How to speak naturally in English: Reduction Mistakes

Hello. Do you have problems understanding when native English people talk to you? Yes?

If your answer is yes, this lesson is for you.

Second question. Do you know how to reduce words in English so that you sound more fluent?

Maybe? Maybe you're not sure. Okay. Perfect. We're going to do three things in this lesson.

The very, very first thing that we're going to do is I'm going to teach you why you don't

understand when native people speak to you.

Two, I'm going to teach you how to reduce words in English to make you sound more fluent

or to help you sound more natural.

And three, I'm going to help you with some mistakes that you maybe will make when you

are reducing these words. Some of you have already learned how to do the reductions in

English. Hold on. You still have to watch this lesson because unfortunately, you're

making mistakes when you do this.

So three things; one lesson. Let's hit it. Reduction mistakes. Good.

The first thing we have to know is regularly how we say these words. So for example, if

we have "it", "she", "he", in English, we have "wants to". If we have "I ", "you", "we",

and "they", we have "want to". What's the difference? One difference makes a world of

difference because "he", "she", and "it" have the S, the way that we say this in the reduction

is going to be different than if there was no S. So check this out.

"I wanna; you wanna; we wanna; they wanna."

Perfect. Your turn. "I wanna; you wanna; we wanna; they wanna."

This is how we reduce "want to". So the reason why you don't understand native speakers is

they will say to you, "Do you wanna beer?" "Giovanna? Who's -- I'm not Giovanna. This

is my friend Giovanna. How do you know her name?" We don't say, "Do you want a beer";

we say, "Do you wanna beer?" It's really, really, really fast, and we never divide "want

to"; we say "wanna".

If we have "it", "she", and "he", we say "wantsta". So "it wantsta; she wantsta; he wantsta".

Your turn. "It wantsta." Good. "She wantsta; he wantsta." Good work. Do it again.

Okay. You got it. Good.

So when you have "he/she/it", you have to say "wantsta". When you have "I/you/we/they",

you have to say "wanna". Good.

This is a mistake. You cannot say "it", "she", and "he" with "wanna". I hear every day people

saying, "She wanna go home." "She wanna go home? No. "She wantsta go home." So you have

to be really, really careful with the S. We call this subject and verb agreement. If you

have "he", "she", or "it", you have to put the S on the verb. Even when we speak quickly

and we reduce things, it's really important that you have to put the S on the verb again.

This rule never fails. So "it, she, or he wanna"? Mm-hmm. This is a mistake. Please

be careful can your S sound.

Are you ready for another one? Are you excited? Again, we're playing with the basic subjects

of "I", "you", "we", "they". Okay? The next set of verbs we have is "have to", so "I have

to go." So maybe you're at a party, and maybe one of your friends who speaks English says,

"I havta go." "I havta? What is 'havta'?" You think about it, and you go, "Ah. 'Have to'.

You have to go." "Yeah. I havta go." We don't say "have to"; we say "havta".

If we're talking about another person, he, she, or it as a thing, again, because of our

subject and verb agreement, we have to change this to "has to". So in the reduced form,

we're going to say "hasta" like "pasta". So "I havta", "you havta", "we havta", "they havta".

Your turn. Go. Good.

"He hasta", "she hasta", "it hasta". Go. He -- she -- it --

you got it. Good.

Uh-ho. Mistake. It's the same mistake as here. You can't say "he", "she" or "I havta" because

"havta" is only for "I", "you", "we", and "they". This is a really common mistake in

written grammar and also in spoken. Even when it's reduced and spoken informally -- or slang

if you'd like to -- we have to be very careful, when you're reducing words, that your grammar

is still okay. Oh, grammar is always there to haunt you.

Okay. The last one. Very, very common, we say "I am going to". We say "I'm gonna". "I'm

gonna go home." "Gonna? Who's 'gonna'? Where's 'gonna'?" We don't say, "I'm going to go home."

We say, "I'm gonna. I'm gonna go." Your turn. "I'm gonna go." Good.

Again, if it's "he", "she", or "it", we have to change it to "is" because we have to make,

again, the subject agree with the verb. The verb is here. "To be" verb. So "he's" or "she's

gonna." "She's gonna go." "He's gonna get some pizza." This one is going to sound like

a Z sound. So it's "he's gonna" and "she's gonna".

If you have "it", we have to use an S sound, not a Z. So you say "it's gonna; it's gonna."

Mistake. We have "I gonna". "I gonna; he gonna; she gonna." Can you find the mistake in this?

A lot of the times, you say, "I gonna get some hamburgers." "She gonna die." Mm-hmm.

You always need to put the verb. You need the verb. The verb is very important. So "to

be" verb -- very important. "I'm gonna, he's gonna, she's gonna, it's gonna." If you don't

put in the "to be" verb, it's wrong. You're crying. You said it wrong. You've learned

this really cool way to speak better, be more fluent, but it's wrong. So please think about

how you say this. Think about when you say this, and catch yourself making these mistakes.

Correct them. We can't say, "she havta". We say "she hasta". Okay?

So three things. If you're a more advanced English learner and you've learned the reductions

before, awesome. A little review for you. But please be careful of your mistakes." Just

make sure you know how to do them. If you've never heard of this reduction thing before,

you want improve your fluency, you want to speak more naturally, this is where it's at,

ladies and gentlemen. This is how we reduce words to speak faster and more naturally.

Number three, listening to native speakers speak English. You have no idea what they're

saying? This is slowly going to make sense.

So if this is the first time you've seen this reduction, think about it. The next time you

go somewhere and you're listening to native speakers speak, see if they say this.

See if you can hear it now and understand it better.

Let me know in the comments about your experiences with this.

Until next time, toodles.