Speak English like a North American: 4 Pronunciation Rules for the Letter T

971,248 views ・ 2019-03-15

English with Ronnie


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Hi. My name's Ronnie, and I have a bottle of water. What? So, sometimes when I go to
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a restaurant and I order water, people don't understand me.
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I'm in Canada, I'm speaking English, and I said:
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"Water", and they look at me strange. And I go: -"Oh, you know? Water?"
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-"Oh, water. Yes, water." -"No, no. It's water." It's a t, right? W-a-t-e-r. This, in Canada,
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we call a bottle of water. And I go: "Oh, that's really crazy because it's a bottle
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of water."
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Now, I get called out all the time on having an accent. Everyone has an accent. You have
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an accent, depending on where you're from. Everyone has an accent. So, first of all,
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I hate people who go: -"Oh, I don't got an accent." -"Oh, mister, you have an accent.
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Okay?" Everyone has an accent, and I'm going to teach you how to improve yours or damaged
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English-I don't know-to speak with an American/Canadian accent. Oh my god. Where's this going?
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So, I'm going to teach you a trick, and the trick is about the "t". I am very excited
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about this because I've been thinking about this for, oh, maybe ten years. Why do Canadians
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and Americans say "d"? It's a "t". I found the reason, and I'm going to teach you.
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Let's have some water, shall we?
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We have three... four. I'm good at counting, again. We have four rules. Okay? So, the "t"
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pronunciation. Sometimes, as I told you, we actually say the "t" like a "d". So, this
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is the rule. Rule number one: If it's between... If the "t" is between two vowel sounds. So,
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check this out. This "i" is a vowel, and "y"-sneaky bugger-sometimes is a vowel, but it's a vowel
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sound. So, we don't say: "ability" in Canadian and American English; we say: "abilidy". That's
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really strange, people. Canadians, Americans, maybe you were drunk or cold when you were
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doing this. I'm not too sure, but just nonsensical, really.
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We don't say: "computer", as we should; we say: "compuder". Hey, look at that computer,
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eh? So Canadian to say "eh" at the end. So, again, between two vowels-"u" and "e" are
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vowels-we're going to pronounce it like: "compuder". This is crazy.
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The next one, as I said in the beginning: "water". "a", "e" are vowels, and it's going
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to be said like: "wader". When I was in Jamaica, they said: "wata", and I was like: "Yes! Good.
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Got it." Again, so what I've done to help you-you're welcome-is I've just underlined
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the vowel. So, "a", "e"; "e", "e"; "er", "er", "er", "er". And again, this one, watch out:
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"i" and "y". "y" is a vowel sound.
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So, all of these guys, magically, you're going to go from speaking your language to speaking
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Canadian and American English with the crazy accent, because we say: "header". The thing
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that keeps you warm... Canada's cold in the winter. We don't say: "heater"; we say: "header".
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And this is even more confusing now, because it looks like "header", but it's actually
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this pronunciation: "heeder". Turn on the heater, eh? It's cold.
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This word, if you say it... Not "better" in my books. If you say it with a Canadian/American
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pronunciation; crazy way; we say: "bedder". Then we say: "madder". And then, even though
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we went to "university", we say: "universidy". Eh? You following? I don't know why it's crazy.
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Just say the "t" or write the "d".
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The other rule with the "t" sounding like a "d" is if it's between a vowel and an "l"
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or an "r". So, as I said in the beginning... I can't even say it. "Bottle". It's not a
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bottle, Ronnie. So, if it's between an "o" and an "l", it's going to be said like a "d",
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so we say: "boddle". This is my vowel "a", and this is an "l".
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We don't say: "battle"; we say: "baddle". Into battle, soldiers. One of Ronnie's favourite
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words: "dirty". So, we don't say "dirty" because we have an "r" and a vowel sound. So, this
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is the example of a vowel and an "l"; this is the example of a vowel and an "r". Okay?
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So, a vowel and "l"; a vowel and "r". With our numbers, again, we have a vowel and an
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"r", so these ones are going to sound like a "d". So, we're going to say: "dirdy", "fordy",
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and "thirdy".
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Have you turned thirty yet? As a joke, we like to say... Or some people like to say:
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"It's my dirty 30." We won't go into detail with that. About that. I will let your imaginations
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run wild on that one. And just make sure you say: "dirdy" because no one is going to understand
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you if you say "dirty". You're a dirty, wee cow.
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Next up. There are some cases-three of them-when we don't even say the "t". Maybe this is easier.
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No, it's not easier. So, we do two things. First of all, we could change it to a "d"
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and then we just completely take it out because we don't it. We don't want that "t"; that
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pesky "t". So, if your "t" comes after an "n", it's going to be silent. This is mental.
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So, we don't say: "interview"; we say: "in'erview". I got a job interview. That was from... rednecks
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represent. So, we say: "in'erview".
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We don't say: "interstate"; we say: "in'erstate". In case you don't know, an interstate in America
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is a highway. We do not call them interstates in Canada; we call them highways. That's fun.
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So, interstate is only in America. America. Welcome to America.
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We also have the word "international". So, if you're an international person, we're going
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to take out the "t" and we're going to say... "international" becomes "in'ernational". There
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are many of these. As I said: "want", we say: "wan'ed". So, all of these, we take out the "t".
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This is a fun one. You'll hear people say: -"I don' know. I don' know." -"What?" -"Don't
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know." So, we take out the "t"; we say: "don' know". This is another reason why "can't"
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is confusing. When we say: "cannot"... "Can", "can't". -"Did you say the 't'?" -"No." -"Oh.
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Why didn't you say the 't'? Now I don't know if it's positive or negative. What are you
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doing?" So, we say: "don' know. I don' know."
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We don't say: "printer"; we say: "prin'er". We don't say: "enter"; we say: "en'er". The
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number "twenty" we don't say; we say "twen'y". So, check out our numbers: "twenty", "forty",
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"thirty". Yeah, I don't know how we count here. Don't count; math is crazy.
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Rule number three, and this one's crazy as well. We're going to change two things. First
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of all, we are not going to say the "t" if it is with an "n" and between some vowels;
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and we're going to actually take out some vowel sounds. So, for this one, we're going
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to remove two sounds. As an example, we don't say: "curtain", which it looks like; we actually
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say: "cur'in". A curtain is a cover for your window. So, people might say: "Close the cur'in",
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which we said it looks like: "Close the curtain."
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You're going to go climb up a "mountain"? No. You're going to climb up a "mou'in". These
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vowels, we're going to take out the "t" and the "a", and it's going to sound like "mou'in",
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"cur'in". Another example of the "a" is we don't say: "fountain"; we say: "fou'in". It's
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an example with the "e": We don't say: "written"-I do-but we actually say: "wri'in", so we take
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out the "t" and the "e", and we change it to an "in". We don't say: "forgotten"; we
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say: "forgo'in". I've forgotten how to say the "t". I've forgotten to say the "t".
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This word is crazy; I always spell it wrong. I always spell it: "sentance", but the pronunciation,
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quickly, is: "sentence". My brain goes: "sentance"; but Americans and Canadians say: "sen'ince".
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There's a phrase that people say about English is that we eat our words or we mumble. This
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is why, when you guys listen to English, you think that we're very hungry and we're eating
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our words, because we don't say everything. [Mumbles] -"Make a sentence." -"What?" -"Sentence."
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-"Oh." So, this one: "sen'ince". Again, the "t" and the "e", we're going to put to "in",
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so we're going to say: "sen'ince".
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The last one, and maybe the most delicious for us, because we're eating all of these,
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is the "t" at the end of the word - we don't say it. Sorry, we don't say it. We don't say
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it. We don't say it. We don't say it. So, if your "t" is at the end of the word in English
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pronunciation, it actually has a fancy name; it's called a stopped sound. So, a stopped
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sound just means we don't say the "t".
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So, we look at this and we say: "hot". And then you come to Canada and America, and people
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say: "ho'". What? "I'm ho'." So, we're going to take out the "t"; we're going to say: "ho'".
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For this one, something you wear on your head, we're going to say: "ha'", "ha'". Something
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on the floor is called a "mat" or also a person's name. There are many people, many men named
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Matthew; it gets shortened to "Matt", but we don't say "Matt"; we say: "Ma'". "Ma',
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ma'"; maybe he's a goat.
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This word: If somebody has a lot of weight, we don't say: "fat"; we say: "fa'". A group
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or a parcel of land is called a "lo'"; not a "lot". There's a pesky animal, it's a rodent,
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and it's called a "ra'"; not a "rat". So, all of these ones... Here's another example.
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We don't say: "foot"; we say: "foo'". Foot, foot, foot. It sounds like we're not saying
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the "t".
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I've said this before: "want", "wanna". We don't say: "want"; we say: "wan'. I wan'".
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"I want" - we don't say the "t". "Si' down. Si' down." We don't say: "Sit down"; we say:
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"Si' down". And don't smoke it; it's "pot". So, when we say the word "pot", we don't say
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the "t". English; craziness.
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Now, if you're studying English in another country-Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland,
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Wales, anywhere that's not Canada or America-you don't have to worry about this, but it will
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help you perfect your American accent. So, if you want to practice speakin' like an American,
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all you have to do is watch out for these four rules; between two vowel sounds, or between
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a vowel and "l" or "r", we change to a "d". This is the most popular one, I think. After
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the... Or the most noticeable, in my brain. After an "n", we don't say the "t". A "t"
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with an "n", we change it to "in"; we don't say the "t". And, again, we don't say the
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"t" at the end of the word. So, I'm out of here.
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