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

Hi. My name's Ronnie, and I have a bottle of water. What? So, sometimes when I go to

a restaurant and I order water, people don't understand me.

I'm in Canada, I'm speaking English, and I said:

"Water", and they look at me strange. And I go: -"Oh, you know? Water?"

-"Oh, water. Yes, water." -"No, no. It's water." It's a t, right? W-a-t-e-r. This, in Canada,

we call a bottle of water. And I go: "Oh, that's really crazy because it's a bottle

of water."

Now, I get called out all the time on having an accent. Everyone has an accent. You have

an accent, depending on where you're from. Everyone has an accent. So, first of all,

I hate people who go: -"Oh, I don't got an accent." -"Oh, mister, you have an accent.

Okay?" Everyone has an accent, and I'm going to teach you how to improve yours or damaged

English-I don't know-to speak with an American/Canadian accent. Oh my god. Where's this going?

So, I'm going to teach you a trick, and the trick is about the "t". I am very excited

about this because I've been thinking about this for, oh, maybe ten years. Why do Canadians

and Americans say "d"? It's a "t". I found the reason, and I'm going to teach you.

Let's have some water, shall we?

We have three... four. I'm good at counting, again. We have four rules. Okay? So, the "t"

pronunciation. Sometimes, as I told you, we actually say the "t" like a "d". So, this

is the rule. Rule number one: If it's between... If the "t" is between two vowel sounds. So,

check this out. This "i" is a vowel, and "y"-sneaky bugger-sometimes is a vowel, but it's a vowel

sound. So, we don't say: "ability" in Canadian and American English; we say: "abilidy". That's

really strange, people. Canadians, Americans, maybe you were drunk or cold when you were

doing this. I'm not too sure, but just nonsensical, really.

We don't say: "computer", as we should; we say: "compuder". Hey, look at that computer,

eh? So Canadian to say "eh" at the end. So, again, between two vowels-"u" and "e" are

vowels-we're going to pronounce it like: "compuder". This is crazy.

The next one, as I said in the beginning: "water". "a", "e" are vowels, and it's going

to be said like: "wader". When I was in Jamaica, they said: "wata", and I was like: "Yes! Good.

Got it." Again, so what I've done to help you-you're welcome-is I've just underlined

the vowel. So, "a", "e"; "e", "e"; "er", "er", "er", "er". And again, this one, watch out:

"i" and "y". "y" is a vowel sound.

So, all of these guys, magically, you're going to go from speaking your language to speaking

Canadian and American English with the crazy accent, because we say: "header". The thing

that keeps you warm... Canada's cold in the winter. We don't say: "heater"; we say: "header".

And this is even more confusing now, because it looks like "header", but it's actually

this pronunciation: "heeder". Turn on the heater, eh? It's cold.

This word, if you say it... Not "better" in my books. If you say it with a Canadian/American

pronunciation; crazy way; we say: "bedder". Then we say: "madder". And then, even though

we went to "university", we say: "universidy". Eh? You following? I don't know why it's crazy.

Just say the "t" or write the "d".

The other rule with the "t" sounding like a "d" is if it's between a vowel and an "l"

or an "r". So, as I said in the beginning... I can't even say it. "Bottle". It's not a

bottle, Ronnie. So, if it's between an "o" and an "l", it's going to be said like a "d",

so we say: "boddle". This is my vowel "a", and this is an "l".

We don't say: "battle"; we say: "baddle". Into battle, soldiers. One of Ronnie's favourite

words: "dirty". So, we don't say "dirty" because we have an "r" and a vowel sound. So, this

is the example of a vowel and an "l"; this is the example of a vowel and an "r". Okay?

So, a vowel and "l"; a vowel and "r". With our numbers, again, we have a vowel and an

"r", so these ones are going to sound like a "d". So, we're going to say: "dirdy", "fordy",

and "thirdy".

Have you turned thirty yet? As a joke, we like to say... Or some people like to say:

"It's my dirty 30." We won't go into detail with that. About that. I will let your imaginations

run wild on that one. And just make sure you say: "dirdy" because no one is going to understand

you if you say "dirty". You're a dirty, wee cow.

Next up. There are some cases-three of them-when we don't even say the "t". Maybe this is easier.

No, it's not easier. So, we do two things. First of all, we could change it to a "d"

and then we just completely take it out because we don't it. We don't want that "t"; that

pesky "t". So, if your "t" comes after an "n", it's going to be silent. This is mental.

So, we don't say: "interview"; we say: "in'erview". I got a job interview. That was from... rednecks

represent. So, we say: "in'erview".

We don't say: "interstate"; we say: "in'erstate". In case you don't know, an interstate in America

is a highway. We do not call them interstates in Canada; we call them highways. That's fun.

So, interstate is only in America. America. Welcome to America.

We also have the word "international". So, if you're an international person, we're going

to take out the "t" and we're going to say... "international" becomes "in'ernational". There

are many of these. As I said: "want", we say: "wan'ed". So, all of these, we take out the "t".

This is a fun one. You'll hear people say: -"I don' know. I don' know." -"What?" -"Don't

know." So, we take out the "t"; we say: "don' know". This is another reason why "can't"

is confusing. When we say: "cannot"... "Can", "can't". -"Did you say the 't'?" -"No." -"Oh.

Why didn't you say the 't'? Now I don't know if it's positive or negative. What are you

doing?" So, we say: "don' know. I don' know."

We don't say: "printer"; we say: "prin'er". We don't say: "enter"; we say: "en'er". The

number "twenty" we don't say; we say "twen'y". So, check out our numbers: "twenty", "forty",

"thirty". Yeah, I don't know how we count here. Don't count; math is crazy.

Rule number three, and this one's crazy as well. We're going to change two things. First

of all, we are not going to say the "t" if it is with an "n" and between some vowels;

and we're going to actually take out some vowel sounds. So, for this one, we're going

to remove two sounds. As an example, we don't say: "curtain", which it looks like; we actually

say: "cur'in". A curtain is a cover for your window. So, people might say: "Close the cur'in",

which we said it looks like: "Close the curtain."

You're going to go climb up a "mountain"? No. You're going to climb up a "mou'in". These

vowels, we're going to take out the "t" and the "a", and it's going to sound like "mou'in",

"cur'in". Another example of the "a" is we don't say: "fountain"; we say: "fou'in". It's

an example with the "e": We don't say: "written"-I do-but we actually say: "wri'in", so we take

out the "t" and the "e", and we change it to an "in". We don't say: "forgotten"; we

say: "forgo'in". I've forgotten how to say the "t". I've forgotten to say the "t".

This word is crazy; I always spell it wrong. I always spell it: "sentance", but the pronunciation,

quickly, is: "sentence". My brain goes: "sentance"; but Americans and Canadians say: "sen'ince".

There's a phrase that people say about English is that we eat our words or we mumble. This

is why, when you guys listen to English, you think that we're very hungry and we're eating

our words, because we don't say everything. [Mumbles] -"Make a sentence." -"What?" -"Sentence."

-"Oh." So, this one: "sen'ince". Again, the "t" and the "e", we're going to put to "in",

so we're going to say: "sen'ince".

The last one, and maybe the most delicious for us, because we're eating all of these,

is the "t" at the end of the word - we don't say it. Sorry, we don't say it. We don't say

it. We don't say it. We don't say it. So, if your "t" is at the end of the word in English

pronunciation, it actually has a fancy name; it's called a stopped sound. So, a stopped

sound just means we don't say the "t".

So, we look at this and we say: "hot". And then you come to Canada and America, and people

say: "ho'". What? "I'm ho'." So, we're going to take out the "t"; we're going to say: "ho'".

For this one, something you wear on your head, we're going to say: "ha'", "ha'". Something

on the floor is called a "mat" or also a person's name. There are many people, many men named

Matthew; it gets shortened to "Matt", but we don't say "Matt"; we say: "Ma'". "Ma',

ma'"; maybe he's a goat.

This word: If somebody has a lot of weight, we don't say: "fat"; we say: "fa'". A group

or a parcel of land is called a "lo'"; not a "lot". There's a pesky animal, it's a rodent,

and it's called a "ra'"; not a "rat". So, all of these ones... Here's another example.

We don't say: "foot"; we say: "foo'". Foot, foot, foot. It sounds like we're not saying

the "t".

I've said this before: "want", "wanna". We don't say: "want"; we say: "wan'. I wan'".

"I want" - we don't say the "t". "Si' down. Si' down." We don't say: "Sit down"; we say:

"Si' down". And don't smoke it; it's "pot". So, when we say the word "pot", we don't say

the "t". English; craziness.

Now, if you're studying English in another country-Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland,

Wales, anywhere that's not Canada or America-you don't have to worry about this, but it will

help you perfect your American accent. So, if you want to practice speakin' like an American,

all you have to do is watch out for these four rules; between two vowel sounds, or between

a vowel and "l" or "r", we change to a "d". This is the most popular one, I think. After

the... Or the most noticeable, in my brain. After an "n", we don't say the "t". A "t"

with an "n", we change it to "in"; we don't say the "t". And, again, we don't say the

"t" at the end of the word. So, I'm out of here.