How to pronounce AND, OF, OR and FOR in a sentence| Reductions in English

87,279 views ・ 2019-02-28

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey, what's up, it's Hadar. Thank you for joining me.
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And today we are going to talk about the pronunciation of four small
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but mighty words. Those words are very frequent in the language and each word has two
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possible pronunciations. And those words are
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'and', 'or',
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'for' and 'of'.
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So, let's begin by understanding
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the function of these words. And it's funny that I say the function of these words because these are called
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function words.
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Now the thing about function words like these four words and there are like dozens more,
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these words are usually reduced they can hide and squeeze themselves almost to a nonexistent
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position to allow the more important words like the nouns and the verbs to stick out.
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So while nouns and verbs are longer and higher in pitch
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function words like 'and', 'or', 'for' and 'of'
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are reduced to a very neutral small
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simple sound and that is the schwa sound which is a neutral sound and it sounds something like this. /ə/
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So, for each word for each of those four words, there is the proper pronunciation.
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So, how you pronounce it when you stress the word or when you say it alone and how this word is actually
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pronounced in
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context in a phrase or a sentence. So let's begin with a proper pronunciation of the first word the word 'and'
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The word 'and' has the 'a' as in 'cat' then 'n' and
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'd'. And
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But when the 'a' as in cat appears before an 'n' sound then it turns to something like 'euhnd' you hear this
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transitional sound as if you're starting with an 'e' and then gradually opening it to an 'ah', and
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and
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and
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So for example if someone says something
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'So, I met Michael last night'.
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And?'
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Right, so this word is stressed is pronounced alone
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and this is how I pronounce it. Now, when this word appears in a sentence and those as in
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most cases it is reduced. So the 'a' as as in 'cat' is reduced to a neutral
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sound, to the schwa and instead of /ænd/
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we say /'n/.
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Notice that I also drop the 'd' and
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because the'n' is a lot easier to connect to any other sound.
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I don't want to emphasize every single word and I do not want to pronounce them separately
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So it's not going to be 'bread and butter ', 'bread and butter'
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but I dropped the 'd'. I reduce the /æ/ to /ə/.
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'Bread'n, bread'n, bread-n- butter
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bread-n- butter, right? So I'm reducing everything together
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I even connected the 'd' to the 'n' immediately, listen. /Brɛdən/, /brɛdənˈbʌtər/,
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boy-z'n-girls
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boy-z'n-girls, not 'boys and girls', boy-z'n
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boy-z'n-girls.
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Milk and sugar /mɪlkenˈʃʊgər/
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/mɪlken/, /mɪlken/ ... not 'milk and sugar', 'milkn-shugr'
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'milkn-shugr'. The next word is 'of'.
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/ɑːv/
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When the word is stressed, the first vowel is the 'ah' as in 'father'.
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So you want to drop your jaw and relax your lips and then the 'f' is the 'v' sound always a 'v',
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always a 'v'. /ɑːv/,
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/ɑːv/.
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However, when it's reduced it's pronounced as /əv/.
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So the 'a' sound turns into shwa. /əv/
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/əv/ again and the 'v' remains, for now.
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So, let's look at next example 'box of apples' is going to be pronounced as
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'bɑk-sə væpəlz'
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'bɑk-sə'
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'væpəlz', I'm connecting everything. So the word 'of' has to connect either to the previous word or the second word
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but it has to connect right and usually everything connects together 'bɑk-sə væpəlz'
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It feels like it's two words 'bɑksə',
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'væpəlz', 'bɑk-sə væpəlz'. 'kʌpəv ˈkɑfi', right?
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Not 'cup av coffee' and definitely not 'cup of' with an 'f' 'coffee'.
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/kʌpəv ˈkɑfi/. Now, another way you couldn't pronounce it is
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/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/
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/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/.
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What have I done here? 'Cup of coffee'. I actually reduced the 'a:v' to 'ə'.
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So not only I reduce the 'a' sound to a schwa but I also dropped the 'v' completely.
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/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/. And that's the case when the word 'of' appears before a consonant 'cup of coffee'.
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'kʌpə ti':'
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bottle of water /bɑtəlˈwadər/
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out of here /ædə hi:r/
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right. Now, it's not a mistake to say the 'av'. If it's easier for you to say /æʊt ʌv hir/ ,
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/kʌp ʌv ˈkɑfi/,
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/bɑtəl ʌv wadər/. That's awesome. That's great. Keep it up. As long as you're reducing the 'a' and you're connecting everything together.
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You don't have to drop a 'v'
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but if you want to, right
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you can and the more you practice it the easier it gets and ultimately the less sounds you make the easier it is.
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The word 'for' is pronounced with the 'f' and then the 'ɔr'
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as in 'four'. So when the word is stressed you want to make sure that you hear the 'ɔ'.
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Sound you drop your jaw. You round your lips
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you keep the tongue down full and only at the end you bring it up for the
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'R'. /fɔr/
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right, so it doesn't sound like 'fur' when it's stressed. /fɔr/
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So, for example, when you say something like 'Who is it for'?
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The word 'for' is stressed and then I need to pronounce it just like that with a nice long 'fɔr' as in 'four'. However,
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when the word 'for' is unstressed and that's
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usually the case, then the '/fɔr/ is reduced to
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'fər', 'fər', 'fər' and yes, it sounds just like the word 'fur', like a dog's fur.
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Fur, fur. So, it's an 'f', a schwa sound and an 'R'. There is no 'ɔ' in the middle,
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okay. I don't want to pronounce every word separately
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'It's for me', but the word 'for' is reduced to 'fur' and I connect everything together. 'It's f'r me'
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'It's f'r me'. 'I did it f'r you'. I
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did it f'r, f'r, f'r. 'I did it f'r you'. With the word 'or' it's the same case. The proper pronunciation is /ɔr/
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you have a nice long open 'ɔ' sound and only at the end you bring the tongue up for the 'R'.
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Or
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So for example, if we're going on a picnic and I ask my friend to bring a cake or wine and
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She brings cake and wine. I'm like, 'No, I said 'cake or wine, not cake and wine', right?
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'Why do you have to always bring everything?'
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So, in that case and that's usually the case with my friends, just so you know that. So,
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here I want to stress the 'or' so I will pronounce it properly.
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'Cake OR wine' not 'cake and wine' and then I reduced the end but when the 'or' is reduced it turns into
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ər, ər,
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/kafi 'er' ti:/
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kafi:er
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reducing, connecting. kaafeer tea, kaafeer tea
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black or white, 'blacker white'
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It actually sounds like 'blacker' 'white', 'blacker white',
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'kaafeer tea',
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'boyzer girls'
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'Thiser that', right? So, it sounds like the ER suffix that connects to the first word this or, this or, this or that,
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okay. And why is it so important? First to save you energy.
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You don't need to invest a lot of energy in pronouncing those words
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You don't need to add vowels that don't exist because all those 'ɔ', 'a' and 'æ'
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they don't need to be there if the words are unstressed.
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So, if you want to practice just create a lot of expressions with those words with 'and', 'or', 'of'
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and 'for' and
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use them in the reduced form and say them over and over again. Try to see how people pronounce it around you and
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that when you start integrating it into your day-to-day speech and you start using it and you make it your own and
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remember, practice makes better,
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better, because perfection is overrated.
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Okay, that's it.
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Thank you so much for watching. Consider subscribing to my channel if you like this video and share it with your friends
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so they also know how to reduce, right. Why keep it to yourself, share it, share the knowledge!
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Let me know in the comments below what other words you have noticed that are being reduced in English,
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okay. Because there are more than these four words and
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that's it. I guess I'll see you next week in the next video
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Bye.
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