TEST YOURSELF! Practice Listening to Reduced English Speech

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking.

You are Learning English with engVid.

Today I want you to practice your speaking and your listening with me. To do that,

we will look at 10 words which are reduced in

English speaking. Whether a person lives in

Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada,

the United States, we all do these reductions

when we are in a casual situation and when we

speak in a natural way, when we are on autopilot

a little bit and you're not thinking about your

pronunciation, everyone does these reductions.

Except maybe university professors or something,

but most people, almost everybody does these

reductions. So, at the end of this video, I'm

going to test your listening, so make sure you

stay till the end because I have a little surprise

for you to test your listening skills, okay?

So, again, we're going to practice... We're

going to practice... We are going to practice

our speaking and our listening in this video.

So, the first word which is reduced in speaking

is "him". Now, this word is often reduced without

the "h", so we cut the "h" when we're speaking,

and if it's in the middle of a sentence, we say

"im" or "em". When you just hear it like that,

it doesn't mean anything. So, let's look at two

different sentences, and I want you to listen

and repeat the sentences after me. So, the first sentence... First, just listen to me.

"I saw him at the store." Okay? So, what I did

there, "I saw him", "I saw him" or "I saw him",

right? So, "I saw him" or "I saw him at the

store". So, let's see if you can do that now.

Repeat after me. "I saw him at the store."

Okay? And the second one, "Do you know him?"

Let's try that again a little slower. "Do you know him?"

Okay, good. This is just the warm-up. All right?

Next, we have "his", and this is another one

where we just cut the "h", and you can see a

pattern here, right? "Him", "his", "he", "her".

A lot of "h's" are cut at the beginning of words,

especially when they are in the middle of a

sentence. So, repeat after me. "That's his phone." One more time. "That's his phone."

Okay? And this one, we'll do the slow version first. "What's his name?"

And now, a little faster. "What's his name?"

Good. Let's keep going with "he", and we cut the

"h", and it just sounds like "e" or the letter

"e", essentially. So, here, repeat after me. I'll

go a little slower. "Do you know where he lives?"

Okay. A little faster. "Do you know where he lives?"

Okay, so "wary", "wary", "wary", right? So, "Do you know where he lives?",

"Do you know where he lives?" Very good. And next, repeat after me slowly.

"He said he was sorry."

Now, you notice I did pronounce it when it was at the beginning of a sentence.

Usually when these words are at the beginning of

a sentence, we do pronounce the "h", but however,

when it's in the middle and it's not stressed,

when it's unstressed, we cut the "h". So,

repeat after me a little faster. "He said he was sorry."

"He said he", right? Just like you hear that

little - that liaison in French. "He said he was",

"He said he", "He said he was", "He said he was

sorry." Next, we have "her", and again, cut the

"h", "her". So, here are our questions. Repeat after me. "Why don't you call her?"

And you may have noticed I also did something

with the "t". This is a little bonus lesson,

and I will have a future video on this topic.

Often with "n" and "t" together, we do not release

the "t". So, we say "we don't". Your tongue goes

in the "t" position, but it doesn't release the

"t". It doesn't say "don't". We just say "don't".

The tongue stays there because it's lazy.

Basically, it's easier. But let's focus on the

"her" in this case, "her". So, repeat after me.

"Why don't you call her?"

Good. And the next one, "Is that her car?"

A little slower. "Is that her car?"

All right. So far, so good. We're doing well.

Let's move on to "them". So, "them", we just say

"em" in this case. So, repeat after me. "Have you heard of 'em?"

I said it more as "im" than "em" in that case. Let's try that one more time.

"Have you heard of 'em?"

Okay. And the next one, "That's 'em over there."

"That's 'em over there."

Not bad. Not bad. Next, we have "your". You're doing great. Let's keep going.

"Your", so, you know, you are supposed to say

"your", it's very round, "your", right? But in

speaking, we remove the "your" and we just say

"yer", right? So, "yer", "yer", "yer". Okay?

So, for example, we'll do this one fast. Keep up with me. "What's your name?"

One more time. "What's your name?"

And "What's your name?" Right? "What's your name?"

All right, and the next one, "Where's your bag?"

"Where's your bag?"

All right. "How do you feel?"

"So far, so good." All right, let's keep going.

Next, we have "our", just like "your", "our",

right? The pronunciation when you see it in a

book or you hear a professor speak, perhaps "our",

right? "Our". But in quick, casual conversation,

when the brain is on autopilot and you're just

speaking without thinking, it can sound as "our"

or "our", right? Just like the letter "r" or

a little longer "r". So, I'll show you what I mean

with the difference here. So, first just listen.

"That's our teacher." Yeah. Okay? So,

"That's our, that's our, that's our teacher,

that's our teacher, that's our teacher." And a little longer, "That's our teacher."

Okay? If you can't hear the difference, don't

worry. As long as you hear the "r", "r", "r",

it's "our", but "r", "r". Okay? So, now repeat

with me one more time. "That's our teacher."

Good. I can say, "I'm your teacher."

"I'm your teacher." Okay? And one more, repeat after me, "She's our neighbour."

"She's our neighbour."

Just the letter "r", right? "She's our",

"she's our", "he's our". "He's our neighbour."

Next, we have "and", and this one, just like

the "n" and the "t", what I mentioned before,

"n" and "d", like "and", we just, it goes in

the "d" position, but you don't release the "d",

you just say "and" or "n", right? "And". So, as

long as you hear "n" or "and", it could be "and",

if it makes sense in the context. So, for example,

repeat after me, "We ate bread and butter."

Okay? Let's try just this. "Bread and butter."

"Bread and butter."

Well done. And then, here, maybe I'm telling a story, and I want to add

something at the very end of the story, so I say, "And then I left."

"And then", right? Not "and then", casual. "And then I left."

Okay. Let's continue. Two more, two more. We

have "to" and "or", and we'll start with "to",

which in casual speech, it is reduced to "to",

right? So, you don't do the "to", it's just "to",

"to". So, for example, repeat after me, "I need to leave

a little faster." "I need to leave."

You're doing great. And next, "Bring it to me."

"Bring it to me."

Okay. You notice here, right, I have two "t's" as

well. So, "Bring it to", it's like one "t" sound.

When you have the two "t's" together, it just

becomes one "t". So, you say, "Bring it to",

"Bring it to me." You can also say, "Give it", "Give it to me", "Give it to me."

Okay, good. And finally, we have "or", which

is just pronounced, instead of the "or",

the long sound, we reduce it to "er", "er", "er". So, for example, "Yes or no?"

One more time. "Yes or no?"

Right? "What's your answer?" Right? "What's your answer? Yes or no?"

All right, so we have "your" and "er" here. "Your", "or", "Yes or no?"

And then finally, repeat after me, "Do you want tea or coffee?"

One more time, and we'll just do the bottom part. "Tea or coffee?"

Well done. Okay. That's a lot of info. Again, we

have "him", "his", "he", "her", "them", "your",

"our", "and", "to", "or", and maybe this is a big

topic, but hopefully it's a helpful topic for you

with the "him", "his", "er". So, a lot of the

time we are shortening, we are reducing the

pronunciation, especially when the words are

unstressed in conversation, which means when

they are usually in the middle. Now, at the beginning of this video, I said that I had

a surprise for you, and I do. It's on my phone.

You're going to listen to it. I have five sentences

that I am going to say with casual, reduced

English pronunciation, and I want you to write

what I say, the full form, the full version of

what I say in the comments. I will not tell you

the answer, what I say in this video. If you want

to double check if your comments are correct,

I will leave a comment as well with the correct

sentences in the comments section of this video.

So, make sure you check out the comments after

this video. Make sure you write in the comments.

So, get ready, you know, get your cursor ready

in the comments and say, "Alex, number one,

here is what Alex says for number one. Are

you ready?" Again, I'm going to say something,

I want you to write it in the comments. What

am I saying? Here we go. "Is he our teacher?"

One more time. "Is he our teacher?"

Number two. You can pause the video if you

want to take some time to type your comment.

Number two. "He said he knew him. He said he knew him."

Okay. Number three. "Remember to call her.

Remember to call her."

Number four. This is intense listening practice, right? Okay. Number four.

"Is that your sister or your mom? Is that your sister or your mom?"

Okay. And we'll do... You know what? Let's do two more. Let's do two more. Okay. Next.

This is a longer one, so I'll say it a little slower in the beginning.

"I called him and told him to apply for the job."

And maybe you are saying, "Alex, that wasn't slow."

"This is how I speak." Okay. So, let's try that one more time.

"I called him and told him to apply for the job."

Okay. You might want to pause or rewind for that

"for", right? For that. Very good. And the last

one... Okay, this one's not too bad, I think.

I think it just has, like, maybe one or two

reductions. Let's... Let's check it out.

"Call the store and ask them when they open."

"Call the store and ask them when they open."

Perfect. All right. How was that for you? Not

bad? Good. So, again, leave your comments below,

let me know. What did I say? So, I did this to help you practice your listening,

also to help you with your speaking, your casual

English, common, everyday English speaking. So,

let me know how you felt about this lesson. Let

me know if you enjoyed the listening practice

and the speaking practice. And there is no quiz

for this video. Your quiz, just go to the back

of this video, the end of this video, and write

the comments down below. What did I say? And if

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And until next time, good luck with your studies and keep practicing.