How to Pronounce WH Words -- what, why, which -- American English
109,561 views ・ 2015-02-04
Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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In this American English pronunciation video,
I’m going to discuss, with my Mom, the pronunciation
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of WH.
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I’ve gotten a couple questions about how
do you pronounce words that begin with WH.
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And I’ve brought my Mom here because she
pronounces it differently than I do. She does
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the perfect, in my opinion, old fashioned,
hw sound before the W. Whereas, I just make
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a clean W sound. So, for example, let’s
just say some words.
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>> Okay.
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>> Whale.
>> Whale.
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>> White.
>> White.
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>> What?
>> What?
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>> Why?
>> Why?
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>> While.
>> While.
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>> Such a perfect hw. So, either way, totally
acceptable. And Mom, you said sometimes you
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leave off the hw? Like for the word ‘whether’,
you said you don’t do it.
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>> Whether, W-H-E-T-H-E-R, I would say the
same as weather.
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>> Whether or not.
>> Yeah, whether or not, I would say the same
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as weather, clouds, rain, sleet.
>> Right.
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>> So, there I don’t say the WH.
>> Yeah.
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>> So either one is acceptable. Um, in my
opinion, why learn another sound, hw, when
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you don’t have to. Just make it a nice,
clean W sound. I also think that the way my
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Mom says it, white.
>> White.
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>> …is a little old fashioned. What do
you think. Do you agree with that?
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>> No.
>> Really?
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>> I don’t think it’s old-fashioned.
>> What do you think it is?
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>> I think it’s the way to say WH.
>> Oh. Its A way to say WH.
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Grammar note: when you say THE way, it means
there’s only one way. When you say A way,
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it means there is more than one way. Mom thinks
her way is the only way, the right way,
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but I know that both are acceptable pronunciations.
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Listen again to THE way and A way.
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>> What do you think it is?
>> I think it’s the way to say WH.
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>> Oh. Its A way to say WH.
>> Okay guys, so that’s my opinion on how
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to say WH words. If you’re going to say
it like me, which is a clean W sound, you
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just round the lips, ww, and start your word.
Thanks, Mom.
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>> You’re welcome, dear.
>> Alright guys, that’s it, and thanks so
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much for using Rachel’s English.
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