English Conversation

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This January, you're getting five all new Ben Franklin videos

where we do a full analysis of real American English conversations.

Today's topic, dinner at a friend's house.

Let's get started with this analysis. First, the whole conversation.

The sauce is on the table. So we’ve got eggs and the rice.

And usually the som tum would, would have sticky rice with it,

but I couldn’t quite imagine eating this, with, without this kind of rice.

So I, we just went with it. Fluffy jasmine.

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

It’s definitely on point.

Now, the analysis.

The sauce is on the table. So we’ve got eggs and the rice.

The sauce is on the table.

What do you think are the two most stressed words there?

I hear ‘sauce’ and ‘table’.

The stressed syllable of ‘table’.

The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table.

The other word just said very quickly. The word 'the' pronounced with the schwa:

the— the— the— the— the—

Said really quickly, low in pitch, less clear. It's not ‘the’ but: the— the— the—

This is how we pronounce function words in conversation.

The less important words.

This provides contrast with the stress words

which we want to be clear and longer and have an up-down shape of stress intonation in the voice.

The sauce— the sauce— is on the— is on the—

The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table.

These three words linked together very quickly.

The ending Z sound links into the vowel: is— is on the—

the N consonant goes right into the TH sound with no break,

and again the word ‘the’ pronounced with the schwa very quickly.

Is on the— is on the— is on the—

So it's not: is on the— all of those are stressed and that's not right,

but it's: is on the— is on the— is on the— is on the—

A little mumbled, a little bit less clear, because they are function words.

‘Sauce’ and ‘table’, the two content words, are longer.

And all of the words and all of the sounds flow together smoothly with no jumps and pitch and no choppiness.

The sauce is on the table.

The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table. The sauce is on the table.

So we’ve got eggs and the rice.

So we’ve got eggs and the rice.

Okay, what is the most stressed there?

'Eggs’ and ‘rice’.

Both longer than the rest of the words.

So we've got the— So we've got the—

So we've got the— So we've got the— So we've got the—

So we've got the— So we've got the— So we've got the—

The vowel here is almost dropped, it's almost like we're just linking the S sound in.

So we've got the— so we've got the— so we've got the—

That helps to say this word more quickly in this string of words that are said so quickly.

So you've got the very quick V sound before the G

then we have a stop T.

So we don't say: got the— got the—

with a true T, but we say: got the— got the— got the—

where we stop the air really quickly in the throat.

This symbolizes the stop T.

The word ‘the’ here she pronounces it with the schwa.

The rule is that if the next word begins with a vowel sound, like this word,

that the E in 'the' is pronounced as the EE as in She sound. The— the— the—

But I’ve noticed that this is not a rule that Americans necessarily follow all the time.

The— the— the eggs— the eggs—

She says it with the schwa. It still sounds normal.

Nobody would hear that and think she mispronounced 'the'.

Eggs— Eggs— Eggs and the rice—

And the rice— and the rice—

‘And’ and ‘the’ between the two content words, we have two more function words which will be said more quickly.

The word ‘and’ is reduced: and the— and the— and the—

We drop the vowel, put it into the schwa vowel instead.

We drop the D altogether.

So schwa N. You don't need to try to make a schwa sound.

It just gets absorbed by the N. Just make the N.

Eggs and the— eggs and— eggs and— eggs and the rice— and the rice—

And the— and the— and the— and the— and the—

eggs and the rice— eggs and the rice— eggs and the rice—

Making this reduction helps us say this word really quickly and we want to do that because it's not

an important word, it's a function word. Those are less important.

The more important words are the content words

and we want the stressed syllable of the content words to be longer.

For example: rice— and the rice—

and the— and the— and the—

Those two words said much more faster than ‘rice’

where we take a little bit more time and we have the up-down shape of stress.

And the rice—

And the rice— And the rice— And the rice—

And usually the som tum would, would have sticky rice with it.

And usually— So here, she doesn't reduce the vowel. She keeps the full vowel but she does drop the D.

We almost never say the D unless we’re thinking or holding out the word 'and' for some reason.

Usually— us—

The stressed syllable there.

Usually the som tum would—

is the most stressed syllable of the sentence.

And usually—

usually— usually— usually—

Usually— So this word can be pronounced as four syllables: usually—

or more commonly, three syllables and that's what she does:

usually— usually— usually— usually—

Usually-- yoo--

So the JU as in Few diphthong stressed, usual—

The djz sound, schwa L, it's just a dark L sound. Usually—

And the ending IH vowel: usually— usually—

It's easier to pronounce this word as three syllables than four

so I suggest that you practice it this way and use this pronunciation: usually—

usually— usually— usually the som tum would have sticky rice with it.

The som tum— ‘The’ said quickly with the schwa,

then we have a couple words that are a little bit more stressed.

Of course this is not English, this is Thai, she's making a Thai dessert, I'm sorry a Thai salad here.

The word ‘would’, L is always silent.

Usually the som tum would have sticky rice with it—

would have sticky rice with it—

would have sticky rice with it—

So ‘stick’ the most stressed syllable there. Again, there's no L sound in the word ‘would’.

Would have— would have— would have sticky rice with it—

Would have— would have— would have sticky rice with it—

A Stop T at the end of ‘it’

so we stop the air in our throat: it- it- it- it-

and this abrupt end signifies the T.

Everything in this phrase is smoothly linked together.

The D goes right into the H sound.

She could have dropped to the H but she didn't. Would have— would have—

The V sounds smoothly right into the ST cluster,

the EE vowel right into the R, the S sound right next to the W.

Rice with— rice with—

And the ending TH links right into the beginning vowel IH: with it— with it— with it—

would have a sticky rice with it—

would have a sticky rice with it— would have a sticky rice with it— would have a sticky rice with it—

But I couldn’t quite imagine eating this—

But I couldn’t quite imagine eating this—

‘This’ the most stressed as she is pointing to something.

But I couldn't quite imagine eating this—

So she puts a little break here between ‘but’ and ‘I’.

If she didn't, she would have flapped the T: but I couldn't— but I— but I couldn't—

Since she doesn't, she puts a break separating these into two thought groups. We have a stop T: but I couldn't—

but I couldn't—

but I couldn't— but I couldn't— but I couldn’t quite imagine eating this

couldn't quite— couldn't quite—

You can link the ending N right into the K sound while dropping the T. Couldn't quite— couldn't quite—

Or you can make a little stop in your throat: couldn't quite— couldn't quite— to signify the T there.

Either one is okay, and just like with ‘would’, the L in ‘could’ is silent.

Both of these have the UH as in Push vowel. Would— could— couldn't--

but I couldn’t quite imagine eating this

but I couldn’t quite imagine eating this

Quite imagine— quite imagine— Here we have an ending T sound

linking into beginning vowel sound

and because the sound before the T was also a vowel or diphthong, it becomes a flap

which sounds like the D in American English.

It might sound like the R in your language, depending on the language.

Quite imagine— quite— The tongue just flaps once against the roof of the mouth:

Quite imagine—

Quite imagine— quite imagine— quite imagine eating this—

quiet imagine eating—

Another flap T here, because it comes between two vowel sounds. Eating— eating this--

Quite imagine eating this— Quite imagine eating this— Quite imagine eating this—

with, without this kind of rice.

with, without--

So she repeats herself, with,

she starts the word without, she pauses while she's thinking, then she says the full word: without— without—

Stop T at the end because the next word begins with a consonant.

This kind of rice—

‘This’ again, a little bit stressed because we're comparing. This—

This kind of rice with that kind of rice.

Because it's the word that we're using to compare: this, that, those, these.

It's a little stressed.

This kind of rice.

This kind of rice. This kind of rice. This kind of rice.

kind of rice. kind of rice.

The word ‘of’ often pronounced without a consonant but I do hear a light V sound here.

However, the word is said quickly: kind of rice— of- of- of- of-

It's a function word, it's not as important as the content words like ‘this’ and ‘rice’.

So it's a little bit more mumbled. It’s said very quickly.

Kind of rice.

Kind of rice. Kind of rice. Kind of rice.

Rice. Rice. Her intonation goes up a little bit at the end because she's going to keep going.

Making the intonation of her voice go up is a signal to us that she's not finished her sentence yet.

Rice. Rice. Rice.

So I, we. Just went with it.

So I, we. Just went with it.

So why-- she changes her mind, decides to say something different, we just went with it.

This is the end of her thought and at the end of her thought, her voice trails off a little bit

and we get a little bit less air in it.

So the last word sounds like this: went with it-- went with it--

We just went with it. We just went with it. We just went with it.

This is called a popcorn quality and it comes in a lot at the ends of phrases in American English.

So we just went with it.

Let's talk about the pronunciation of ‘we just went with it’.

We have an ST cluster followed by a consonant. In this case, we almost always drop the T sound. She does.

So instead of: just went— It's: just went— just went— just went—

Right from the S sound into the W sound.

We just went with it. We just went with it. We just went with it.

Went. Went with it. Went with it.

Stop sound, we have a nasal N sound which we stopped in the throat: went. Went. Went.

That signifies the stop T. With it.

Everything links together. T links into the IH vowel and we have another stop T because it's a T at the end of a phrase.

We just went with it.

We just went with it. We just went with it. We just went with it.

The phrase ‘to go with something’ means to go ahead with something, with an idea, or with the situation,

even if it's not what you originally imagined.

So she's saying this is not the kind of rice she would usually imagine with this dish,

but because of another dish, she decided to just go with it.

We just went with it, she says.

We just went with it.

It shows flexibility, being able to 'go with the flow', to use another idiom.

So if something comes up that's unplanned or unusual for you,

but you move forward anyway, then you can say: you know what? I'm just going to go with it.

Or in the past tense: I just went with it.

We just went with it. We just went with it. Fluffy jasmine.

Fluffy jasmine.

Now, someone else is talking in the background. It's a little hard to hear, but these are two two-syllable words

with stress on the first syllable. Fluffy jasmine.

Fluffy jasmine.

All linked together, all part of the same thought group where we have one steady line of intonation, of pitch.

Fluffy jasmine.

Nothing choppy, nothing broken up, this is important in American English.

Fluffy jasmine. Fluffy jasmine. Fluffy jasmine.

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

This is me speaking here behind the camera.

Everything is linked together. Again, we have that smooth intonation.

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

These are the three most stressed words.

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

‘What do you’ becomes: wha dya— wha dya— wha dya—

So I drop the T, linked the vowel into the D of ‘do’. Wha dya—

And I've reduced the vowel here to the schwa in all three of these words: what do ya—

This helps me say them more quickly.

They all link together. What do you—

What do you— Try that with me. What do you—

So it's definitely not: What do you—

That's way too well pronounced.

This is not how we pronounce function words like this.

Function words like these need to be lower in pitch, less clear, simplified mouth movements.

What do ya— what do ya— what do ya—

So that the stressed words pop out of the line more.

It is this difference, this contrast between the stressed words which are longer, clearer, louder, higher in pitch,

against these unstressed words.

It's this contrast that makes American English clear.

What do you think of the food?

What do you think of the food?

What do you think of the food?

What do you think of the food?

‘Of’ and ‘the’, two more function words together, said very quickly,

uh-- just the schwa, I don't pronounce the V sound at all,

‘the’ pronounced with the schwa: othe— othe— othe— othe—

It's not ‘of the’ but: othe—othe— othe—

This is how we pronounce this in conversation. Of the food—

What do you think of the food?

‘Think’ and ‘food’ both being clear and longer.

What do you think of the food?

What do you think of the food?

What do you think of the food?

It's definitely on point.

It's definitely on point.

'Def' and 'point'.

Most stressed words there, the word ‘it's’ is reduced, he doesn't really say a vowel,

he just makes the T S sound. It's definitely—

It's common to do this with the word: it's, that's, what's, and let's.

We just make the TS sound and attach it to the beginning of the next word.

It's definitely—

It’s definitely on point. It’s definitely on point. It’s definitely on point.

definitely— A little stop T in there: definitely—

because the next sound is a consonant. Definitely on point.

It’s definitely on point.

On point. And he doesn't really release the T. It's certainly not a true T.

On point. Point— nnnn---

A nasal N sound, little bit of an abrupt stop,

that's how we know it's a stop T. On point. On point.

This is an idiom. What does the phrase ‘on point’ mean?

It means perfect, really good, high-quality, excellent,

and I will say: I have this food and it was delicious.

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

The sauce is on the table. So we’ve got eggs and the rice.

And usually the som tum would, would have sticky rice with it,

but I couldn’t quite imagine eating this, with, without this kind of rice.

So I, we just went with it. Fluffy jasmine.

Ollie, what do you think of the food?

It’s definitely on point.

That analysis is really fun and helpful. Right?

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