Your Listening Skills WON'T Improve Until You Use This Method...

By the end of this lesson, you're going  to feel more confident understanding  

native English speakers the first time  native English speakers on TV, movies,  

YouTube videos, and anywhere  outside of the classroom.

And we're going to do this by  testing your listening skills.

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.

After, I'll explain exactly what I said,  and I'll explain the pronunciation changes  

that take place in fast English, and I'll also  explain the advanced expressions that I used.

Are you ready for your first listening test?

Remember, I'll say it three times.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

Did you get this one?

I said.

They've been bickering all day.

Let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Notice I have they've, this is a contraction.

They have, they've, they've,  

they've native speakers use contractions  in spoken English almost 100% of the time.

So you need to be very, very comfortable hearing  

the contraction because it affects the  grammar of the sentence you need to have.

They have been bickering  because that shows the grammar,  

and the grammar is the present perfect continuous.

So if you didn't have that, it  would be grammatically incorrect.

They've been bickering all day now.

Notice I said bin bin, a very unstressed bin.

This is how we pronounce the past participle  of the verb be bin in American English.

I don't speak British English,  

but I believe in British English  they pronounce it more stressed bean.

But in American English we don't do that.

We just say bin bin.

They've been.

They've been bickering all day.

Now, to understand fast English outside of the  classroom, you need to hear the individual words.

But you also have to understand  the meaning of the words.

So let's talk about the verb to bicker.

This is when you argue about  things that are not important.

The concept of bickering is extremely  common and everyone does it,  

and we usually do it with people  we spend the most time with.

Our family, our spouses, husbands  and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends,  

our close friends, our Co workers  that we spend a lot of time with.

Anytime you spend a lot of time with  someone, it's common that you'll bicker.

But it's different from fighting.

Because when you're fighting with someone,  usually there's a strong emotion involved,  

but when you bicker you don't  really have that emotion.

It's less serious because  the things you're arguing  

about fighting about are not actually important.

Like I said, this can be very  common in the workplace when  

you spend a lot of time with your Co workers.

So maybe you're in a meeting and you've  

been discussing an issue for  hours with your Co workers.

But people start bickering, They start  arguing about things that aren't important.

You could say we didn't get anything done  today because we bickered all meeting.

We argue bicker.

Yeah, we bicker either.

Yeah, well, we were bickering  because they were bickering.

Kids are bickering.

Let's try this again with  another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times  that streets pretty sketchy.

That Streets pretty sketchy.

That Streets pretty sketchy.

How'd you do with this one?

I said that Streets pretty sketchy.

Did you hear that?

Streets.

The S Well, that is the verb  to be in a contraction form.

The street is the streets.

The streets.

Pretty sketchy.

Again, it's extremely important that  you hear these contractions for grammar,  

because we need the verb to be grammatically.

The sentence would sound very  awkward if you didn't have it,  

because it would be grammatically incorrect.

That street's pretty sketchy.

Sketchy.

Sketchy Sketchy sketchy.

Let's talk about to be sketchy.

That street is our verb to be to be sketchy.

This is used to say that  something is not completely safe.

So by saying that street is pretty sketchy, I'm  saying that street doesn't look completely safe.

I don't think that street is safe.

So I'm saying we shouldn't go down that street.

We should avoid that street.

Now why would I say this street is sketchy?

This is an adjective that  native speakers use a lot.

If I say streets sketchy, it's most likely  because it's dark or lacks lighting.

There aren't a lot of people around,  there's broken glass or broken windows,  

or there are a lot of abandoned  buildings on that street.

It could be all of those reasons, or it could be  

just one of those reasons for me to  say that street doesn't look safe.

That street's pretty sketchy.

I could say let's take another St.

This one looks sketchy, so I can also use the verb  look look sketchy, but I have to conjugate it.

This street looks sketchy.

Or let's say your friend or your husband  or your wife came to you and said hey,  

I heard this amazing business proposal today.

All we need to do is invest  $1000 and we're guaranteed  

$100,000 and you could say that sounds sketchy.

So notice here the verb is to sound  sketchy, and you're saying the idea,  

the plan, the business proposal  doesn't sound completely safe.

We also use this to describe people.

He's a sketchy guy or he's sketchy.

She's sketchy.

In this case, you're saying the person isn't  safe, which means you can't trust the person.

So with people, it's a way of saying  I don't think I can trust him.

She's sketchy.

He's sketchy.

Seems a little sketchy.

You're kind of sketchy.

Laundry to some sketchy laundromat.

Let's try another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

Did you get this one?

You must have seen it.

But notice I didn't actually say.

Have I reduced that entirely to  just uh, you musta, you musta.

I could also reduce it to more of an of sound,  which is very commonly done by native speakers.

You must have, you must have, You  must have seen it, notice for seen it.

I use that that N sound to  connect the 2 words together.

Seen it, Seen it, Seen it.

So you hear it.

N in front of it.

It sounds like NIT.

But if you say those two words  together, it blends together.

Seen it, Seen it?

You must have seen it.

Now let's talk about the grammar of this.

A must is a modal verb, and  grammatically you need must  

plus base verb, which is the verb without two.

So grammatically you need must have.

In written English you must use must have  seen it because that's grammatically correct.

But in spoken English it will  sound like must ah or must of.

But in written English, if you wrote you must  ah or of, it would be incorrect grammatically.

So just remember what I'm explaining is for  spoken English you must have seen it 200 times.

You must have seen it 2:00.

You must have seen them.

Here.

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

I said what's the ETA?

Of course we have once.

That's a contraction of what  is, what's what's the now?

Because ETA it begins with a vowel sound.

EI could say either the OR the 'cause we do a more  stressed the when the next word starts in a vowel.

But this isn't a rule that native  speakers follow all the time.

But if I did a more stressed E in the  IT would really blend together with ETA,  

the TA, and it would almost sound  like it's just one word, the TA,  

because I wouldn't really  repeat the E on ETA, the ETA.

I believe in my example, when I did the listening  test, I think the first time I did it more of the  

ETA, and the second time I did it, more of  the ETA, and the sounds blended together.

Let's listen to that again and see what I did.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

Now, ultimately, either way that you  pronounce it, the ETA or the ETA is fine.

Now you're probably wondering, well what's ETA?

This stands for estimated time of arrival.

So your ETA, the ETA or someone  somethings ETA is the estimated  

time of arrival for that someone or  something when it's expected to arrive.

So let's say we're talking about a project,  

and your boss wants to know  when this project will arrive.

In his inbox or on his desk, he  could say what's the ETA and he  

could just say the If it's obvious  you're talking about the project,  

he could say what's your ETA because  you're the one submitting the project.

Or he could say what's the project's  ETA, so the ETA belongs to the project.

So you need that possessive.

What's the project's ETA?

And they all have the same meaning.

We commonly use this with friends or coworkers,  

family members to let them know  when we're going to arrive.

So let's say you were supposed to be at  your family's house at 7:00 for dinner,  

but you're running late.

You could send them a text  message and say running late.

Google says my ETA is 642 or 15 minutes.

Now, Google says because when you put something in  a GPS, Google will tell you or whatever you use.

Google will tell you when  you're expected to arrive.

That's your ETA.

What's their ETA?

ETA ETA, 11 minutes.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you  can practice your pronunciation as well.

So I'm going to say each sentence  again, and then I want you to repeat  

the sentence out loud and try to imitate  my pronunciation as closely as possible.

And I'll say each sentence three times.

Let's do that right now.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

Amazing job improving your listening skills.

Keep doing this and I know you'll improve your  listening skills of fast English very quickly.

So if you want me to keep helping you  by making more videos just like this,  

then put more, more, more in the comments.

Put more, more, more in the comments.

So I know you want me to make  more videos just like this.

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friends and of course subscribe so you're  notified every time I post a new lesson.

And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

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You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And why don't you keep improving your  English skills with this lesson right now?