Speaking English with the TV Show “Friends”! | How To Speak American English

I love sweater weather and the holidays. Today  we're studying English by analyzing a scene from  

the TV show Friends. What exactly makes American  English sound American? We'll look at the music  

of English what words might change in a full  sentence. First here's the scene we'll study. 

Hey, look at this. They’re lighting  the big Christmas tree tonight. Um,  

that paper's 2 weeks old. Alright who keeps leaving  

old newspapers in the in the trash? I really wanted to take Kathy to this. 

I can’t believe I missed it. Hey, you know at least you have somebody to miss  

that stuff with. Hate being alone this time of  year. Next thing you know, it will be Valentine’s  

Day then my birthday then bang! Before you  know it, they’re lighting that damn tree again. 

Let's study the music of speech together. I'm  Rachel and I've been teaching the American  

accent here on YouTube for over 15 years. Get  my free course, The Top Three Ways to Master  

the American Accent at Rachelsenglish.com/free. It  will give you some killer tips on speaking natural  

English. Now the analysis. Hey, look at this. 

Hey, hey. Pretty abrupt. Hey. But I still feel an  up down shape of stress there, the volume's pretty  

high. Hey, hey. And he sort of cuts it off. Hey.

Hey, 

look at this. Look at this. Look at this. One stress  

word there and it's the word this. look at this. 

Look and at, just lead up to it. Look at this.  This is really typical for American English. Words  

sort of glide together and sometimes sounds even  get dropped. Now let's look at what's happening to  

these sounds to make this phrase so smooth.

Look at this. 

So, the first thing I noticed is I'm looking for  the T here, look at this. And I find it's totally  

dropped. This is not normal for at, for at,  there's usually a stop T when it's followed by a  

consonant but here it's totally dropped. Look at.  I would write that as a schwa. Look at this, look  

at this. And the schwa is linking right into the  voiced TH. The word this then has the IH vowel and  

an S. This, this. And it has a curve up and down  because it's a stress word. This, this. So the  

word at just becomes a quick uh, uh, uh, which is  called the schwa and it links into the next word. 

Look at this.

If I go back to  

the word look, here I'm looking for a K.  Listening for a K, let's see what we hear. 

look at this. I hear that being turned into a g. 

Looga and that's sort of being  

used to link into the schwa. look at— 

look at this.

The o-o here makes the push vowel uh, uh,  

luh, luh, look at this. So all of those sounds  really melting together very smoothly to become  

this one single phrase. And even though it  sounds nothing like look at this. Everyone  

who is a native speaker would understand this  easily without trying hearing it just once. 

Look at this. Try it as well yourself  

now and to really go for that smoothness.  So listen to it three times and then say it. 

Look at this. They're lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. 

So now we have a pretty long sentence. They  are lighting the big Christmas tree tonight.  

And of course it's not pronounced that way at all  just like ‘look at this.’ It all Glides together  

smoothly, some sounds change. Some syllables are  longer and clearer, those are stressed and others  

are very minimal, very fast, quiet. Let's first  look for the stressed syllables in this phrase. 

They're lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. They're lighting. So I hear a little bit of length  

and up down shape of stress on the first  syllable of lighting. They're lighting. 

They're lighting— the big Christmas tree tonight. 

They're lighting the big Christmas tree tonight.  So basically wherever there's a change in pitch,  

Christmas tree tonight is where we have a  stressed syllable, it's a little bit long  

and it has a change in pitch. Usually, it goes up  and down like here, sometimes it goes down and up.  

But everything else is just falling away from that  stressed syllable or leading up to it. So here,  

there is there, there, there, there. Just starting  to curve up, head up for that peak of stress.  

They're lighting, they're lighting. Slow it down  and smooth it out. And then, as you practice it  

that way, you can really find the smoothness  in the connection. They are becomes they’re. 

they're lighting— They’re, they’re, they’re. So  

fast. Not they are, not they’re but they’re,  they’re. That's an unstressed word said very  

quickly. They're lighting. they're lighting— 

the big Christmas tree tonight. The second half of lighting is also very fast and  

quick just like this unstressed syllable. They’re  ligh-ting. Super minimal, low and pitch, quieter.  

Notice this is a flap T here, it's not lighting  but it's lighting, a flap of the tongue. Lighting.  

They're lighting, they're lighting. Try that. They're lighting— 

the big Christmas tree tonight. The big Christmas tree tonight. The  

big Christmas tree tonight. So just like they're  lighting, we have one peak of stress. This one,  

the phrase is a little bit longer so we have a  little bit more of a buildup, the big, and then  

this stressed syllable Chris-mas tree tonight. And  then four syllables falling away from that peak  

of stress. The big, the big. So these two words  say said very quickly, the big, the big, the big.  

Do you hear how it's sort of quiet, a little bit  mumbly? That's the way unstressed syllables might  

be in American English. The big, the big, the big  Chris. Then our stressed syllable, much clearer. 

the big Christmas tree— Christmas tree. Christmas tree.  

So the tea in Christmas, almost always dropped.  Christmas. Also make sure this is schwa mas, mas.  

It's not mas or mas but mus, mus. Christmas.  Christmas tree tonight. So the TR cluster tree,  

is very often pronounced as a CHR, tree and  that's what's happening here. Christmas tree.  

Christmas tree. So not only are the sounds  in American English important but the melody,  

the connection is very important. Christmas tree.  So as you imitate here, make sure you're also  

imitating the melody, Christmas tree. Christmas tree. 

This is something we really do in our Free  Mini Course, so follow the link in the video  

description to sign up for that Free Mini  Course you'll have some audio that will help  

you train and get this rhythmic contrast,  this melody, this music of English into  

your voice. This will make you easier to  understand when you're speaking English. 

Christmas tree— Tonight. 

Tonight or some people pronounce it tonight  but it should always be a schwa, T, T,  

tonight. Here the t is not a T but again, it's  a flap. Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight. And  

that first syllable as I said, schwa. It looks  like it should be to, tonight but it's tuh,  

tonight. Linked into a vowel, it's tonight, ruh,  ruh, flapping the T. Tree tonight, tree tonight,  

tree tonight. Really smooth, try that. tree tonight. 

And then it ends with a stop T so we  don't hear tonight. That would be a  

true T. That would be fully released, but  it's night, night, night. An abrupt stop. 

Tree tonight. Christmas tree tonight. 

So, one long phrase, two peaks of  stress, everything very smooth.  

Lots of words pronounced unclearly. With sounds  changing, a little bit mumbly, lower in volume,  

that's American English. That contrast of  clear and unclear, that is American English. 

Christmas tree tonight. Um, 

Um, um. Our thinking vowel in American  English is the UH vowel. Uh, um. 

Um, that paper's two weeks old. 

That paper's two weeks old. So again, two, up down  shapes of stress. That papers two weeks old. And  

the other words falling into the line. Let's look  at the pronunciation of the word ‘that’. That— 

Very fast, stop T, that, that papers, that  papers. So not that, but that, that. Twice as  

fast as you might want to make it. That papers.  The apostrophe S here, is the contraction is.  

That paper is two weeks old. That paper's two weeks old. 

Old, old. You might find as you're working with  the phrases as you're imitating that you don't  

want to have as much up down as she has, it  might feel strange but we need this. This  

change in pitch, this contrast is what makes  English really easy to understand, it's what  

makes it clear. So make sure you're not going  old, but you're going old. Just like she does. 

That paper's two weeks old. Alright all right all right this  

word said so quickly, just sort of a filler word.  Alright, alright. Little bit of an up down shape  

of stress on the second syllable, stop T very  abrupt, abrupt stop. Alright, alright. No L,  

I would think of that first syllable just being  the schwa, uh, uh, uh, alright, alright, alright. 

Alright, who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash? 

Who keeps leaving. Two up down  shapes of stress. Who keeps leaving. 

Who keeps leaving-- Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash? 

Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?  This phrase is interesting because we have two  

up down shapes of stress, so we know that's  a stress syllable. But this is a question,  

he's giving it the question intonation, which is  pitch going up at the end. And because of that,  

instead of being trash with an up down shape of  stress, it's trash with a down up shape of stress. 

in the trash? Newspapers and  

this stress syllable is also going down and up.  Newspapers. Because it's the second half it's  

heading toward the up shape of stress at the end.  Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash? 

Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash? When we have a question word like who, what, when,  

where, at the beginning of a question, those are  almost always stressed. Who. Who keeps leaving? 

Who keep keeps leaving— old newspapers in the trash? 

Now let's talk about the word old. It’s  said quickly, it's not stressed, old,  

old, old. I want to make sure you don't  lift your tongue tip for this L. This is a  

dark L, uhl, uhl, uhl. That dark sound is made  with the back of the tongue actually, not the  

front. The light L is made with the front of the  tongue. So keep your tongue tip down here. Uhl,  

and press the back of the tongue, down and back a  little bit. Try to shift it a little bit towards  

the back of your throat. Uhl, just the very back  of your tongue. Uhl, that will help get that dark  

sound. Old, old, old, old, old, old newspapers,  old newspapers. So it's not old but old, old,  

old. Unstressed, said pretty quickly. old 

old newspapers in the trash? Now, let's look at our last  

three words here: In the trash? ‘In the’ said very quickly not very  

clearly. In the, in the, in the, in the. Can you  do that quickly? In the, in the, in the trash? The  

trash is nice and long. In the trash? Also, the  TR cluster again here, CHR, just like in tree.  

How that becomes tree. Trash is way more commonly  pronounced. Trash with a CHR feel. Trash, trash. 

In the trash? I really wanted to take Kathy to this. 

I really wanted to take Kathy to this. Okay, we  have ‘to’, shapes of stress going up and down.  

I really wanted to take Kathy to this.  And everything else so, so smooth, just  

floating up or floating down. Now we've talked  about T's quite a bit. We had a stop T here,  

we had a T dropped in the word at on the previous  slide, we have the T turning into a CH sound. T is  

sort of an interesting sound, we change it a lot  in American English. Let's look at how these T's  

are pronounced we have 1, 2, 3, 4 T sounds. I really want to take Kathy to this. 

Wanted, wanted. No T there, totally dropped.  That's pretty common. The Ed-ending here adds  

an extra quick little syllable, id, id,  wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted. I would  

think of this vowel as the UH as in butter vowel.  Very relaxed, uh uh, wuh, wanted, wanted, wanted. 

I really wanted— Alright let's look at this T. 

I really want to take Kathy— I really wanted take. I mean, honestly,  

I almost don't hear this word wanted take I almost  just hear it going right into the word take but we  

can't think of this as being a quick schwa, so the  word to just like in the word tonight, you might  

want to pronounce this to but it's almost always  reduced to the schwa tuh, tuh, tonight. Now,  

when the sound before is a d like it is here,  it's pretty common to drop the T altogether and  

just link the schwa onto the D. Wanted to,  wanted to. I really wanted to, wanted to. 

I really wanted to take Kathy— Here the schwa is so, so fast. I  

almost don't even hear it. Wanted to take.  It's just a little bit sloppy right? Wan-,  

more clear but these two unstressed syllables,  just way less clear. Want to take Kathy— 

Take Kathy, take Kathy. So this T here  is a true T, tt, tt, tt, tt, where we get  

that crisp release and that's because it  starts a stressed syllable. A T followed  

by a vowel or diphthong that starts a stressed  syllable is always going to be a true T. Take. 

Take Kathy— to this. 

Kathy to this. Ka-, that's the A as in bat  vowel. Kathy, tongue tip through the teeth for  

this unvoiced TH. Kathy to. Now again, the word  to, not pronounced to. The vowel is the schwa and  

the T is actually a flap T, linking the ending e  vowel of Cathy into the schwa. Kathy to, Kathy to,  

Kathy to, to, to, Kathy to this. Kathy to this. 

I really wanted to take Kathy to  this. I can't believe I missed it. 

I can't believe I missed it. I can't  believe I missed it. Two peaks of stress  

there. I can't believe I missed it.  The IH vowel of missed is our biggest  

up down shape of stress. Now remember,  we want that pitch change mi-, not me,  

but more, mi-, missed it, I missed it. I can't believe I missed. 

The Ed ending in missed makes a T sound. Missed  it. And this T is a stop T, it's not released.  

That would be missed it. Tt, tt, but ending T's,  we almost always make those stop T's. I missed it. 

I missed it. I can't believe, 

So this T, also a stop. Little tiny  lift there. I can't believe, I can't,  

I can't believe. I can't believe-- 

I really wanted to take Kathy to  this. I can't believe I missed it. 

Hey, you know, at least you have  somebody to miss that stuff with. 

Hey, hey. Up down shape of stress as always. Hey,  a pitch change for our stressed syllables. Hey. 

Hey, you know, 

You know, you know, you know. Okay, so this  little two-word phrase, a filler phrase, pretty  

common in American English, said so quickly,  the first word you is often pronounced yuh,  

which is exactly what's happening here. You  know, you know, and it links right into the n  

consonant, you know, you know, so don't pronounce  that too clearly, you know but rather you know,  

you know, just sort of thrown out. You know. You know, 

at least you have somebody  to miss that stuff with. 

The word at in the phrase ‘at least’  would be pronounced at, at, schwa,  

stop T and I don't really hear it at all here.  At, at least. I pretty much just hear least  

so even though I know it's there because  grammatically that's what's correct, I don't  

really hear it. That's how much it's reduced. You know, at least— 

you have somebody to miss that stuff with. Have somebody to miss that stuff with. So our two  

verbs are our stressed words here. Everything else  is either leading up to or falling away from it. 

Have somebody to miss that stuff with. I'm trying to hear the T here,  

I think I would write that as a very,  very light true T. Least you, least you,  

least you. That's not too clear is it? Let me  write that. A little bit better. Got to be able  

to read my handwriting for it to be clear, right? But it's soft, it's not least, but it's least you,  

least you, least you, least you have. least you have— 

somebody to miss that stuff with. Have somebody to, have somebody to. So have,  

much longer, much clearer. Somebody to. Said  really quickly. Somebody to, somebody to,  

somebody to. And we don't have the pitch variation  right? Have, we have a lot of pitch variation.  

Up and down. Somebody to, unstressed,  much flatter. Somebody to. somebody to— 

And again the word to pronounced [flap], flap  T schwa. Somebody to, somebody to, somebody to. 

somebody to— miss that stuff with. 

Miss that stuff with. I'm going to say there's  a little bit of up down shape stress here as  

well. Miss that stuff with. So that stuff  flatter, not quite as loud, not quite as long  

as miss and with. And that ending TH, unvoiced,  tongue tip comes through. miss that stuff with. 

And we can see that in her mouth. We can  see her tongue tip come through the teeth. 

With. Miss that stuff with. 

That stuff, that stuff. Flat stop T,  not released. That stuff, that stuff. 

that stuff— that stuff with. 

Looking at this next phrase without having  listened to it yet, I'm just going to guess  

that ‘hate’ has a lot of stress. That word has  a lot of emotion in it, it's a strong word and  

I bet it has a bunch of up down shape. Hate being alone this time of year. 

Hate. Hate being alone this time of year.  Definitely, it's the loudest. I would say the  

pitch is the highest, has the most contrast. Hate.  Hate being alone. A little bit of stress there.  

This time of year, a little bit of stress there. Hate being alone this time of year. 

So here, I felt like she dropped the word at and  here I feel like she's dropping the word I. Hate  

being alone. We know it's there, we know it's what  she means grammatically but I don't hear it. Hate  

being alone. Now look at this, it's not hate  being alone. Even though the word is stressed,  

the T is still a stop T because the next  word begins with a consonant. Hate being,  

hate being. That little abrupt stop. Hate  being. That is the stop T. Hate being. 

Hate being— alone this time of year. 

Being alone this time of. Being alone this time  of, being alone this time of. Pretty different  

than hate, hate. So much more volume and emotion  in that word. Being alone this time of, being  

alone this time of. Much flatter in pitch.  Said much more quickly. Being a-, so the NG  

consonant links right into the schwa of alone.  Being alone this time of. This. Voiced TH,  

unstressed word though, tongue tip doesn't have  to come through. Lone this time of. The S links  

right into a light true T. The word of, time  of, becomes just the schwa, linking into the M.  

Time of, time of, time of year, time of year. being alone this time of year. 

This time of year, this time of year. And like we  said, a little bit of up down shape of stress on  

the word year. Now, year versus ear, this word can  be tricky especially for my Spanish speakers. Look  

it up here on YouTube, I have a video year versus  ear, that I hope will help you hear this Y-glide  

consonant sound in the word year. hate being alone 

this time of year. Hate being alone this time of year. 

Next thing you know it'll be Valentine's Day. Next thing it'll be Valentine's Day. Okay,  

so Val has so much stress she sort of holds on  to the beginning consonant a little bit. Vv,  

vv, that makes the stress even clearer. Next  thing you know it will be. Wow, all of those  

words said extremely quickly. Next thing you know it'll be— 

So the word next, said very unclearly. Next  thing you know. I hear the KS cluster of  

the X but that's kind of it. I hardly hear  the E vowel, don't really hear the N. The T  

would be dropped here because it's linking  into a word that begins with a consonant. 

Next thing you know-- You know becomes you, you know, you know,  

you know. Thing you know, thing you know, thing  you know. So the NG consonant of thing linking  

right into the Y schwa of you. Thing you, thing  you, thing you know, thing you know, thing you  

know. That links right into the N consonant for  the word no and it's flat unclear, thing you know,  

thing you know, thing you know, thing you know.  You have to simplify your mouth movements a lot to  

say it this quickly and that will help relax into  the sounds and let the placement be a little bit  

lower. Thing you know, thing you know. If you've  never heard the word placement, look up my video,  

actually I have a playlist on placement. That's  going to really help you out. That lower placement  

will help you sound more natural speaking English. Next thing you know— 

it'll be Valentine's Day. It will becomes it’ll, it’ll, it’ll,  

it’ll. So let me just write that out in IPA, the  International Phonetic Alphabet. IH as in sit,  

flap T schwa dark L. It’ll 

It’ll be— Valentine's Day, 

Valentine's Day. This is a true T.  This syllable has secondary stress.  

Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day, 

then my birthday, Then my birthday. Then my, unstressed,  

said very quickly. Then my, then my, then my,  then my birthday and then we have up down shape  

of stress on the first syllable of birthday. This  word is tricky, it's the IR vowel. Bir-, not bu,  

birth. And then again, that tricky unvoiced  TH. Tongue has to come through the teeth. 

Birthday. Birthday. So you want this up down  shape on the IR sound. Bir, bir, birthday. 

Birthday, then bang. 

I love this. Then bang. Then bang. So, we're  really seeing here the contrast between an  

unstressed syllable. Then, then, then, it's  flat, it's short, bang. Then this is much  

louder. Higher in pitch, up down shape of stress.  This would be written in IPA, B sound a vowel,  

NG consonant. But a gets changed by this ending  consonant and it's more like a, bang, bang. Bang. 

then bang. before you know it. 

Before you know it. Before you know it. We're  going down and then up here. Know it. Know is  

our stressed word. The word before, she she's sort  of dropping the first syllable. For you, for you,  

for you, for you. For you— 

Flat, simple, the word you, reduced. Just  like it was up here to you. It happens down  

here as well. You, for you, for you, for  you, for you know it. Know it. Those two  

words glide together very smoothly. We've got  the O diphthong gliding into the IH vowel,  

of course we have a stop T there. Know it. And you  can think of going through the glide consonant W  

to connect those two words. Know it. before you know it, 

they're lighting that damn tree again. They're lighting that, they're lighten  

that. Peak of stress on light. Now, she turns  the NG ending into just an N ending, lightin,  

lightin, lightin, making that a stop  T. Lightin, lightin, they're lighting. 

Before you know it, they're  lighting the damn tree again. 

They are, they’re, they’re, they’re, they’re.  Unstressed, low in pitch, they're lighting. 

They're lighting. that damn tree again. 

They're lighting that. They're  lighting that. The word that,  

just falls away from the stressed syllable. Ligh,  it's got a stop T, lighting that, lighting that. 

They're lighting that— damn tree again. 

Damn tree again. Now damn, definitely has stress,  our adjective. Damn tree again. And so does the  

noun, tree. Damn tree. Those are both longer,  they both have the UH shape of stress. Damn  

tree. The N in damn is silent, the TR becomes  a CHR. Damn tree again. And then the word again  

just falls away from the stress syllable tree.  Tree a-. So the word tree ends in the E vowel,  

the word again begins with a schwa. Tree  a-, and in order to connect these two words,  

you can think of going through the glide  consonant, the Y sound, tree again, tree again. 

damn tree again. So much smoothness here. We're  

really seeing the contrast and pitch. We're really  seeing the contrast in stressed syllables versus  

unstressed syllables. So many key pronunciations  to notice. All of these things come together to  

make the character of American English. These  things like the rhythm, the pitch, the change  

in louder and quieter syllables. These things are  actually more important than individual sounds for  

the overall feeling of American English. damn tree again. 

Let's listen to this whole  conversation one more time. 

Hey, look at this. They're lighting  the big Christmas tree tonight. Um,  

that paper's 2 weeks old. Alright, who keeps leaving  

old newspapers in the trash? I really wanted to take Kathy to  

this. I can't believe I missed it. Hey, you know, at least you have  

somebody to miss that stuff with. I  hate being alone this time of year. 

Next thing you know, it'll be Valentine's  Day, then my birthday, then bang. 

Before you know it, they're  lighting that damn tree again. 

Don't forget to visit rachelsenglish.com/free to  

get the Free Course, The Top Three Ways  to Master the American Accent. Keep your  

learning going now with this video and don't  forget to subscribe with notifications on,  

I love being your English teacher. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.