Day 19 - Dropping the H - Understanding Fast Speech in English

Welcome to Day 19.

We're almost done with our 20-day fast speech challenge.

I probably should have told you sooner

that the biggest challenge will be on Day 20.

But don't worry.

All that we've done so far has prepared you for that final task.

English with Jennifer

Did you hear me say, "I should have told you?"

I said "should have" and what I'm really saying is "should have."

It's common to drop the H in "have"

when we use it as a helping verb.

In my sentence, "have" helps me form a perfect modal.

Let's look at other examples.

Here are three.

As I read them, I'll drop the H in "have."

It will sound like "of."

It's a schwa sound, yes, but it's not the word "of."

I'll write it as "uv." Listen.

Another variation you'll hear is HAVE reducing to a schwa.

Without any V sound, simply /ə/.

So you'll hear:

Remember these are spoken forms, not written.

Don't forget that the helping verbs HAVE, HAS, and HAD

all contract in spoken and written speech

when we use them in perfect verb forms,

the present perfect and the past perfect.

So for example:

I have seen it. / I've seen it.

She has seen it. / She's seen it.

He had seen it. / He'd seen it.

When else do we drop the H? With pronouns.

Listen.

To recap, the initial H is dropped in the helping verbs

have, has, and had, but only when they follow another word

because we need to link.

"I shoulduv" is I should have.

"It's been"...It has been.

We also drop that initial H in the pronouns he, him, her.

Again, they have to follow another word, so we have linking.

"Did'e come?" Did he come?

So if I start a sentence with "he," for example,

I won't drop that H.

We also drop the H in "here" when we ask someone,

"Come'ere."...Come here.

Listen closely.

I'll say a sentence. You try to understand.

That's all for now.

Thanks for watching and happy studies.