TSUP!? - it's, what's, that's as TS: American English Pronunciation

In a recent video, I said, "I like that phrase, ts'a good one." I reduced the word "it's" to

simply the TS sound, ts, ts. There are two other words that can reduce to this sound.

In this video, you'll learn all about it.

First, let's watch the clip I mentioned in the intro.

>>I like that phrase. Ts'a good one.

It's a good one, it's a good one. You've probably noticed that native speakers will contract

"it is" and say "it's". So, that's the IH vowel and the TS cluster. But of course, as

I've just pointed out, we may also drop the vowel altogether, and leave it to just ts,

ts. "It is" becomes "it's" becomes "ts". Let's listen again.

Ts'a good one. [3x]

Other examples: it's alright, it's ok. What do you notice? It's alright, it's ok. The

TS sound links directly to the next word, there is no break, and that must happen if

we're going to reduce "it is" to "it's" or even "ts". Ts'okay. So, it's like the TS cluster

begins the next word. Or should I say, ts'like. Ts'like the TS cluster begins the next word.

Try it: ts'alright. ts'okay. ts'funny.

What else can be reduced to simply TS? "What is" becomes "what's", can become "ts". Take

for example the sentence, What's his name again? Ts'is name again? Notice how I'm dropping

the H in the word 'his'. This is a pretty common reduction. I've made a video on dropping

the H. So, this leaves us with 'iz' - the IH sound and the Z sound for the word 'his'.

Notice that the TS connects right up into that. Tsiz, tsiz, ts'is name again, ts'is

name again? Other examples: what's going on? ts'going, ts'going, ts'going on? Or, ts'up?

ts'up? I'm guessing you've heard that one before.

I said there were three words that could reduce to this. So what's the third? "That is" becomes

"that's", can become "ts". So, you might hear "That's nice" reduce to "ts'nice", ts'nice.

So if all three of these words can reduce to 'ts', how do you know which word it is?

Well, we're talking about function words here, they don't affect the meaning of a sentence,

so you don't need to worry about it.

Unless you have a very minimal accent, it's probably best to pronounce the contraction:

that's, it's, what's. However, it's good to know what's going on when you hear it. Or,

should I say, ts'good to know, ts'good to know what's going on.

Normally, I would say, "That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English". But do

you know what I'm going to say today?

Ts'it! And thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with

the IPA in this play list. Learn about the online courses I offer, or check out my latest

video.