How native speakers say AND & THE in English

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid.

In this lesson I'm going to show you two simple changes

that you can make to sound more like a native English speaker, and also to understand native English

speakers when they speak. Okay? So, that is with two simple words: "and" plus "the". Okay?

Now, of course, "and" plus "the", we say them pretty often. Right? We say them quite a lot.

So, what's this little change that you need to make to sound more like a native speaker?

Let me tell you.

Let's start with "and". Now, if I just say this word: "and", then of course, you're going

to say it like that: "and", but we don't usually just say that word. We say it as part of a

sentence or part of a phrase. Right? So, what happens then? What happens is that this entire

word "and" is reduced or shortened to sound just like "n", just like an "n". Okay? For

example: "over n over", "n". Okay? Instead of "and", we're just saying: "n", "n", "n".

Okay? So, let's say lots of phrases so that you can hear it, because your eyes are telling

you to say "and", but I want your ears and your mouth to start recognizing and saying:

"n" instead of "and" when it's in the middle of a phrase. And later, we'll look at sentences.

Okay? Say it... You can say it with me, you can also repeat it after me.

"Over n over", "over and over".

"Again n again", "again and again".

Good.

"Bread n butter", "bread and butter".

"Hide n seek", "hide and seek".

This is a game that children play. Okay?

It's called hide and seek, somebody hides, somebody goes to look for them. Another

word for "looking" is "seek". All right? Let's continue.

"Cream n sugar", "cream and sugar".

"Pros n cons". What are "pros and cons"? "Pros and cons" are advantages and disadvantages.

All right? So, even if you said those longer words, you'd say: "Advantages n disadvantages".

Right? Now you know: Don't say "and", just say "n". Okay? "Black n white", "black n white".

Not: "black and white", "black n white". "John n Mary", "John and Mary". "Mr. n Mrs. Jones",

not: "Mr. and Mrs." Sometimes we don't even say "Mrs." nowadays, but in some countries,

this forms are still used, so I'm giving you that example. "Mr. n Mrs. Jones". Or we can

use it for companies, too: "Microsoft n Google".

It doesn't matter what we're talking about,

whether we're talking about cream and sugar or Microsoft and Google, we're still saying:

"Cream n sugar", "Microsoft n", right? "Microsoft n Google". So we almost swallow the word "and",

and we just reduce it to "n".

Except when you want to emphasize the word "and". All right? Now, this is not true most

of the time; this is an exception. All right? This is what happens 99% of the time, but

sometimes you really want to emphasize the word "and". For example:

"I want you to call your sister and I want you to apologize!"

Now, in this case, the person who was saying that really wanted to emphasize this second part, that I don't just want you to call your

sister, but I also want you to apologize. So that's why in that particular sentence,

we don't just say: "I want you to call your sister n I want you to apologize." They were

emphasizing it, so that's why they said "and" like "and". But most of the time, this is

what you need to do. And in the next section, we're going to look at what happens when we

use the word "the".

Okay, now let's look at another word, a simple word, and that's the word that is spelt t-h-e.

Why don't I say it? Because have you realized that this word is often pronounced in two

different ways? Sometimes we pronounce it: "thuh", and sometimes we pronounce it: "thee".

Why? What's going on? I'm going to tell you. Now, what I'm explaining to you is not a rule.

Okay? But it is a pattern. This is what native speakers do kind of naturally. They haven't

been taught that, and it's not a rule, but it is a pattern which you will recognize,

and which you might want to adopt yourself. All right? So, let's understand what's behind

it. So, we say: "thuh" when the word that comes after "the" starts with a consonant

sound. Not just with a consonant-we'll see some exceptions in a minute-but with a consonant

sound. For example:

"Thuh cat", "thuh book",

"thuh show", "thuh phone", "thuh bus". Right?

Now, all of those started with consonants, but more importantly, with a consonant sound.

Because here... Okay, well, let's look at the exceptions in a minute.

Let's go on this side. Now, we use "thee" before a vowel sound. For example, we usually say:

"thee airline", "thee eggs",

"thee ice cream", "thee office", "thee umbrella".

All right? Did you see how that happened? Okay? So, "thuh" before a consonant sound, and "thee"

before a vowel sound.

Now, sometimes a consonant, like "h", sounds like an "h", so then we can say: "thuh hotel".

But sometimes "h", which is a consonant, is silent, and so it actually sounds like a vowel,

so then we say: "thee hour". Okay? "On the hour", for example. And sometimes a vowel

doesn't sound like a vowel. Sometimes a vowel sounds like a consonant. For example, in this

word: "university". Even though it starts with a "u", it sounds like a "y", so we would

say: "thuh university", but we would say: "thee understanding", because, here, in the

word "understanding", the "u" sounds like "uh", which is a vowel sound. So, you have

to keep those exceptions in mind also a little bit. All right?

And there is one other exception, that sometimes when we want to emphasize something, then

we do say "thee", and then it doesn't matter if it's a consonant sound or a vowel sound

for the word that comes after "the". For example: "This is the best restaurant in town." So,

here, look what happened. Even though it started with a "b", the word after "the", we didn't

say: "This is the best". You could say it, it's not wrong. Okay? But people would probably

say: "This is thee best restaurant in town." because they want to emphasize it. All right?

But that's the exception. Most of the time, this is what happens: "thuh" before the consonant

sound, and "thee" before a vowel sound. Now, it's your turn, so you're going to try to

pronounce "the" and "and" according to what we've just learned.

All right, so now let's practice what you've learned. Okay? Here we go. The first four

sentences are going to have the word "and", but you decide how to pronounce it. And the

last four will have the word "the", but you decide how to pronounce it. Because what were

the options? "And" is usually pronounced just like "n",

and "the" can be pronounced: "thuh" or "thee".

So, now, let's try number one: "Life is full of ups and downs.", "ups n downs". Okay? Good.

I hope you said that.

"By and large, he's a good man.", "By n large". What does that mean,

"by and large"? It means in general. Okay? Overall.

"The kids come and go.", "The kids come n go." Not: "come and go", "come n go". Good.

You're getting it.

"I'm sick and tired of this mess.", "I'm sick n tired of this mess.", "sick n tired". Okay?

Good. See? Is it starting to come? Is it starting to flow? The more... Once you understand what's

being done, it's a lot easier. Right? You've probably... Because you've been hearing this,

you've been hearing this on TV, you've been hearing this in the movies. If you're watching

American shows or North American shows, this is the standard way to speak and you've been

listening to it all along, but now you understand what it is that they're doing, so you might

start to sound a lot more like that. Okay? All right.

Let's try number five. What do we say? "Thuh time has come!" or "Thee time has come!"?

What was the rule? Before a consonant sound, we're going to say: "Thuh".

"The time has come." Good.

"Where's the house?" Here, "house" started with an "h" and sounds like an "h": "h-house".

So, we just say: "thuh". "Where's the house?"

Number seven: "The apples are over there." This time it's a vowel and it's a vowel sound:

"Thee apples".

And number eight, what is it? "What are the advantages and disadvantages?" So, let's say it properly:

"What are thee advantages n disadvantages?", "What are thee advantages n disadvantages?",

"What are the advantages and disadvantages?" Okay?

I know it's kind of long to say, but

this one actually was helping you to practice both, the word "the" and the word "and". All

right?

So, now, when you're watching TV, when you're watching movies, when you're hearing... Overhearing

conversations among... Between people, listen and you'll hear it, and you'll be so happy,

because, like: "Hey! I know that! I learned that on engVid!" Okay?

And also, you can start talking like that. It'll make you sound a lot more natural, and it'll help native speakers

to understand you better because now you're speaking in a way that they expect to hear

you. Okay? All right.

So, of course, this is a pronunciation lesson, so we don't have a quiz on engVid about this.

But what you can do, as I said, is go out and listen, and go out and practice. All right?

And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more lessons in pronunciation.

In fact, I have a lesson which you might want to check out right after this, it's on three

prepositions which we use very often: "to", "for", and "from". And if you think that that's

how we pronounce those, well, go watch the lesson and you'll find out that, again, native

speakers pronounce them a little bit differently, and you can learn how. Okay?

Thanks very much for watching, and good luck with your English.

Bye for now.