How to Get a British Accent - Lesson Three - "Questions in English - Part 1"

Hi guys, welcome back to our series on how to get the British Accent

So, we know that the English language is not a phonetic language.

And, specially British English pronounces things in, sometimes, strange ways.

- Non-Obvious Ways -

So, in today's class we're focusing on the verb "ARE" and the pronoun "YOU".

"ARE" sometimes will be pronounced like /ə/, remember that Schwa sound?

"YOU" we sometimes pronounce like /jə/, again with the schwa sound that /ə/ (he makes the sound).

So, given what you've learnt so far from the previous lessons, how would you pronounce and say this whole question?

"Are you going to go out tonight?"

Obviously, we don't say it like that, so, how do you say that more "British"?

To make it easier, it could sound like this "/ə/ /jə/ gonna" - remember the "gonna"? Is the same as going to - "go out" or "go ou' " - remember the glottal T? -

So, it could be "go out" or "go ou' " tonight, again tonigh', tonigh'.

So the whole question: Are you gonna go ou' tonigh'?

Faster: Are you gonna go ou' tonigh'?

So, from "Are you going to go out tonight?" , it sounds like a robot, the true British way would sound like "Are you gonna go ou' tonigh'?"

How about this one:

Are you gonna buy that? or tha'

Are you gonna buy that?

Are you gonna buy tha'?

Both ways are fine, this is including everything you've learnt from the previous lessons.

So keep this in mind and next time you want to ask a question which has "Are you" at the beginning.

Are /ə/ you /jə/, Are /ə/ you /jə/. Make it really really fast.

Are you gonna buy tha'?

Are you gonna go ou' tonigh'?

You try it, and I see you in the next lesson.