How to Pronounce DEFINITELY -- American English -- Word of the Week

In this American English pronunciation video,

we're going to go over

the pronunciation of the word 'definitely'.

This week's Word of the Week is 'definitely'.

Thanks to Mr. Ramirez from Colombia

for the suggestion.

It's a four-syllable word

with stress on the first syllable.

Definitely, DA-da-da-da, definitely.

Whenever we have a longer word like this,

I think it's helpful to practice

the unstressed syllables together.

So at the moment, I'm actually going to start

with the second syllable, -fi-.

It begins with the F consonant

where the bottom lip will come up and

touch the bottom of the top front teeth. ff.

Then we have the schwa/N.

You don't really need

to try to make the schwa,

just go straight to the N.

For that the front part of the tongue has to

go to the roof of the mouth, fn, fn, -finit-.

Now we have the IH vowel and a Stop T.

The T is a stop

because the next sound is a consonant.

To make the IH vowel,

you release the tongue.

To make the Stop T,

you have to stop the air flow.

The tongue needs to be here,

at the roof of the mouth again for the L,

so just do a quick stop of the air with your

throat as your moving your tongue back up.

After it touches

the roof of the mouth for the L,

it has to come back

down again for the EE vowel.

So, the tongue has to go to the roof of the

mouth twice in these unstressed syllables.

But since these are all unstressed syllables,

we don't want to take too much time

with any of these sounds or positions,

and the mouth shouldn't move too much.

Practice them all together now:

-finitely. (fast and slow).

Practice these syllables together

and work on simplifying the movements.

That's one of the greatest challenges

for non-native speakers.

Now all we have to do to complete the word

is add the beginning, stressed syllable. De-.

It begins with the D sound.

The top front, flat part of the tongue

at the roof of the mouth,

and the teeth are together.

Allow a little bit of pressure to build,

then release by dropping the jaw and tongue.

For the EH vowel,

the jaw needs to drop quite a bit,

and the middle/front of the tongue will lift

towards the roof of the mouth a bit.

De-, def-.

Then you're moving into the F position.

Definitely. (fast and slow).

I'll definitely try to say it like that.

That's it, your Word of the Week.

Try it out yourself.

Make up a sentence with the word, record it,

and post it as a video response

to this video on YouTube.

I can't wait to watch it.

If there's a word

you find difficult to pronounce, suggest it

as a Word of the Week in the comments.

That's it, and thanks so much

for using Rachel's English.