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in this video series you will learn how
to pronounce the 100 most common words
in american english
i got this idea when i saw a couple of
other videos on this topic and i was
horrified at what i saw
in those videos people were teaching the
full pronunciation of these words like
that
have
to
so many of the 100 most common words are
function words and they reduce it's
completely unnatural to fully pronounce
each word in american english
let me show you what i mean
this sentence is four words and each one
of these words is in the 100 most common
words list
this
is
for
work
that's the full pronunciation of each of
these words
and if that's all you learn about the
pronunciation then this is how you would
pronounce that sentence
this is for work
this is for work well i don't want any
of my students thinking that that is the
correct way to pronounce that sentence
it's not it's not natural
this is for work
this is for work
is and for are not fully pronounced
rhythm in american english is extremely
important for capturing the character of
the language for understanding americans
when they speak and for sounding natural
and being easily understood when you
speak
some syllables are long and some are
very very short
this contrast is the rhythm of american
english
in order to make those short syllables
really short some words in american
english some of the most common words
reduce
this means a sound changes or is dropped
and everybody studying english should
know these let's take our sentence again
and talk about the real pronunciation of
it
this is for work
two words are longer
this
work
and two words are shorter is
for
this is for work
this
is for
work
so it's not is
but
is
and it's not
for
but
for
this is for work
rhythmic contrast
so as we go through the 100 most common
words in american english here we're
going to talk about rhythm and
reductions at the same time to make sure
that you're learning the correct
pronunciation not the full pronunciation
which is rarely used in most function
words
okay let's start at the beginning the
number one most common word in american
english is
the
in a sentence it will become
the
the
very fast with a schwa this is when the
next word begins with a consonant for
example
the most
the
the most
it's usually pronounced with an e vowel
if the next word begins with the vowel
or diphthong for example
the other
the most important thing about the
pronunciation of this word is that it
should be said very quickly
the cat
it should never be the cat
the cat
always the cat
the the
very fast
the next word is be
and i assume this means the verb to be
conjugated
i am you are
he is she is it is
we are they are
the important thing to know about these
pronunciations is that they will almost
always be said in contraction
i am becomes i'm
i'm i'm
said very quickly i'm
sometimes you'll even hear it as just
the m sound
i'm sorry i'm sorry
[Music]
this is a natural pronunciation
you are
your
reduces to
your
super fast
basically no vowel
you're you're
you're gonna be okay
you're you're
very fast
he is becomes
he's
he's
she is is she's
she's
it is
it's
it's it's
sometimes we reduce this even further we
change a sound we drop the vowel
we say just ts
it's cool
it's awesome
have you ever heard that
it's cool
it's raining
it's a common reduction
we are
we're
becomes
we're
we're running late
we're
very fast
they are
there
becomes
very fast the vowel changes
the
they're okay
word number three
two
almost never pronounced this way
two we use a reduction the vowel changes
to the schwa
said very quickly and sometimes the true
t at the beginning changes to more of a
d sound or a flap t
let's go to the beach
go to the goda
goda
how is two being pronounced there
a flap of the tongue and the schwa
said very quickly goda
go to the beach
it's nothing like
tu
is it
of
again we don't fully pronounce this word
it's not
of it's
of
schwa
very light v said very quickly and
actually you'll often hear this word
without the v then it's just the schwa
and we pronounce it this way in phrases
like kind of and
sort of
kinda
sorta
for example i'm kinda tired
kinda kinda
schwa
very fast
kinda
okay we're only four words in but let's
review
i'm going to put up a sentence
look at it
find the reduction
and then say the sentence with the
reduction say that reduction very
quickly here's one sentence
i am remember becomes
i'm
how quickly can you make that first word
i'm running late
i'm running late try it is just the m
sound
i'm running
i'm running
i'm running late
sorry guys i'm running late
so natural
when you learn the reductions in
american english and you start to really
use them in your speech you gain a
native feeling
also understanding americans becomes
easier because you can start to identify
the reductions
one more for you to try out loud right
now
i want you to try reducing the word to
look at it think about it
now try it out loud
i know how to do it
how to how to
i'm making that with the flap t and the
schwa are you
try it again
howda
i know how to do it
all right we'll keep going with number
five
and
and another word that we rarely fully
pronounce there are a couple of
different ways to reduce this we'll
start with the full pronunciation and
we'll reduce from there
a vowel followed by n consonant
the tongue is lifted in the back for a
ah
then relaxes before the end
[Music]
so it's not a pure a
the first reduction is just dropping the
d
and
an
and i think it'll be okay
and and i and i
no d just the n into the next word
and i think it'll be okay
another reduction more common is just to
say the n sound
and i think it'll be okay
just straight from the end into the next
word
nai
and i think it'll be okay
cookies and cream
salt and pepper
black and white up and down left and
right
all of these i'm just making a quick n
sound linking the two words
up and down
number six okay we're actually going to
do 6 and 32 together because they're
related
they're the articles a and
an
now we don't say a and and we say
and
schwa
very fast very little movement of the
mouth
a coffee
an example an an
number seven
in
we don't drop or change a sound here we
don't reduce but it is still unstressed
this mean it should be really short less
clear
instead of saying
in
we would say
in
he's in love in
she's in a hurry
in in
so be careful that it's not
in
that sounds stressed it's
in
number eight
that
you know what i realize i already have a
video for a lot of these reductions i
have a video on the pronunciation of
that and how we really pronounce it in a
sentence
so i'll give a brief description here
but i'll also link to that and other
related reduction videos in the video
description
that is a word that can be used lots of
different ways in american english and
in some cases in many cases we reduce
the vowel from
a
to the schwa so
that becomes
the
now the ending t the pronunciation of
that sound depends on the beginning of
the next word
if the next word begins with a vowel or
diphthong it's a flap t
that i
that did if the next word begins with a
consonant then it's a stop t
that she that that
that she
i know it's a little confusing check out
my video on the word that for a longer
explanation and more examples but just
note that we often don't pronounce this
word
that we often reduce it so it has the
schwa
number nine
the verb have
just like the verb be
this will often be used as a contraction
in spoken english which is already a
reduction
we're already changing sounds for that
i have becomes i've
i've i've i've
i've been wanting to see that i've i've
you have becomes you've
he has becomes
he's
he's he's
you've
he's been waiting
he's
here's something interesting the
pronunciation of the has contraction
with he and she
it's pronounced as a z
he's he's been he's been she's she's
she's
but with it
it's
it's been raining then it's an s sound
it's
he's
z
it's
s
we have becomes weave
we've we've
and they have becomes they've
which sounds like
they've
when it's unstressed
number 10 the pronoun i
usually said very quickly it's not i
but
i
i think so i i i think i
if you're speaking really quickly you
can maybe even get away with something
more like ah
rather than i
i think so
i think so
when it said so quickly you can't really
tell if i'm doing the full diphthong i
or not
wow okay we just did the 10 most common
words in english and none of them are
fully pronounced
they're all words that are unstressed or
reduce
interesting
keep your eyes out
that's an idiom that means to look for
something we expect it will be coming in
the future so keep your eyes out for
future videos in this series where we'll
go over the rest of the words on this
list here's the playlist and as i create
new videos i will add them there
when will we find our first stressed
word in the 100 most common words of
american english
we'll have to find out
that's it and thanks so much for using
rachel's english
if you want to see my absolute latest
video click here if you're new to the
channel check out this where to start
playlist
click here to subscribe i make new
videos on american english every tuesday
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Video info
VocabularyEnglish Words The Top 10 Pronunciation Guide Learn English (American English)
You can learn English with this video and get detailed pronunciation guidance for the 10 most common English words. This video is the first in a series that will teach you the pronunciation of the 100 most common English words.
Vocabulary in this video
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