Natural British Intonation | Ultimate British Pronunciation Lesson 4

- Welcome back to lesson four.

Before we begin say this question.

Not really, say it out loud to yourself

or record yourself saying it.

That would be better.

Record it, send that voice note to your friend.

Explain later, they'll understand,

they're your friend, it's fine.

But I want you to hear how you say it now,

so you can compare how you say it at the end of this video.

I want to show you how much you improve.

Or in your Instagram stories,

tag me @papateachme.

How you say it now and how you say it again

at the end of this video.

I want to see your progress.

So in the last video,

we looked at word stress and how the schwa

is like the God of all British pronunciation.

And we're going to build on that,

because today I'm going to answer

a very common question I get.

How does British intonation work?

How can I get that rhythm, that flow of British intonation?

Today we find out.

Let's start with this question.

Are you a doctor?

No one says it like that.

Hmm. If I just said, "You doctor?"

(rhythmic pensive music)

Then this guy, he still understands the question.

No one is confused.

So like I said before,

those words are the important words for communication.

So we'll focus on those words

by stressing those words when we speak.

And this is where you start to see the intonation,

that flow, that rhythm, it's starting to build.

Okay, what's about these words?

Meh, they're not important.

So they become weak forms, schwa sounds.

This is how that will sound,

"Are you are doctor?"

You hear how that sounds.

We stress those two words, "Are you a doctor?"

and those two words become weak, schwa, meh, boring.

We don't need them.

Are you a doctor?

Say it with me one more time.

Are you a doctor?

Also notice the schwa in doctor.

See? I told you the schwa is everywhere.

Okay, so that's very common in are you questions.

Are you, blah, blah, blah.

But, but, but let's try another example.

Let's try this.

Are you going out tonight?

In this case we're not focusing

on the you of the sentence.

We're already talking. We know who I'm talking to.

So the you is not the focus.

In this question, the action,

or more specifically the direction

of where they are going, right?

So the are you become weak forms?

Are you. Are you going out tonight?

Again, we only really need going out tonight

to understand what that question is.

And again more specifically, where are you going? Out.

So that has the stress in a sentence.

You're going out tonight?

Say it with me.

Are you

going out

tonight?

Again, you don't have to use the glottal t in tonight.

You could say tonight, that's also fine.

But let's try the whole question.

Are you going out tonight?

(clapping) Well done.

So like I mentioned in the doctor question,

we pronounced you like you,

but in this question, you going out tonight,

we pronounced you like ye.

Why? Again, because it's the focus of the sentence.

Are we focusing on the person,

the action or the time or the place?

The focus of the sentence will determine

which words are stressed, which words are weak forms

and how the intonation will sound.

That's the secret.

That's the whole big secret.

And you just, literally, just learned it right now.

(clapping) Well done you.

Did I, did I learn it?

I'm still not really sure about intonation.

What? Okay.

If you're still not really sure about the intonation

and the focus, let's compare these two questions.

You're going out tonight.

No. Why?

Are you going out tonight?

You see, in the reply

the focus is not on the action anymore.

We both know what we're talking about.

The focus is now on the other person,

and that is the word that's stressed.

So instead of ye going out tonight

it's now you going out tonight.

Hear the difference?

That's the secret, that's it.

And I'm really curious.

Do you do this in your language?

Like, do you have this word stress?

Like you might pronounce a word differently

if you're focusing on that aspect of the sentence,

I'm really curious.

Please let me know in the comments.

And I'll be honest, I'm really curious.

Do you do this in your language?

Like does the pronunciation of certain words change?

If the focus of the sentence is on a different word,

do you have weak forms?

That's what I'm asking.

Let me know in the comments, because now I'm really curious.

Anyway, quick practice time.

Repeat these with me.

Also, I want you to notice which words I'm stressing

that will determine which information I'm really asking for.

Are you okay?

We'll stress the you in this question

but notice this is a schwa and this is a schwa.

One more time.

Are you okay?

(clapping)

Next one: What are you doing?

Also, you don't have to use that glottal t,

again, like I did.

You could pronounce it like a true t.

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

I just want you to start using those weak forms.

What are you doing?

Again, what's the focus of the sentence?

If I just say to you: what doing?

It sounds weird but you will understand my question.

That's the focus.

That's how intonation works.

What are you doing?

Next: Are you at home?

Are you hungry?

Are we meeting tomorrow?

Are they leaving?

Where are you from?

I chose to use both weak forms for that sentence.

I could also say: Where are you from?

If I want to focus on you for that question,

both the correct.

It depends on the situation.

Okay. Okay, now let's try do you questions.

Those are fun.

We have a lot of different ways

to pronounce do you in questions.

And the reason is connected speech.

I'll talk about connected speech in a future lesson

but for now, just know

that when a word finishes with a d sound

and the next word begins with a y sound,

you connect them with a j sound, like this.

D'ya wanna get a pizza?

D'ya wanna get a pizza?

D'ya wanna get a pizza?

Well done.

This would be an extremely common way to hear

a do you question, but you might also hear

do you pronounced in these ways:

do ya, do ya want to get a pizza?

Do you, do you wanna get pizza?

Do you?

I want to get a pizza. Do you want to get a pizza?

Do you?

Do you want to get pizza?

And finally d'you.

I want pizza, he wants pizza. D'you want pizza?

Let's practice together.

You repeat what I say:

D'ya, do ya, do you, do you, do you, d'you.

Let's practice those together in a conversation.

Let's do this TikTok style.

I'll be red. You say blue.

No, no pizza.

No. No carbs.

A grapefruit? No.

Maybe.

Hmm no. No eggs.

Yes!

Amazing.

Now all of these are equally correct and equally British.

Again, it just depends on how fast you're talking

and what the focus of the sentence is.

So, don't worry.

They're all equally correct and all equally British.

Let's move on.

Okay. Now, quick practices.

Again, repeat them with me.

Let's practice a few different ways

that we can pronounce do you.

Listen carefully and repeat with me.

Do you fancy a coffee?

What the?

Do you understand this?

Do you prefer coffee or tea?

Do you have any money?

What do you think of this song?

I live in London. Where do you live?

And now finally have you questions.

And I want to focus on...

Focus here.

Oh mate, have you seen "The Crown"?

No. Have you?

In the first question it's just normal.

The focus is on the action.

So have and you become weak forms: ave ye.

Ave ye, ave ye. Say it with me, ave ye.

Ave ye seen "The Crown"?

But the reply, again, changes the focus of the sentence.

We both know what the action is,

but now the focus is on the other person

and their experience.

So have is still a weak form,

but you again is now pronounced like a you

instead of a ye.

Another example: Have you finished yet?

No. Have you finished?

Yeah. I'm smart.

Remember, at the beginning of this video

I asked you to pronounce this question.

Now we're going to try again

and see how much you've improved.

So the focus, the stress will be these

and these will be weak forms.

Also, when we speak fast,

this word - been - usually becomes bin.

It just does.

English is weird. I'm sorry.

So I will say at first you repeat with me:

Have you been to Brazil?

Also notice you have that option with the l-sound,

because it's a dark l, you could say Brazil.

Have you been to Brazil or Brazil?

Have you been to Brazil?

Both are equally correct. Both equally British.

It's your choice, whichever you find more comfortable.

Amazing, yeah.

So tag me in your Instagram stories @papateachme.

I want to see your progress.

Also, I want to see how you pronounce

these three sentences

using everything that we've ever learned ever in our lives.

Remember, practice them first.

There are many different ways that you might pronounce them.

See which style feels more comfortable for you.

Remember, this is how we build

our natural British pronunciation style.

But take your time.

We don't immediately come out as babies,

speaking with perfect British pronunciation.

Naturally, we do. It's quite adorable.

Okay. First sentence.

Have you seen my phone?

Is it over there?

Now, be careful with the word seen.

Yes, we've been, we pronounce it bin when it's fast,

but with seen, we don't really change that to sin.

Just, eh.

Okay. Next one.

Do you want to go out tonight?

Remember, there are many ways

that you could pronounce the sentence.

You've got the t-option.

You've got the d'ya, d'you, do ya, lots of options.

Practice. Try out a few different ways.

Okay. Number three.

Are you serious?

So well done today.

That's a lot of information.

If you need to watch again, please do so.

It takes time.

Also, remember you can get

my free Ultimate British Pronunciation guide

at papateachme.com.

It'll help you follow these lessons more easily

and track your progress a bit better.

And I'll see you in lesson five next Saturday.

(cheerful music)