Improve Your Accent: The Best METHOD | Friends TV English Lessons

We're studying English with  TV, and Ross is freaking out. 

Okay, so I’m going to be the only one  standing there alone when the ball drops? 

It's New Year's Eve and he doesn't have  a date. We're going to do an in-depth  

analysis of this scene from Friends to  study English and the characteristics  

of American English and the American  accent. Studying like this can help  

you increase your listening comprehension  and confidence speaking English. You'll get  

fast English. And we'll have fun talking about  the culture of New Year's in the United States  

as we go. I make new videos every Tuesday to  help you speak faster, more natural English,  

you'll even be watching TV without subtitles. If  you like this video or you learned something new,  

please give it a thumbs up and subscribe with  notifications. I’d love to see you back here. 

We've already studied two scenes from this  episode where the six friends make a pact  

to spend New Year's eve together, no  dates. But that's not how it works out.  

Let's watch the full scene that we'll study today. Tell me something. What does the phrase  

‘no date pact’ mean to you? Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s  

just that Chandler, has somebody, and Phoebe  has somebody, I thought I’d asked Fun Bobby! 

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby? Yeah! 

Okay, so on our no date evening, three  of you now are going to have dates. 

Uh, four. Four? 

Five. Five. 

Sorry! Paolo’s catching an earlier flight. 

Okay, so I’m going to be the only one  standing there alone when the ball drops? 

Oh, come on! We’ll have, we’ll have a big  party and no one will know who’s with whom.

Ross is so upset he's talking over Rachel's  last phrase: who's with whom? Who's with who,  

who's with whom, which one do you use? When?  Don't worry, we'll go over when to use who and  

whom later in this video. In a moment, we'll do  the analysis. First, I want to make sure you know  

in January, on this channel, there will be a 30  day challenge. Learn 105 vocabulary words with  

me to start your 2021. One video every day for  30 days starting the first Tuesday in January.  

Click here or in the video description to  get on my special student list to follow  

the series and blow up your vocabulary  this January. Now, let's do that analysis.

Tell me something.

Tell me something. Tell me  something. Stress on tell. Tell me something.  

And then some more on some as well. We have a  true T starting tell, that's because it starts  

a stressed syllable. This L is a dark L and you  do not need to lift your tongue tip there. The  

next sound is a consonant and Americans wouldn't  lift their tongue tip there. They would say tell,  

uhl, that's the dark L, it's made with the back  of the tongue, so not the tip. Leave the tip down.  

Tell me. Tell me. So right from that dark sound  into the M, with the lips closing. Tell me  

something. Something, something, first syllable  stress, and he doesn't say something. He says  

somethin, somethin, somethin, he changes the NG  sound to just an N sound. Somethin. This TH is an  

unvoiced TH and the tongue tip does have to come  through the teeth for that. Tell me something.

Tell me something.  

What does the phrase ‘no date pact’ mean to you?

What does the phrase ‘no date pact’-- what  does the phrase-- so in the first part of  

this sentence we have most of our stress on  what. What does the phrase-- and then the  

other three words just come in on the downward  shape of that pitch. What does the phrase,  

what-- do you notice that's a stop T because  the next word begins with a consonant.  

What does the phrase did you learn that this word  is pronounced does? That's true when it's fully  

pronounced, but it's often reduced like here,  and here it's not does, but it's: dzz, dzz,  

and it links smoothly into the next word.  Does the, does the, does the, does the.  

So 'what' is stressed, it has more length and up  down shape. What does the, does the, does the.  

These two words are said more quickly and  they're flatter. What does the phrase,  

what does the phrase.

What does the phrase--

In the word 'phrase' the letter S makes the  Z sound. That's a weak sound at the end,  

so it's not phrase, but it's also not phrase,  

an S, it's got less air. Phrase,  phrase, phrase. What does the phrase--

What does the phrase--

‘no date pact’ mean to you?

No date pact. All of these words  have a bit of a stressed feel. No  

date pact mean to you? So he's making  this phrase clear. No date pact.  

A little bit almost of a lift between each  word: da da da, rather than no date pact,  

it's not that linked together. No  date pact. Making each word more clear.

No date pact mean to you?

Even though he is making it more clear  and separating the words a little bit,  

he does still make this a stop T. He doesn't  say no date pact, no date, he says no date--

No date

pact mean to you?

Ending KT sound cluster, I'm trying  to decide if I think I hear the T,  

i'm not totally sure I think it is  probably weakly released. Date pact, pact.

Date pact,

mean to you?

Mean to you? And then we have  

three words mean has the most stress. Mean  to, mean to, the word to, it just comes in  

on the way down from the peak of  stress of mean. Mean to, mean to.

Mean to,

you?

And it's reduced, isn't it? It's not to you,  but it's to you, to you. The vowel there  

changes to the schwa. To you. It is a true T.  That can be reduced as well, but here, it's not.  

Mean to you? You, you. A little  bit of that up down shape.

Mean to you?

So a pact is a promise, but it's  almost even stronger than a promise.  

You're really committing to doing  something when you make a pact.

No date pact mean to you? 

No date pact mean to you? Look, I’m sorry, okay?

Look, i'm sorry, the word look, said really  quickly, it's flat, it's not stressed. Look, look,  

look, look, look, you might not even recognize  that as the word look. You might also hear listen.  

Look, listen. Said at the beginning of a phrase  like this. She's probably already said that she's  

sorry, she's probably already apologized for this,  but he's really upset about it. So he's bringing  

up the fact that she made a pact here. It wasn't  just a minor commitment, she really committed.

Look, I’m sorry, okay?

I'm sorry, okay? Really smooth linking there. I'm  sorry, okay? No breaks, no skips in the voice,  

just smooth connection. The M linking right  into the S, ms, ms, I’m sorry. Sorry with the AH  

as in father vowel plus R. Make sure you  let your jaw drop and have some space before  

you make the R. So-- oh-- sor-- sorry. I'm  sorry, okay? The ending EE vowel, unstressed,  

links right into the OH diphthong with no break.  Sorry, okay? And then the pitch goes up again.

I’m sorry, okay?

It's just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe  has somebody, I thought I'd ask Fun Bobby.

It's just that Chandler has somebody-- So her  pitch goes up here because she's listing things  

and when we list things, our pitch goes up at  the end of each one. Chandler has somebody,  

Phoebe has somebody, I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby.

So when we get here, I bet we'll  see that the intonation goes down.

It's just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe  has somebody, I thought I'd ask Fun Bobby. 

It's just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe  has somebody, I thought I'd ask Fun Bobby.

It's just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe  has somebody, I thought I'd ask Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby, so it does. So she's naming who has  dates for New Year's and there are three people on  

that list. So the intonation goes up for Chandler. Chandler has somebody, Phoebe has somebody.  

I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby. And then the  intonation goes down showing she's done with  

her list. So let's talk about the intonation, the  stress of the first part of this thought group.

It's just that Chandler has somebody, 

it's just that Chandler has somebody--

It's just that Chandler has somebody-- So because  the overall trend of this phrase is going up,  

rather than our shape of stress being like  this, Chandler, it goes like this: Chandler has  

somebody-- the dips go down and up. It's just  that, it's just that. These three words said very  

quickly. It's just that, it's just that, it's just  that. Can you do that? To make that so smooth,  

you need to drop the T like she does, and you need  to reduce the vowel, it's not that, but it's that,  

that, that, a schwa said really quickly,  stop T because the next word begins with a  

consonant. It's just that, it's just that,  it's just that, it's just that Chandler--

It's just that Chandler--

has somebody--

She pronounces that with no D. Chandler  has somebody-- the word has written an IPA  

with the Z consonant. When a Z, an ending  Z, links into a beginning S like here, has  

some, has some, it's likely that you'll drop  the Z to help link and just connect the S in.  

Has somebody, has somebody, has somebody.  So you don't need to try to make a Z,  

Zzz-- and then an S. Has somebody.  You can just connect them with an S.

Chandler has somebody--

I want to talk about her pronunciation of  somebody. So that's not what you'll see in a  

dictionary, she's giving that second syllable  stress. Somebody. The word is written in the  

dictionary with first syllable stress, somebody,  or, so this vowel can be AH or UH. Somebody,  

somebody, it can even be a schwa: somebody.  All three of those pronunciations work.  

Obviously you can get by with doing it with  second syllable stress because she does.  

But it's not the actual pronunciation. More  common to hear with first syllable stress,  

and I think this pronunciation is more  common, the UH as in butter: Somebody,  

somebody. But here she does the AH  as in father: somebody.

Somebody--

and Phoebe has somebody--

And Phoebe has somebody-- the  word and becomes: an an an an an.  

Just very fast, linked right  into the F sound for Phoebe.  

An an an an, and Phoe-- and Phoe--  and Phoebe-- Phoebe has somebody--

Same stress rather than: Phoebe has somebody.  It's Phoebe-- Phoe-- it's going up because she's  

listing things. Phoebe has somebody-- she does  the same pronunciation here, where she stresses  

the second syllable, and does the AH as in father  but more common would be first syllable stress,  

and the UH as I’m butter, somebody, but  she says somebody. Again, has linking,  

just drop that Z sound, put them  together quickly, Phoebe has somebody--

Phoebe has somebody--

I--

Somebody, I-- somebody, I-- A little bit  now, the pitch going back down on I, she  

links those two together and then puts a break,  very smooth connection between somebody and I.

Somebody, I--

thought I'd ask Fun Bobby.

Thought I’d ask, thought I’d ask. Do  you hear how the stress goes da-da-da.  

Thought I’d ask-- i'd, unstressed,  lower in pitch, said more quickly,  

thought, a little bit more length, there's  a flap T there linking those two words.  

Thought I’d, thought I’d, dadadadada, thought  I’d ask, thought I’d ask. Now the D here also  

comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds, the  AI sound of i’d, and the AH vowel of ask. So a D  

between two vowel or diphthongs is the same  as a T between two vowel or diphthongs,  

and it's a flap. Now here you're saying wait,  these are not vowel or diphthongs. That's true.  

But when we're talking about these rules, we're  talking about sounds, not letters. So thought,  

unvoiced TH, AW as in law, T. So now the T comes  between two vowel or diphthong sounds, that's why  

it's a flap T. So these flaps  will help you smooth this out.  

Thought I’d ask, dadadadad, because you don't  have to stop the air for that. Thought I’d ask.

I thought I’d ask,

Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby. Fun, so the adjective here, his  nickname, he's become known as not just Bobby, but  

Fun Bobby. You must have a pretty good  personality if your nickname is Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

So this is a yes no question. Yes no questions  also tend to go up in intonation. So it's  

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend,  Fun Bobby? We have these uh, uh,  

little glide down and then up in  pitch for our stressed syllables.

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby? 

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

Fun Bobby? Fun Bobby? It's  different than statement form:  

Fun Bobby, Fun Bobby. There, you're telling  somebody. But when you say it with intonation,  

Fun Bobby, you're asking somebody. Did I  hear that right? Did you say Fun Bobby?

Fun Bobby?

Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

Your ex-boyfriend, Your ex-boyfriend. The word  'your' gets reduced, doesn't it? It's not your,  

it's your, said quickly, your, your, your,  your ex, your ex, your ex. Your ex-boyfriend?

Your ex-boyfriend,

Fun Bobby?

Boyfriend, Fun Bobby? Boyfriend, Fun-- No, that's  not how we say that. It's very common to drop the  

D in this combination, N, D consonant.  And that's what he does. He doesn't say:  

boyfriend fun-- he says: boyfriend fun-- right  from the N into the F, smooth connection, no D.

Boyfriend, Fun--

boyfriend, Fun Bobby? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Statement, not asking, but  telling, answering. Yeah! Up down shape.

Yeah!

Okay, so on our no date evening--

Ross isn't too happy, so he's really stressing  a lot of words, isn't he? Okay, okay,  

second syllable stress, leading up to the  peak there on the diphthong. Okay. Okay.

Okay--

so on our no date evening--

So on our no date evening, and each one of  those words gets stressed. No date evening.

So on our no date evening--

So on our, so on our, these  words are less stressed, they  

glide together really smoothly,  don't they? So on our--

Sometimes, when people need to  link two vowel or diphthong sounds,  

they have a hard time with that. Feels too  sloppy, but we want that. No break in sound.  

On can be pronounced with AH as in  father, or AW as in law: so on--

It might help you to link if you think about  going through a W sound between those two.  

So on, so on, so on our-- then the N consonant  links right into the next word. So on our--

So on our--

I would say he's making that the AH as in father  vowel plus R. It can be reduced, it can be:  

er, er, so on our-- so on our-- but he's saying:  so on our, so on out. Very smoothly connected.

So on our--

no-date evening--

No-date evening-- with all of his stress,  he actually gives us a true T here in date.  

I hear that release. And by fully pronouncing  that T, he's making it feel even more stressed.  

No date evening. He's annoyed because they made  a pact, no one would bring a date, it would  

just be the six of them, and now, Chandler,  Phoebe, and Monica, are all bringing dates.

No date evening--

Let's look at the word evening. This  looks like it could be three syllables,  

evening, but it's not, eve-ning,  evening, first syllable stress, evening.

Evening--

three of you now--

Three of you now-- some stress on three, three  of you now, and it all links together smoothly,  

there are no breaks there. Three of  you now. Three of you now. Uhhh--

Three of you now--

See if you can do it that smoothly. Avoid the  temptation you may have to separate or more  

clearly pronounce your words. Three of you now.  This is a little bit tricky, it's the unvoiced TH,  

R cluster, thr, thr, thr, so the tongue  tip starts just through the teeth.  

Thr, then it pulls back into the  mouth, backing up just a little bit,  

it's still pretty far forward, but it's not  touching anything. Thr, thr, three of you now--

The word of, I would write that with the  schwa V. Three of, three of, three of you now.

Three of you now--

are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates. So there  was a little break there, but now,  

all of these words flow together really  smoothly. That's a thought group. A thought  

group is all of the words that flow  together very smoothly between breaks.

Are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates. Are going to have dates.

Dates, definitely the most stressed  word there. Are going to have,  

are going to have, are going to have, going  to of course reduces to 'gonna', so common.  

And the R consonant links right into  that G with no break. Are go-- are go--  

are going to-- are going to-- are going to--  are going to have, are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates.

Uh, four.

Uh, Uh, this is the thinking  vowel in American English.  

UH as in butter, very relaxed, neck, throat, uh,  Uh, four. Up down shape of stress, statement.

Uh, four.

In IPA, you'll see this with the AW as in  law vowel. When this vowel is followed by R,  

it's not pure, the R influences it, so it's  not AH, far, but it's AW, four, four. So  

the lips around a little bit more and the tongue  shifts back a bit more than for a pure AW vowel.

Four.

Four. Four.. Ross replies. Four. Up down shape.

Four.

Uh, Five.

Uh, Uh, Five. Rachel has to correct him. She also  has a date. Uh, Five. Up down shape of stress.

Uh, Five.

Five.

Five. Five. Again, quick up down shape. He's  not saying: Five? How could there be Five?  

But he's saying: Five. Statement.  Acknowledging that it's happening.

Five.

Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. By making her intonation  go up, her attitude sort of looks like  

not really sorry, right? She's not  saying: Sorry, Sorry, but: Sorry, Sorry.

Sorry.

Paolo's catching an earlier flight.

Paulo’s catching-- a little bit of stress on  the name, Paulo’s catching, more on the verb.  

Paolo is catching an earlier flight. So  we have quite a few stressed words there.

Paolo's catching an earlier flight. 

So the other syllables of our stressed words don't  have that stressed feel. Paulo’s, lo’s, lo’s, two  

unstressed syllables, lower in pitch. Paulo’s  catching an-- ching an-- the unstressed syllable  

there, linking into the article. Ching an--  ching an-- Lower in pitch, that's a valley  

compared to this peak. Catching an earlier--  two more unstressed syllables here in our stress  

words. They're also flatter in pitch and said more  quickly. Catching an earlier flight. And she does  

do a light true T release there. It's pretty  common to make a stop T in a case like that.

Paolo's catching an earlier flight. 

But everything links together really  smoothly, ending N consonant into the stressed  

syllable here. Er-- beginning with the UR as in  bird vowel, R consonant combination. Er, you don't  

need much jaw drop for that sound. Er, earlier,  an earlier, an earlier, an earlier flight.

An earlier flight.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. First syllable stress. This word can  go either way. Okay. It actually sounds kind of  

like he's making it a G. Okay, okay. You'll  definitely hear that every once in a while.

Okay.

So I'm going to be--

So I'm going to be-- Really quick, little break there.

So I'm going to be-- So I'm going to be-- He really stresses i'm-- So I'm going to be-- He's  

feeling really bad. There are six of them and now  he is the only one who will be alone. Going to,  

Gonna. Gonna be-- gonna be--  Everything really smoothly connected.

So I'm going to be--

the only one--

The only one-- Again, just a little lift here.  

He's breaking this out, and really  stressing it. The only one. The word the,  

pronounced here with the EE as in she vowel  because the next word begins with the diphthong.  

We do that when the next word begins with the  vowel or diphthong, at least that's the rule,  

but I have noticed we don't follow it that  closely. But here, he does. The only, the only.

The only--

one.

The only one. The only one.

The only one--

standing there alone when the ball drops?

When you listen to a fragment like this on a  loop, you really hear the rhythm of it, don't you?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Dadadadadadadadada. It really starts to sound and  feel like music. Standing there alone when the  

ball drops? Standing there alone-- so we can  really feel our stress. Standing there alone  

when the ball drops? Yes/no question so the pitch  goes up. Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops? 

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

If you think of it as a song,  as music, does it help you  

with the speed of it? Standing  there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

So our unstressed syllables: ding there a-- ding  

there a-- ding there a-- ding there a-- ding there  a-- have less mouth movement, so we can get them  

out more quickly. Ding there a-- ding there  a-- standing there alone when the ball drops?

When the, when the, when the,  when the, when the, when the.  

Say those as quickly and as simply  as you can. When the ball drops?

When the ball drops?

Ball drops? Let's talk about our L here. It's a  dark L and it's followed by a consonant so you  

don't need to lift your tongue tip for that.  Ball uhl uhl. That dark sound is made with  

the back part of the tongue, the tip doesn't  have to do anything. So don't move your tip.  

That will just slow things down. Keep  your tongue tip down. Ball drops?

Ball drops?

The DR cluster often gets turned  into what sounds like a JR,  

and I think that's what he's doing here:  jrrops-- instead of: drops, jjj-- drops.

Drops?

Oh, come on!

Oh, come on! Come on-- she let sort of a  popcorn, nasal quality come into her voice.  

Sort of showing sympathy, but  also kind of fake sympathy.

Oh, come on!

Oh, Oh, come on! Oh, come on! Two-word  phrase, stress on the first word,  

they link together smoothly, and the intonation  just falls down for the word on. Come on.

Oh, come on!

We'll have, we'll have a big party--

We'll have, we'll have-- so she repeats herself,  

We'll have, and as she gets more excited,  her intonation goes up, we'll have--

We'll have, we'll have--

Notice 'we will' is being pronounced: wuhl,  wuhl, I would write that with the schwa,  

wuhl, wuhl, wuhl, and that's a dark L, again, do  not lift your tongue tip. Takes too much time,  

it's an unstressed word said very quickly,  not necessary, it's just going to mess up  

the sound. Over here, too. Wuhl, wuhl,  wuhl, wuhl, we'll have, we'll have--

We'll have, we'll have--

a big party--

We'll have a big party-- we'll have a--  va-- The V sound links right into the  

schwa for a very smooth connection.  We'll have a big party. Big party.

We'll have a big party--

What do you notice about the T here?

Big party--

It looks like it's pronounced.  Party. Is that true?

Big party--

No, that's a flap T. So the rule for  flap T is it's a flap T if it comes  

between two vowel or diphthong sounds,  or if it comes after an R before a vowel  

or diphthong. And that's what we have here.  Party. Party. Rararara. Flap of the tongue.

Party--

and no one will know who's with who.

N- no one-- n- no one-- Again, she starts and restarts.  

Two N sounds: nnnn--- n- no one--

N- no one-- n- no one-- no  one will know who's with who.

No one will know who's with who. So we have  stress on no, no one will know who's with who.

No one will know who's with who. 

No one will know who's with who.

And this word starts to get cut  off because Ross starts talking.  

Actually, it's probably: who's with whom. You  can't hear it, but grammatically, that's correct.  

So this is the object that's why we put the  M. If you can replace who with the word he,  

then it's just who. If you can replace it with  the word him, then it's whom. Same with she or  

her. So does it make sense to say he's with her?  Yes, it does. Therefore, it's who's with whom.

No one will know who's with who.

No one will know who's with who.

So we have our stress on no and know,  different words, different spellings, but  

same pronunciation. N consonant, OH diphthong. No  one will-- now, how is the word will pronounced?

No one will know--

No one will know, no one will-- it's really like  just a contraction. I don't think you can get away  

with writing it like this, but in pronunciation,  definitely. No one will know who's with who.

No one will know who's with who. 

No one will know who's with who.

No one will know who's--

So the word who and whom, those both have a silent  W, written in IPA, H, U, the apostrophe S adds a  

light Z sound, who's, who's, who's with whom.  Whom in IPA. No one will know who's with whom.  

The word 'with' said quickly: with,  with, with, with. With whom, with whom.

No one will know who's with who. 

No one will know who's with who.

Let's listen to this whole  conversation one more time

Tell me something. What does the  phrase ‘no date pact’ mean to you? 

Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s just that Chandler,  has somebody, and Phoebe has somebody, I  

thought I’d asked Fun Bobby! Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend,  

Fun Bobby? Yeah! 

Okay, so on our no date evening, three  of you now are going to have dates. 

Uh, four. Four? 

Five. . Five. . 

Sorry! Paolo’s catching an earlier flight. Okay, so I’m going to be the only one  

standing there alone when the ball drops? Oh, come on! We’ll have, we’ll have a big  

party and no one will know who’s with whom.

Next week, we'll study the final scene in this  

four-part series. We're at the party counting  down to midnight. Here's the scene we'll study. 

In 20 seconds, it’ll be midnight. And the moment of joy is upon us. 

Looks like that no date pact thing worked out? Happy New Year! 

You know? I just thought I’d throw this out here,  

I’m no math whiz but I do believe there  are three girls and three guys right here. 

Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight. I can’t kiss anyone. 

So I’m kissing everyone? No. No. No. You can’t kiss Ross,  

that’s your brother. Oh yeah. 

Well perfect, perfect. So now  everybody’s going to kiss but me? 

All right, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me!  It’s midnight! Somebody kiss me! It’s midnight!  

If you didn't catch all that,  don't worry, you'll get the full  

in-depth analysis next week. So stick with me,  

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