, and 15 minutes later it rang. Siri does it all the time if I speak the numbers.

I’m an English speaking cashier and always double check when I hear someone say $15/$50. Ex; customer wants a gift card and they say 50, but sometimes I’ll hear 15, and double check. For 15 listen closely for the -n that hangs on at the end (phif-tean) where as 50 (phif-tee) has a loose e sound at the end

By pronouncing zehn and zig not the same way???

fifTEEN; FIFty

Those voice things suck balls. Forever having to say things multiple times as a native speaker. My suggestion would either be to set Siri to use your native language or find out if it can do sort of macro-like shortcuts so you say "Set timer Sandy" and that's 50 mins while "Set timer Fred" is 15. Something like that.

This isn't an answer to your question, but if you'd like to practice English with a real person I'd be happy to help you!

Pronounce the N at the end

For Siri I find you just gotta speak slow and over enunciate. Don't draw out the syllables though.

You can try pronouncing it like fif-dy instead. That's how I do and everyone I know (at least, as far as I've noticed).

Personally I just stress the two syllables on fif-teen and then just not do that for fifty. The "teen" stretches a bit longer.

Native speakers have this problem as well. The ty sound is said with the mouth open and the teen sound is said with the teeth coming together.

We do not pronounce the t in fifty like a t. It is pronounced like a d. FIF-dee. Do pronounce the t as best as possible in teen and stress the second part. Fif-TEEN. If it also helps, smile wide while saying teen until you get the hang of it but do not smile while saying fifty.

"I need about tree fiddy."

15: fif-tEEn The long E sound is important make sure you are saying “E” like the letters name in “E”n 50: FIF-T in Fifty really you say “T” at the end like a T-shirt or golf tee or again like the name of the letter T or the drink tea like ‘fif-tea’

Stress. Stress on the first syllable for 30/40/50 etc, and the "teen" for 13/14/15 etc.

"fif teeNNN nuh" "fif tee"

Ask it to set a timer for 49 minutes and then just wait a few more seconds after it goes off?

15 = Fif-TEEN. Really emphasize the “N”. 50 = Fif-TEEEE. Draw out the “E”.

Emphasis needs to be on the right syllable. FifTEEN. FIFty.

FiF teeN and and FiF Dee. Over emphasis on the capital letters. But teen vs ty is hard for native speakers to distinguish from each other. The Transatlantic accent (not a native accent for anyone) is a good place to start when you have to verbally communicate with technology as most models were trained on radio communications, and a lot of the older communications use that accent. You can google transatlantic accent and watch videos of it.

Pretend you’re asking for a picture of 50 Cent. I bet she’ll understand that.

Honestly as a native speaker I have never been able to get siri to set a timer for 50 minutes, no matter how hard I try. She always does 15.

I see this a lot with native Japanese speakers, who over-emphasize the “-ty” ending because it’s transcribed into Japanese with a long vowel (nevermind the futility of trying to learn English through a separate phonological system — I chastise them about this too). If you’re having trouble, make sure the “-ty” ending is weak and short, while the “-teen” ending is strong and longer.

Siri also did some impressive math. I told it to set a timer for “forty-five minutes and five minutes” and it started a 50 minute timer. I also tried it with “five minutes and ten minutes” and the reverse of “ten minutes and five minutes” and both returned a timer with a 15 minute countdown! You have to say “minutes” explicitly for both amounts, but I also did it with a random list of hours, minutes, and seconds: “Siri, set a timer for one hour and thirty-five minutes and sixty-five minutes and ninety-seven seconds” (2:41:37) and it did it! Cool! This is as useful in a loud environment or with difficult pronunciation as pressing “1:11” on the microwave was (if you wanted to heat something up for one minute but you didn’t want to have to find the zero button on a dark keypad)!

Siri's language setting also determines what accent to expect from you. Why my (native, US) mother insists on keeping her Siri on UK English and never having it understand her American accent is beyond me...

You yell FIFTEEEENN because that even a problem for native speakers

i think saying five zero would work on siri.

Fif-TEEN FIF-tee. The emphasis should help

English uses a lot of stress intonation in its syllables that makes words sound different. This often catches out east Asian speakers, as Japanese is quite flat stress wise (although it does have pitch accent), and Chinese speakers tend to underpronounce the end of words. You often see guides in English where the stress syllable is capitalised. So a gift is a PRES-ent, whilst showing something off is to pre-SENT. These are identically spelt words, pronounced identically, other than syllable stress. English speakers don't mix them up. 50 is FIF-ty. 15 is fif-TEEN. But these are closer than other words, so native speakers will often ask for clarification.

FIFdee (50), fifTEEn (15)

Especially with Google home or Siri, I enunciate, as we say in North America, "like a motherfucker".

FIF-ty fif-TEEN

Stress the second syllable for “fifteen” *Fif*-ty Vs fif-*teen* And try to pronounce the ‘n’ as much as possible.

There are several good answers in this thread. The only one I will add is that "fif-TEEN" takes noticeably longer to say than "fif-d". Even reading, my brain slows down the former. If you stress the -TEEN and inflect the "d" differently, you should be fine.

I just tried this and had the same problem. Siri set the timer correctly when I pronounced “fifty” as “fifdy”. This pronunciation is not uncommon in the states.

In the Midwestern US dialect, 50 is pronounced with a softer "d" sound than 15's "t". Fifdee versus fifteen.

Emphasis on the correct syllable will help distinguish them. When saying "fifty" the emphasis is on the first syllable; with "fifteen" it's on the second.

I have the same problem as native English speaker. If I want fifty minutes on a timer I will say 49 or 51!

For me, I tend to say fifty with the first syllable stressed and the second is relaxed. While with fifteen the "teen" is either even or higher than the "fif" if that makes any sense

Oh don't worry about it, we have the same problem ourselves with the teens. Try REALLY heavily emphasizing the N.

i am a native speaker and i work clinically so i double emphasize numbers by digit and also pronounced letters by nato alphabet in my professional and personal life. it has to be easier in the long run.

Overpronounce the N in teen.

15 is fifteen 50 is fifty, which is basically pronounced the same but without the "n" (fiftee). So.. Exaggerate the "n" if you want Siri to tell the difference. For example... FIFTEENNNNNNNNNNNN 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

Say the "T" in 15 and a "D" for 50. Problem solved.

If it makes you feel any better i have this problem all the time too

In fifteen the teen is stressed and the fif is unstressed. It's the opposite for fifty

In US english, if you say fif - TEEENN and FIFF - tee you will have a better chance. Also separate the syllables in six - TEENN, Sev - en - TEEN, Eight (ehhhhhht) - TEEEEN, and finally, nine is a diphthong, so you say nahh - ee - nnnn TEEEENN. Good luck, report back, please.

siri always messes up 15 and 50 for me for some reason and i’m a native english speaker. oddly enough it doesn’t do that for any of the other -teens/-tys

The best I can give you is saying the “ty” like you would in witty, and the “teen” like you would as its own word. That’s how I remember it. Also enunciation is key, it’s better to break down the word and enunciate it than just say it

It’s pretty normal to double check if someone said 50 or 15. I frequently hear and say “no, 50, five zero”

Fiddy Fif-teen

those numbers just sound too similar. try instead asking for a 49 minute 59 second timer

when saying 50, say fif-DEE with a d sound; I know it's weird but that's how natives say it.

Say fifty fairly quickly, but say fifteen with a space between the “fif” and the “teen” and enunciate the “n”

Make sure to emphasize FIFty and fifTEEN

Honestly the major difference between the two words is in which syllable is stressed. In 50, the first syllable is stressed, and in 15, the second syllable is stressed. When I say stressed, I mean it is slightly longer, slightly louder, slightly more carefully pronounced, whereas the unstressed syllable is a bit shorter and quieter, and can be sort of 'swallowed' or mumbled.

Fifteenuh

for speech to text, emphasize the second syllable rather than the first

emphasize the “n ” in fifteen and the “ty” in fifty

Is it biased one way e.g. it usually mishears 50 as fifteen (but usually understanda 15 as fifteen) or does it mistake it in both directions about equally?

Native English speaker, this happens to me all the time. I just go for 49 minutes😆

Pronounce "15" as "fifTEEN" and "50" as "FIFdee"

I'm not really sure how to help with the "50/15" issue, as I also often have that issue when using any sort of voice-activated system. As for using a voice assistant to help you learn English, that can come with some limitations and oddities. For starters, they generally lack the nuance of actual spoken language, and provide (and often require) phrases in a very artificially-structured way that would be unnatural in an actual conversation. You may also run into some awkward moments in school when trying to talk to others, either because of the odd structure you are learning from Siri and from the British English it is using. I'm not sure how to solve the British side of it, but I'm fairly certain actual British English is very rarely used outside of the UK. Australia uses a mix of British and American, Canada uses mostly American English with a few spellings from British (but still often pronounced the same), and I'm pretty sure most of the EU uses a mix which leans towards American English. This mostly comes from the fact that the US removed a lot mostly unnecessary letters (we don't have a useless 'U' in "color", "armor" etc, for example) and the pronunciations have slowly adapted to where common phrases can be said quicker and more efficiently. Making things quicker and easier to write and say makes it easier for the language to spread to a near-universal level. If you don't care about these awkward moments and just accept that they will happen, carry on! if these moments will be an issue for you, I've heard services like Babbel and Grammerly are very good at making use of these small nuances and can be quite helpful in learning how to read, write, and speak English while making use of them. Good luck out there! Apparently English is one of the hardest languages to learn as a second language, probably thanks to these odd little details.

Feef-tay Fuf-teen The way I intentionally distort it.

The practical solution is to set the timer for 49 or 51 minutes.

say 49 minutes

The -teen vowel can be a bit longer in duration than the -ty vowel. Try pronouncing fif- and -ty for exactly the same amount of time and see if that makes a difference. Siri might be using vowel length as a distinction.

Stress the "teen" with an upwards inflexion at the end so you are saying "fif-TEEN!" Fifty is the opposite, the stress is on the "fif" with the "ty" much quieter "FIF-ty". To improve pronunciation listen carefully to your own voice. Record yourself. Watch a listen to native speaker. Bear in mind that accents are for many people notoriously difficult to lose. I've been speaking Italian in Italy for 30 years and though it isn't really strong, I still have a British accent (and I'm pretty good at imitating people and things).

Try Fitty

Fif-tina Fiddy

Emphasize the consonant at the end, the N Sound. Consonants in English are often spoken harder than most languages, speaking them too softly is one of the most common challenges people learning English as a second language face.

it might help if you said "fifdy" instead of "fifty". Having the t sound at all is confusing when youre not saying teen

“One fife, fife zero”

For an American speaker, for the teens I clearly pronounce the the t and n, and for 50, 60 etc it's more like a "dee" sound at the end, ie fifTEEN FIFdee

Have you found a solution yet? I work in retail so I'm constantly telling customers their total, and I found that a good way for them to \*not\* need clarification is if you don't pronounce 50 properly. Instead of fif-tee try fif-dee and make the dee part short. When I say 15 I pause between the \*fif\* and \*teen\* part. It helps to drop your tone when you say 'teen' too.

Not Siri, but I usually have to enunciate the "n" at the end of fifteen or add a pause between the sounds in fifty in order for Google home to get it. And I'm a native speaker lol Meaning it sounds something like "fifteennn" or "fif--ty"

With 50, make “fif” strong but “ty” weak and short Altogether it will sound like “fiff timinutes” it will probably even sound more like “fiff diminutes” (seventy might sound like “sevenny”, 80 like “Aydy” and 90 like “ninedy”) With 15, make “fif” and “teen” equally strong with a clear T sound (as you have already done) Siri also gets to know your voice over time I think, so as long as they sound different to each other she will eventually be able to understand

With 50, make “fif” strong but “ty” weak and short Altogether it will sound like “fiff timinutes” it will probably even sound more like “fiff diminutes” (seventy might sound like “sevenny”, 80 like “Aydy” and 90 like “ninedy”) With 15, make “fif” and “teen” equally strong with a clear T sound (as you have already done) Siri also gets to know your voice over time I think, so as long as they sound different to each other she will eventually be able to understand

try pronouncing them like fif-TEEN and FIF-ty

Fif-Dee (D is soft, like dog or dinosaur) Fif-Teen (T is hard, like tea or tiger)

You can't, really. When people talk over phones or radios and the numbers are crucial (think shipping and navigation) they'll say them as one-five and five-zero so there won't be any confusion. Because there's no good way to pronounce them unambiguously.

Ngl I just pronounced fifty with a D and it works. Im surprised more people dont do this as it makes it sound more distinct even if its not technically correct

It is an issue of stress.  When you say words in English, some syllables you say loudly and clearly and more slowly (stressed syllables) and some you kind of mumble quickly and quietly (unstressed syllables).  The natural rhythm of English is to alternate stressed-unstressed-stress-unstressed as you talk.   Fifty has the stress on FIF, and then ty is unstressed.  So you say FIF-ty.   To exaggerate this for Siri, shout FIF and then say ty more quietly and quickly.    Fifteen has the stress on TEEN.  So you say fif-TEEN. To exaggerate this for Siri, say fif in a normal voice quickly and then shout TEEN. I used to teach English in China, and the main thing that made my students difficult to for me understand was they would either put the stress on the wrong syllables or on all the syllables.  We used to practice exactly this in class.

Another native speaker, it genuinely feels like a coin flip as I often set 50 min timers for laundry. I have made the habit of saying 49 instead 

Native english speakers will often pronounce the “t” in 50 softly (FIF-dee) and the “t” in 15 hard (fif-TEEN). My guess is you are over-annunciating the “t” in 50 too harshly because you are trying to be clear! It happens with native speakers too. Try fifdee instead!

Over enunciate

Pronounce the “n”?

“Set a timer for forty-nine minutes”

FIF-Teen-(uh) [15] - emphasis: first syllable - sound: strong plosive T to start the second syllable - resonance: slight nasal vowel for Teen; in bridge of nose and bulb of the nose / nostrils. - shadow vowel / shaping: a near-silent (uh) shadow vowel follows the ‘Teen’ sound for mouth shape / tongue moment. fif-DEE [50] - emphasis: second syllable - sound: strong plosive D to start the second syllable - resonance: hard palette resonance behind front teeth; minimal nasal. - shadow vowel / shaping: no shadow vowel; the word cuts off abruptly after the “DEE” sound is made.

wait why are you emphasizing the “teeeeeeeeen” sound when saying 50? your scenario said you told it to set a timer for 50 minutes but Siri set it for 15 instead. so it made you crazy and you tried to emphasize the “teen” in 50??

fif*TEEN* *FIF*ty

As an experiment, try telling Siri to set a timer for "fitty" minutes. It's a way people with certain accents pronounce "fifty" and the AI might pick up on it.

Fifty in most dialects of modern English is pronounced with a ‘d’ sound instead of a ‘t’ sound, while fifteen usually has a ‘t’ sound like it’s spelled. If you pronounce 15 “fif-teen” and 50 “fif-dee” making sure to emphasize the ‘n’ in fifteen, I bet Siri will be able to understand you more easily.

Stress the N at the end, but yeah this happens all the time to natives too

In addition to others’ suggestions, one thing that native speakers do to differentiate between the two is add a little extra syllable after fifteen. It sounds like “fifteenuh” (the uh is quiet), whereas fifty doesn’t have a consonant at the end to pronounce like that.

fwiw siri is a crap shoot when it comes to understanding what I am saying and I am a native speaker. I would try google translate and talk to that. This will understand you much better than siri.

My address has a 50 in it, and if I have to give it over the phone I pronounce it “Fifty, that’s five-zero.” Without that it’s an even chance which one people will hear.

Fif tee nnn for 15 ( extra stress in the nnn) Fif teee for 50

One five. Five zero

I am a native English speaker and Siri usually has no idea what I am saying. To ask Siri to understand the difference between 15 and 50 can only happen with perfect sound conditions and when I very specifically annunciate.

Equal emphasis on both syllables for 15, hold the n at the end a little longer. At least for the American Siri, say 50 with the emphasis on "fif," and lower the pitch slightly for the second syllable. Also for the american Siri, say the 2nd syllable like there's no t, but a d: fif dee, not fif tee

i often say 50 as fif-dee, my fourth grade teacher often ranted about how people said thirdee fourdee fifdee instead of thirty forty fifty, maybe using more of a d sound than t in 50 can help differentiate from 15?

Put more stress in the "teen" part. That's all.

I'm a native English speaker and tell the Amazon unit to set the timer for 75 seconds because I don't want to adjust when "one minute and fifteen seconds" is interpreted as "one minute and fifty seconds". Fwiw, 50 minutes is 3000 seconds. If I had to do 50 seconds I'd probably do a minute and then ask 10 seconds to be subtracted, or just use 49, which is close enough

Start with the word teen. Make sure you are understood when saying that word. I don’t have enough linguistic skills to accurately explain how teen is drawn out. When I say fifteen, I pronounce the teen part as tee-in, but the “in” is very quick. I agree that Siri has trouble understanding the difference when I speak, too, as a native speaker.

I’m a native English speaker. Siri still doesn’t understand which one I mean. I usually just end up setting a timer for 49 minutes instead of 50.

15: Fif-teen 50: Fif-dee

50 - FIF DEE 15 - FIF DEE NA try that Edit to add: 16- SIX DEE NA 60- SIX DEE 17- SEVEN DEE NA 70- SEVEN DEE for more examples

Stress and draw out the “N” on fifteen.

You have great tips here. I would suggest something else in the meantime. Set the timer for 51 or 49. Until you can work on the pronunciation a bit more. I also recommend saying it like fif-dee instead of fif-tee. It shouldn't sound the same to you when you say it out loud. Try that and see if siri understands.

One thing to consider is vowel length, how long you extend the sound in beats. Japanese has this. In 15, you actually hold that ee sound a tiny bit longer than the ee in 50. Plus finishing the longer ee with a hard N should help.

wait you said you set timers for 50 minutes but siri recongizes it as 15. then you proceed to say you pronounce it as teen instead of ty. well, then you did it the other way around. 15 is pronounced fifteen, 50 is pronounced fifty

You can tell Siri “set a timer for five zero minutes” and it will understand. It’s ridiculous, nobody really says that, but I suspect it is designed for situations like this. As far as pronunciation, in US English, “fifty” has emphasis on the first syllable, while “fifteen” has both syllables accented equally. I think it’s the same in the UK.

If I want a timer for 50 minutes, I just ask Siri to set a timer for 49 minutes or 51 minutes. Being one minute off is easier than dealing with Siri misunderstanding me.

If you want 15 and get 50, stress the N (fifteenuh) If you want 50 and get 15, stress the Fift and minimize the ee (FIFT-ee) These are the two numbers most often misheard even among natives, but there are a couple differences that can help. Aside from the stress difference, the other difference that can help is whether the T is in the first or second syllable (FIFT-ee vs fif-TEEN)

You might have more luck if you pronounce 50 as “fif dee” with slightly more emphasis on the first syllable. 15 = fif TEEN 50 = FIF dee That said, this would mostly be for the benefit of the AI. Even native speakers get these two mixed up often.

Try saying fifteen as "fifff - TeeN" with a slight gap and a strongly enunciated T and N.

I say fifty with a flap instead of a /t/, so it sounds more like fif-dee. Maybe try that?

In most accents, the T in “fifty” sounds like a D because it’s unaspirated. In most American accents, the T in “fifteen” is aspirated. The N and the vowel also play a role (and in some accents, the only role) in differentiating the words. Don’t allow the /n/ at the end to become deleted; it is important and cannot be removed. Coda nasals have a ringing quality to them and essentially “eat” the vowel to one degree or another. Some vowels are more affected than others, but the consonant also affects the vowel by leading to nasalization, even on those it’s less prone to “eating”. So, the ending vowel in “fifty” is less tense, longer, and not nasalized than the final vowel in “fifteen”. The /t/ is aspirated in many dialects (though not all), and the /n/ tends to be held out a little because it’s a coda nasal.