Speak Fast And Understand Natives in ONLY 30 MINUTES! | Practice English Listening

Today, you're going to learn the best way  to understand native English speakers.

Do you know what it is?

The best way is to practice listening to  

native speakers and to expand your  vocabulary with natural expressions.

And that's what you'll do today.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Here's how this lesson will work.

I'm going to say a sentence three times,  

and you need to write down exactly  what you hear in the comments.

And I'm going to talk fast  and use natural expressions.

And this listening test will progress  from beginner to more advanced.

Let's get started.

I'll say it three times.

You're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

Did you get this one?

I said you're on A roll.

Notice that contraction.

You're this is you are and native speakers.

We pronounce this very unstressed.

You're you're you're you're on a  notice how on a sounds like one word,  

because I use that N from on, I transfer it to  a on na na, but I have to say it as one word.

Anna, Anna, you're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

What does this mean?

This is a great expression  because when you're on A roll,  

it means your experience, a period of  continuous success or good fortune.

So this is a very positive  thing in the sports world.

If a sports team wins five games in a row,  

which means consecutively one after the  other, that team would be on a roll.

Or in the workplace, let's say Muhammad has a  sales job and Muhammad made five sales today.

He's on A roll because you need the  verb to be he is as a contraction.

He's he's on A roll.

He's on A roll.

Or how about you?

If you pass this listening test, the  next one, the next one and the next one.

In this lesson, you can say I  pass all four listening tests.

I'm on A roll, I'm on A roll.

Or you could say I've studied  English every day this month.

So that continuous success, one after the other.

I've studied English every day this month.

I'm on A roll and notice that verb tense.

I've studied.

I have studied.

This is the present perfect, and it's being  used because it's an unfinished time reference.

So if I say this month, it means  the month is still in progress.

Maybe it's the 20th or 23rd.

So put I'm on A roll.

I'm on A roll because you're  watching this lesson and I'm  

sure you've watched other English  lessons, hopefully mine this week.

So you can say I'm on A roll.

Put that in the comments.

Are we on A roll or are we on A roll?

Our next listening exercise  a little more difficult.

I'll say it three times.

I'm not a fan of sports.

I'm not a fan of sports.

I'm not a fan of sports.

Did you get this one?

I said I'm not a fan of sports.

Notice that contraction?

I'm I am.

I'm not ah can be linked  together so said as one word,  

but notice that T is between 2 vowels  so I'm going to pronounce it as a soft  

D nada The nada nada I'm nada fan of so  I can combine fan of together fan of.

But I need to take that N and  transfer it to the next sound.

Nuv Nuv Fan of I'm not a fan of sports.

I'm not a fan of sports.

This has a very simple meaning.

To be a fan of something or  someone means you like it.

You like that something or you like that someone.

What about you?

Are you a fan of American football, which  in North America we just call football,  

but to avoid confusion for you,  Are you a fan of American football?

The NFL?

To reply on the negative side,  you can say I'm not at all a fan.

So this means you really dislike  sports or American football?

I'm not at all a fan.

A little less negative.

I'm not a fan.

I dislike it, but not really dislike it.

I dislike American football.

I'm a fan.

I'm a huge fan.

I'm a giant fan.

If you love American football,  So which one describes you?

Put it in the comments.

For me, I would say I'm not at all a fan.

I would rather watch football, soccer than  American football, which we call football.

Now remember, you can use this  expression with something or someone.

For example, I'm a fan of Taylor Swift, and  of course that means her music, what she does.

I'm a fan of Taylor Swift.

I'm a fan of Elon Musk or sports something.

I'm a fan of yoga, biking.

Technology is a great something.

I'm a fan of Google Drive.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of Google Drive.

I love it.

I'm a fan of Amazon, I'm a fan of Android.

Whatever you want.

So you can get a lot of  use out of this expression.

I just wanted to tell you I'm a huge fan.

I'm a huge fan.

I'm a sports fan.

Huh.

Are you enjoying this lesson?

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You can look in the description  for the link to learn more,  

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Now let's continue with our lesson,  our next listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

You really hit the jackpot.

You really hit the jackpot.

You really hit the jackpot.

Did you get this one?

I said you really hit the jackpot.

Now native speakers, we often  pronounce you as a very unstressed  

ya, you're really, you're really,  you're really, you're really hit.

Notice I don't say hit and pronounce  that T because it forces me to take  

a pause hit the so you don't really hear the T.

This is called a flap T hit the jackpot.

Now, when you hit the jackpot, it means you  win the lottery, which is an awesome thing.

Woo Hoo, I hit the jackpot.

But outside of the context of the  lottery, when you hit the jackpot,  

it means you achieve a highly  desirable or fortunate outcome.

And it's by chance, just like when you win the  lottery, when you hit the jackpot, it's by chance.

They just pull a number and by chance  it's your number, you hit the jackpot.

So when you use this expression outside  of the lottery, it's also by chance.

So I could say I love fashion and my boss  just assigned me to the Vogue account.

Vogue is a fashion brand and I get  to go to Fashion Week for free.

I hit the jackpot.

But this suggests that it was just by  chance that I was given the Vogue account.

It's not because I spent weeks preparing  a presentation to try to get the account.

It was just randomly assigned to me.

I hit the jackpot.

And just remember those conjugations of hit.

It's hit, hit, hit.

So very easy to remember.

So in the past, simple,  

last week I hit the jackpot when my  boss assigned me to the Vogue account.

Or I could say I've hit the  jackpot, the present perfect.

I have.

I've hit the jackpot with this new account.

In this case, the present  perfect is for an action,  

a completed past action that  has a result in the present.

And here's a true example.

My students are absolutely amazing.

All of you are so amazing.

I truly feel like I've hit the  jackpot with such amazing students.

Especially when I read the comments and  everyone is so positive and supportive.

I truly feel like I've hit the jackpot.

So thank you all.

Our final listening exercise and the  most challenging listening exercise.

I'll say it three times, she  really pushes my buttons.

She really pushes my buttons.

She really pushes my buttons.

Did you get this one?

I said She really pushes my buttons.

And this is the most difficult one because maybe  

you heard the individual words,  but do you know what it means?

If someone said this to you,  would you be able to reply back?

Would you be able to have a conversation?

Because this is an advanced idiom that  native speakers use for pronunciation.

Maybe the word buttons wasn't clear because  native speakers, we don't pronounce those TS.

I don't say buttons, buttons.

That sounds very awkward for me to pronounce.

I never ever say it like that.

I always say buttons, but buttons, buttons.

So those TS become flat TS.

We don't push out the air.

Now you can absolutely say buttons.

You can pronounce the T, but it's  important that you know how native  

speakers pronounce it so you can understand  us and not be confused when we say buttons.

And you can hear that  unstressed buttons in this clip.

Let's listen now.

Button, Button.

Who's got the button?

So now that you know how to hear buttons,  

let's learn about this expression to push one's  buttons and notice buttons is always plural.

This is when you annoy someone on purpose.

Now, why would you annoy someone on purpose?

Well, you have maybe a sister, a brother, a  best friend, a husband, a wife, a mom and dad.

And you probably know how to push their buttons.

You know how to get a reaction out of them.

And let's be honest, sometimes  you do it on purpose, right?

So let's say you have a sibling.

Your mom could say to you why do you  always push your sister's buttons?

So notice your sister's buttons.

The buttons belong to your sister  so you need the possessive there.

And your mom is saying why do you  always purposely annoy your sister?

And maybe you push her buttons by talking  about her ex-boyfriend and you know,  

just the mention of his name really irritates her,  but you do it on purpose to get that reaction.

Let's be honest, we've all  done something like this.

There are always little rivalries  in the workplace as well.

So someone could say she's just trying  to push my buttons but it won't work.

So she's saying someone else is trying to annoy  her on purpose but she's going to ignore it.

It won't work.

And maybe this other Co worker is doing this by  talking about the Vogue account that she lost.

Remember she hit the jackpot  with the Vogue account,  

but then she forgot to do something  and they fired her from the account.

So she's not going to Fashion Week and  she's not working on the Vogue account.

So just talking about the Vogue account  really creates a reaction in her.

This happens a lot.

Let's say you have two friends.

One of them supports this  sports team and the other  

friend supports this sports team and their rivals.

And simply talking about the other sports team  gets that person really upset and annoyed.

So you could say I know how  to push Alexander's buttons.

Just mention how France lost the World Cup.

He pushes my buttons.

This kid is pushing my buttons.

She really knows how to push buttons.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can  practice all these natural pronunciation changes.

I'll say each sentence again  three times, but this time,  

after I say it, I want you to repeat it out loud.

Here we go.

You're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

You're on A roll.

I'm not a fan of sports.

I'm not a fan of sports.

I'm not a fan of sports.

You really hit the jackpot.

You really hit the jackpot.

You really hit the jackpot.

She really pushes my buttons.

She really pushes my buttons.

She really pushes my buttons.

It's not a big deal at all.

It's not a big deal at all.

It's not a big deal at all.

Did you get this one?

I said it's not a big deal at all.

It's it's a contraction of it is  not a we can combine these together,  

but notice we have AT between 2 vowels.

So a native speaker is going to pronounce that  

as a soft D and say nada, nada,  it's nada, it's nada, big deal.

And then we can do the same with at with that T.

And then all I can put them together and  then I'll pronounce that T as a soft D.

And it sounds like at all, at all, at  all at all, it's not a big deal at all.

Let's talk about what this means to be a big deal.

This describes something that's  important, serious, or significant.

We use this in both positive  and negative situations.

For example, when you do something and  the consequences are serious in a bad way,  

getting caught plagiarizing is a big deal.

You could be expelled.

So here the consequences are  serious in a negative way.

You could be expelled, which means  permanently removed from your school.

Is that that big of a deal?

Yes, it's a big deal, but we  also use this in a positive way.

Getting a promotion is a big deal.

You can finally buy a house.

So here the promotion is important and significant  for the impact it will have on your life.

It's a big deal.

No big deal.

It's a huge deal.

Now remember our example was in the negative.

It's not a big deal at all.

So we can use this in two ways.

First, to say that something isn't  serious, significant or important.

For example, missing the party isn't a big deal.

Your friend will understand.

So the consequence of that action?

Missing the party isn't very  important or significant or serious.

It's really not a big deal.

Not a big deal Now.

We also use this as a reply when someone offers  appreciation or their thanks for something we did.

Your friend could say thanks for  agreeing to help me move this weekend.

I really appreciate it and you can reply  back and say it's not a big deal at all.

I'm happy to help.

Now, if you want to sound  really American and casual,  

you can reduce that entire sentence to two words.

No biggie, no biggie.

So no biggie represents it's  not a big deal, No biggie.

Ah, no biggie.

It's really common with native  speakers in a casual, informal way.

So I could show my appreciation to you and say  

thank you so much for liking  this video and subscribing.

Don't forget to do those two things and  then you can reply back and say no biggie,  

no biggie, it's not a big deal at all.

I'm happy too.

So put that in the comments.

No biggie, No biggie, no biggie.

Put that in the comments.

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

So what are you into?

So what are you into?

So what are you into?

I said.

So what are you into?

What are can combine together and that R can sound  

very reduced water water what  ER so in what are water water.

So basically I'm forming a  contraction in spoken English.

Although this does not exist as a  contraction is what we do in spoken English.

So water you can become more of  an unstressed ya or ya ya ya.

Almost identical in pronunciation.

What are ya?

Inta So you can take into and change it to inta.

I didn't do that personally, but many native  speakers do, so be prepared to hear two as TA.

So what are you into?

What are you into?

This is a casual way to ask someone  about their interests or preferences,  

so definitely add this to your vocabulary.

It will help you sound like  a Native American speaker.

So what exactly are you into, Jesse?

To reply, you can say I'm to be  into I am, I'm into plus a noun.

I'm into music, art, yoga,  Fatah, photography, hiking,  

biking, or whatever other  activity that you're into.

It's also very common to answer what are you into  just with a verb of preference and simply say I  

like music, I love yoga, I adore photography  or whatever your interest or preference is so.

What are you into?

What about you?

Sleeveless?

What are you into?

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

Can we play it by ear?

Can we play it by ear?

Can we play it by ear?

Did you get this one?

I said can we play it by ear?

Can it is an auxiliary verb.

It's there to ask the question.

When is an auxiliary verb?

We pronounce it as kin, kin, unstressed,  because the main verb is what you hear.

Play.

Can you play?

Can you play?

We can combine play and it together.

I'll take that Y and I'll use it to connect.

Play it, it, play it, play it.

But you say it as one word.

Can we play it by ear?

Do you know what this means?

When you play something by  ear, it means that you make  

decisions as they happen rather  than planning in advance.

If your friend or spouse asks you,  what should we do this weekend?

And you don't want to make plans, you  just want to decide as it's happening.

So you wait until dinner to decide  what you're going to have for dinner  

rather than planning it in advance the day before.

You can say, let's just play it by ear.

Let's just play it by ear.

You're right, let's play it by ear.

Or someone asks, what are you going to do  

on vacation because they know  you have a vacation planned.

You can reply back and say we have a few  tours planned and we'll play the rest by ear.

The rest being the rest of your vacation.

We'll play the rest by ear.

We'll decide what we want to do in the  moment, based on how we feel, based on  

where we are, based on the situation,  rather than deciding in advance.

What about you?

When you're planning a vacation, do  you prefer to have a full itinerary,  

which means every day all the activities you're  going to do on that day are decided in advance?

That's a full itinerary.

Or do you prefer to play it by ear?

No plans, You're just going to decide  what to do based on how you feel.

Or perhaps #3 a little bit of both.

So put in the comments your preference.

1-2 or three?

As for me, I would probably  choose #2 just to play it by ear.

I like being more spontaneous.

But my husband, Kevin, he is  definitely a full itinerary person,  

which I learned the first time  we planned a vacation together.

So now we do #3 we do a little bit of both.

So we both are satisfied.

What about you?

Share yours in the comments.

I don't know, Play it by ear.

Why?

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

Turns out I bought a knockoff.

Turns out I bought a knockoff.

Turns out I bought a knockoff.

Did you get this one?

Maybe a little more challenging, I said.

Turns out I bought a knockoff.

Turns out I can combine those  together and it sounds like.

Turns out.

So I'm using that S to glide to the  next word, but I say it as one word.

Turns out turns out I bought a so bought is  pronounced bought so I can combine those together.

Bada bada.

Just like got a native  speakers commonly say gotta.

Well you can do the same  thing with bought a bada bada.

Knock the K is silent and  off because they go together.

Knock off, it's one word.

I'm going to use that knock, cough, cough.

So I'm going to pronounce the final K on knock  

and I'm going to pronounce it  on off, knock off, knock off.

Let's talk about what this means.

Turns out to turn out this is an extremely  common phrasal verb and is used in many  

expressions in daily speech, so definitely  add it to your vocabulary in this context.

Turns out is used to say that something is  

surprising or unexpected, so I  did not expect this situation.

Turns out it was spam.

So let's say you were supposed to work late  tonight and you knew about this last week.

You've planned your your  entire week to work late today.

You've made plans and arrangements.

But then your boss says, oh, actually,  you don't have to work late tonight.

We finished the project.

So you can say, oh, turns out I don't have  to work late tonight because it's unexpected.

It's surprising.

It's not what you thought.

Turns out grammatically there  should be a subject here.

It turns out I don't have to work late tonight.

But this is called a dummy subject in English,  

where the subject, it doesn't  actually represent anything.

It's just the existence, the situation.

Because it's a dummy subject in spoken English,  

we often drop it and just say, turns  out I don't have to work late tonight.

But in written English, a subject  is required grammatically.

Let's talk about a knock off.

What is this?

Because turns out I bought a knock off.

What's a knock off?

A knock off is a copy or an imitation of  something, usually a product or service.

Knock offs are very common with designer brands.

So the original is a Louis Vuitton handbag,  which has a very distinct look to it.

But there are a lot of knockoffs.

They're fake, they're fake Louis Vuittons.

And from a distance you  probably can't tell at all.

But when you examine the quality  of the material, it's very obvious.

So in this situation, maybe it's My friend bought  a Louis Vuitton, but turns out it was a knockoff.

At least designer or knockoff,  

it's just buy another knockoff that's  actually a cubic zirconia knockoff.

Now let's do an imitation  exercise so you can practice  

all of these pronunciation changes  that take place in spoken English.

I'll say each sentence again three  times, and after I say the sentence,  

I want you to repeat the sentence out  loud and imitate my pronunciation.

Here we go.

It's not a big deal at all.

It's not a big deal at all.

It's not a big deal at all.

So what are you into?

So what are you into?

So what are you into?

Can we play it by ear?

Can we play it by ear?

Can we play it by ear?

Turns out I bought a knock off.

Turns out I bought a knock off.

Turns out I bought a knock off.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

Did you get this one?

I said thanks for your help.

You rock.

Very easy, right?

At a natural pace.

Native speakers.

We reduce sound, so four becomes fur.

Thanks fur Your becomes your.

Thanks for your.

Thanks for your help.

Your help.

Thanks for your help.

Now let's review a common mistake  that I hear beginner students make,  

and sometimes even advanced students.

You can say thank you or thanks.

You cannot say thanks you or thank and notice.

In our example, we have thanks for your help.

Thanks for your help.

What is your help?

This is a noun, so we have thanks for plus noun.

You can also use Thanks for plus  gerund because for is a preposition.

So what would things for your  help be in the Jaron form?

Do you know?

Thanks for helping me, thanks for your  help, thanks for helping me and you rock.

This is a very natural way to say you're great.

You're awesome.

I use this in the comment section to reply  to your lovely comments all the time.

But don't say you are rock.

It is not to be rock.

It is to rock.

You rock.

You rock.

You're awesome.

You're really great.

You rock.

Put that in the comments.

You rock.

You rock.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for helping me.

Thanks, Billy.

You rock.

You rock.

Thanks, honey.

Let's try this again.

A little more difficult.

I'll say it three times.

She's starting to rub off on you.

She's starting to rub off on you.

She's starting to rub off on you.

Did you get this one?

I said she's starting to rub off on you.

She's is our contraction.

She is she's she's starting to So instead  of two, you can use an unstressed tub.

She's starting to rub off because  rub off is a phrasal verb.

They go together.

I can take that B sound and connect it to the  next word, but I have to combine them together.

I have to say them as one word.

Rub off, boff, rub off, rub off.

I can also take that on and add it together.

So I'm saying those 3 words as one rub off on.

So here I'm taking the F from  off and I'm adding it on.

Fawn rub off.

Fawn rub off on, rub off on you.

What does this mean?

To rub off on someone is when someones  behavior or personality effects someone else.

Let's take Janice and let's say  Janice loves helping other people.

Now let's say Fernando spends  a week working with Janice,  

and now Fernando starts helping other people.

You could say Janice rubbed off on Fernando.

Here we have it.

In the past, simple rubbed, rubbed, rubbed  off on Janice, rubbed off on Fernando.

Now you could also take the specific  personality trait or characteristic,  

in this case, Janice's helpfulness,  which is a noun, Janice's helpfulness,  

because the helpfulness belongs  to Janice, so it's possessive.

Janice's helpfulness rubbed off on Fernando,  so that specific character trait of Janice  

transferred to Fernando because  they spent time together.

Marcus is really rubbing off on you.

Finally, I'm rubbing off on you.

My deviousness has finally rubbed off on you.

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

He rubs me the wrong way.

He rubs me the wrong way.

He rubs me the wrong way.

Did you get this one?

I said he rubs me the wrong way.

Notice this expression uses the verb to rub,  and our last expression used the verb to rub.

But they have completely different meanings.

And that's why this is a more advanced listening  exercise, because maybe you understood the words,  

but you don't know what this means  to rub someone the wrong way.

This is to annoy someone,  but without intending to.

Remember Janice from our last example.

And she was very helpful, but maybe for  some reason she just rubs you the wrong way.

She annoys you, but there's  nothing that she does to annoy you.

Just maybe your personalities clash.

They don't go together.

So if you're planning a social gathering, you  might say, is it OK if we don't invite Janice?

She rubs me the wrong way.

Now an entire person like poor  Janice can rub you the wrong way,  

but it also could be something  specific that someone said or did.

And overall you like Janice, but just that one  thing she said or did rubbed you the wrong way.

For example, your comment  just rubbed me the wrong way.

So maybe she said something in a  meeting that really annoyed you,  

but you know she did not intend to annoy you.

So here your comment.

This is a noun.

Your comment rubbed the past  simple of the verb to rub.

And notice that soft D rubbed  rubbed me, rubbed me the wrong way.

Is it me?

Like do I rub you the wrong way?

Not Jay.

Guy rubs me the wrong way.

She rubs everyone the wrong way.

But pop our final listening  exercise and the most advanced.

I'll say it three times.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

Did you get this one?

I said I had a hunch he'd quit.

Notice for pronunciation.

I had a.

I had a had a.

So I combine had a together as one word.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

Now, did you hear that?

Duh.

He'd he'd quit.

Well, that D represents what  word would he would quit.

He'd quit.

He'd quit Very difficult for students to hear.

Native speakers understand it based on  context and based on grammatical structure.

It would sound awkward without it.

So we know it's there even though  we can't really hear it either.

When you have a hunch, A hunch is the noun  and then the verb that goes with it is have.

So to have a hunch, this is when you think  or predict that something is going to happen,  

but it isn't based on facts.

It's based on your intuition, your feelings.

So you could say I have a hunch  she'll accept our invitation.

Now if someone replies back and says why,  all you would say is because I have a hunch.

I have a feeling, I have a gut  feeling and notice the grammar here.

I have a hunch this is the present simple  

and then she'll accept she will  accept that's the future simple.

I have a hunch she'll accept  our invitation because you're  

making a prediction about the future.

But you could use this in the  past like our listening exercise.

I had a hunch last week in the  past, so that's the past simple.

Last week I had a hunch that he would quit.

So would is the past simple of the verb will.

I had a hunch that he'd quit  and using that is optional.

You don't need it.

You could simply say I had a hunch he'd quit.

I had a hunch.

Just a hunch.

I had a hunch, but I wasn't certain.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can  practice speaking fast, just like a native.

I'll say each sentence again three times, and this  time I want you to repeat each sentence out loud.

Here we go.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

Thanks for your help.

You rock.

She's starting to rub off on you.

She's starting to rub off on you.

She's starting to rub off on you.

He rubs me the wrong way.

He rubs me the wrong way.

He rubs me the wrong way.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

I had a hunch he'd quit.

I had a hunch he'd quit.