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

88,298 views ・ 2019-02-28

Accent's Way English with Hadar


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

00:00
Hey, what's up, it's Hadar. Thank you for joining me.
0
30
2220
00:02
And today we are going to talk about the pronunciation of four small
1
2250
4500
00:07
but mighty words. Those words are very frequent in the language and each word has two
2
7060
5989
00:13
possible pronunciations. And those words are
3
13540
2870
00:17
'and', 'or',
4
17650
1770
00:19
'for' and 'of'.
5
19420
2180
00:23
So, let's begin by understanding
6
23109
2000
00:25
the function of these words. And it's funny that I say the function of these words because these are called
7
25240
4910
00:30
function words.
8
30490
680
00:31
Now the thing about function words like these four words and there are like dozens more,
9
31170
4649
00:35
these words are usually reduced they can hide and squeeze themselves almost to a nonexistent
10
35820
6869
00:43
position to allow the more important words like the nouns and the verbs to stick out.
11
43120
5569
00:48
So while nouns and verbs are longer and higher in pitch
12
48940
3380
00:52
function words like 'and', 'or', 'for' and 'of'
13
52870
3470
00:56
are reduced to a very neutral small
14
56980
3409
01:01
simple sound and that is the schwa sound which is a neutral sound and it sounds something like this. /ə/
15
61780
5779
01:08
So, for each word for each of those four words, there is the proper pronunciation.
16
68740
5750
01:14
So, how you pronounce it when you stress the word or when you say it alone and how this word is actually
17
74590
5599
01:20
pronounced in
18
80830
1320
01:22
context in a phrase or a sentence. So let's begin with a proper pronunciation of the first word the word 'and'
19
82150
6379
01:29
The word 'and' has the 'a' as in 'cat' then 'n' and
20
89409
4400
01:34
'd'. And
21
94600
2000
01:36
But when the 'a' as in cat appears before an 'n' sound then it turns to something like 'euhnd' you hear this
22
96970
7519
01:45
transitional sound as if you're starting with an 'e' and then gradually opening it to an 'ah', and
23
105070
5509
01:51
and
24
111189
1320
01:52
and
25
112509
1531
01:54
So for example if someone says something
26
114040
2000
01:57
'So, I met Michael last night'.
27
117100
2690
02:01
And?'
28
121689
2000
02:04
Right, so this word is stressed is pronounced alone
29
124000
3139
02:07
and this is how I pronounce it. Now, when this word appears in a sentence and those as in
30
127140
5570
02:13
most cases it is reduced. So the 'a' as as in 'cat' is reduced to a neutral
31
133170
5630
02:19
sound, to the schwa and instead of /ænd/
32
139500
2540
02:22
we say /'n/.
33
142680
2000
02:25
Notice that I also drop the 'd' and
34
145020
2509
02:28
because the'n' is a lot easier to connect to any other sound.
35
148110
3139
02:31
I don't want to emphasize every single word and I do not want to pronounce them separately
36
151250
4440
02:35
So it's not going to be 'bread and butter ', 'bread and butter'
37
155690
4410
02:40
but I dropped the 'd'. I reduce the /æ/ to /ə/.
38
160100
4619
02:45
'Bread'n, bread'n, bread-n- butter
39
165570
3679
02:50
bread-n- butter, right? So I'm reducing everything together
40
170340
3800
02:54
I even connected the 'd' to the 'n' immediately, listen. /Brɛdən/, /brɛdənˈbʌtər/,
41
174140
5430
03:00
boy-z'n-girls
42
180510
2000
03:02
boy-z'n-girls, not 'boys and girls', boy-z'n
43
182550
4729
03:08
boy-z'n-girls.
44
188130
2000
03:10
Milk and sugar /mɪlkenˈʃʊgər/
45
190470
2000
03:12
/mɪlken/, /mɪlken/ ... not 'milk and sugar', 'milkn-shugr'
46
192930
5360
03:19
'milkn-shugr'. The next word is 'of'.
47
199410
3169
03:23
/ɑːv/
48
203400
1140
03:24
When the word is stressed, the first vowel is the 'ah' as in 'father'.
49
204540
3889
03:28
So you want to drop your jaw and relax your lips and then the 'f' is the 'v' sound always a 'v',
50
208500
5330
03:33
always a 'v'. /ɑːv/,
51
213930
1950
03:35
/ɑːv/.
52
215880
1380
03:37
However, when it's reduced it's pronounced as /əv/.
53
217260
2599
03:40
So the 'a' sound turns into shwa. /əv/
54
220680
2510
03:44
/əv/ again and the 'v' remains, for now.
55
224730
3439
03:49
So, let's look at next example 'box of apples' is going to be pronounced as
56
229650
5630
03:55
'bɑk-sə væpəlz'
57
235950
1950
03:57
'bɑk-sə'
58
237900
2000
04:00
'væpəlz', I'm connecting everything. So the word 'of' has to connect either to the previous word or the second word
59
240030
6410
04:06
but it has to connect right and usually everything connects together 'bɑk-sə væpəlz'
60
246480
5180
04:12
It feels like it's two words 'bɑksə',
61
252780
2630
04:16
'væpəlz', 'bɑk-sə væpəlz'. 'kʌpəv ˈkɑfi', right?
62
256109
3740
04:19
Not 'cup av coffee' and definitely not 'cup of' with an 'f' 'coffee'.
63
259979
5120
04:26
/kʌpəv ˈkɑfi/. Now, another way you couldn't pronounce it is
64
266000
2970
04:29
/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/
65
269730
1650
04:31
/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/.
66
271380
1770
04:33
What have I done here? 'Cup of coffee'. I actually reduced the 'a:v' to 'ə'.
67
273150
5089
04:39
So not only I reduce the 'a' sound to a schwa but I also dropped the 'v' completely.
68
279360
5090
04:44
/kʌpə ˈkɑfi/. And that's the case when the word 'of' appears before a consonant 'cup of coffee'.
69
284640
5809
04:51
'kʌpə ti':'
70
291150
1650
04:52
bottle of water /bɑtəlˈwadər/
71
292800
1980
04:54
out of here /ædə hi:r/
72
294780
1860
04:56
right. Now, it's not a mistake to say the 'av'. If it's easier for you to say /æʊt ʌv hir/ ,
73
296640
4699
05:01
/kʌp ʌv ˈkɑfi/,
74
301890
1860
05:03
/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.
75
303750
7010
05:10
You don't have to drop a 'v'
76
310760
1440
05:12
but if you want to, right
77
312200
2000
05:14
you can and the more you practice it the easier it gets and ultimately the less sounds you make the easier it is.
78
314490
6440
05:21
The word 'for' is pronounced with the 'f' and then the 'ɔr'
79
321030
3139
05:24
as in 'four'. So when the word is stressed you want to make sure that you hear the 'ɔ'.
80
324419
4310
05:28
Sound you drop your jaw. You round your lips
81
328830
2420
05:31
you keep the tongue down full and only at the end you bring it up for the
82
331250
4380
05:38
'R'. /fɔr/
83
338430
1440
05:39
right, so it doesn't sound like 'fur' when it's stressed. /fɔr/
84
339870
4130
05:44
So, for example, when you say something like 'Who is it for'?
85
344160
3319
05:47
The word 'for' is stressed and then I need to pronounce it just like that with a nice long 'fɔr' as in 'four'. However,
86
347960
7529
05:55
when the word 'for' is unstressed and that's
87
355950
2539
05:59
usually the case, then the '/fɔr/ is reduced to
88
359430
3710
06:03
'fər', 'fər', 'fər' and yes, it sounds just like the word 'fur', like a dog's fur.
89
363750
6589
06:11
Fur, fur. So, it's an 'f', a schwa sound and an 'R'. There is no 'ɔ' in the middle,
90
371040
6589
06:17
okay. I don't want to pronounce every word separately
91
377700
2839
06:20
'It's for me', but the word 'for' is reduced to 'fur' and I connect everything together. 'It's f'r me'
92
380550
6770
06:27
'It's f'r me'. 'I did it f'r you'. I
93
387320
3059
06:31
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/
94
391110
7850
06:39
you have a nice long open 'ɔ' sound and only at the end you bring the tongue up for the 'R'.
95
399390
5240
06:45
Or
96
405660
1440
06:47
So for example, if we're going on a picnic and I ask my friend to bring a cake or wine and
97
407100
6019
06:53
She brings cake and wine. I'm like, 'No, I said 'cake or wine, not cake and wine', right?
98
413910
6440
07:00
'Why do you have to always bring everything?'
99
420350
2160
07:02
So, in that case and that's usually the case with my friends, just so you know that. So,
100
422970
5239
07:09
here I want to stress the 'or' so I will pronounce it properly.
101
429180
3890
07:13
'Cake OR wine' not 'cake and wine' and then I reduced the end but when the 'or' is reduced it turns into
102
433410
7519
07:21
ər, ər,
103
441480
2000
07:23
/kafi 'er' ti:/
104
443820
1900
07:25
kafi:er
105
445720
1990
07:27
reducing, connecting. kaafeer tea, kaafeer tea
106
447780
3859
07:32
black or white, 'blacker white'
107
452640
1740
07:34
It actually sounds like 'blacker' 'white', 'blacker white',
108
454380
4729
07:39
'kaafeer tea',
109
459960
1800
07:41
'boyzer girls'
110
461760
1800
07:43
'Thiser that', right? So, it sounds like the ER suffix that connects to the first word this or, this or, this or that,
111
463560
7070
07:51
okay. And why is it so important? First to save you energy.
112
471600
4039
07:55
You don't need to invest a lot of energy in pronouncing those words
113
475640
3540
07:59
You don't need to add vowels that don't exist because all those 'ɔ', 'a' and 'æ'
114
479180
5940
08:05
they don't need to be there if the words are unstressed.
115
485760
3080
08:08
So, if you want to practice just create a lot of expressions with those words with 'and', 'or', 'of'
116
488970
6349
08:15
and 'for' and
117
495630
1560
08:17
use them in the reduced form and say them over and over again. Try to see how people pronounce it around you and
118
497190
6799
08:24
that when you start integrating it into your day-to-day speech and you start using it and you make it your own and
119
504450
6860
08:31
remember, practice makes better,
120
511440
2000
08:34
better, because perfection is overrated.
121
514260
2660
08:37
Okay, that's it.
122
517920
890
08:38
Thank you so much for watching. Consider subscribing to my channel if you like this video and share it with your friends
123
518810
5879
08:44
so they also know how to reduce, right. Why keep it to yourself, share it, share the knowledge!
124
524820
5450
08:51
Let me know in the comments below what other words you have noticed that are being reduced in English,
125
531180
5190
08:56
okay. Because there are more than these four words and
126
536589
2960
09:00
that's it. I guess I'll see you next week in the next video
127
540640
3859
09:05
Bye.
128
545170
2000
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7