FAST ENGLISH: You CAN!

Today, we're taking a scene from TV. An episode of  

Friends. They're talking about  New Year's Eve and making a pact.

I say this year, no dates, we make  a pact, just the six of us, dinner.

We're going to study that conversation, actually,  four conversations, to learn some vocabulary  

words, idioms, but more importantly, to study the  rhythm of American English. How do Americans speak  

so fast? And why do they speak so fast? We'll  study reductions and you'll get fast English.  

Also, we'll have fun talking about the culture  of New Year's in the United States as we go.

I make new videos every Tuesday to help  you speak faster and more natural English,  

you'll even be watching TV without subtitles. If  you like this video, or you learn something new,  

please give it a thumbs up and subscribe with  notifications. I'd love to see you back here.

For the next four weeks, we're taking four  scenes, all from the same Friends episode,  

season 1 episode 10, all about their New Year's  eve pact. We're going to do an in-depth analysis  

of the pronunciation. Studying this way  is critical to understanding Americans  

and being easily understood yourself.  Here's the scene we'll study today.

Hey, do you guys know what  you're doing for New Year's? 

Wait, what? What is wrong with New Year's? Well, nothing for you. You have Paolo,  

you don't have to face the horrible pressures of  this holiday. Desperate scramble to find anything  

with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss  when the ball drops, man, I’m talking loud. 

Well, for your information, Paolo is  going to be in Rome this New Year so  

I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you. It's just that I’m sick of being a victim  

of this Dick Clark holiday. I say this year, no  dates, we make a pact. Just the six of us, dinner. 

You know, I was hoping for  a little more enthusiasm.

Next up is our in-depth analysis. When  we study like this, you can really start  

to see the give and take. Stressed and  unstressed, and the linking between words.  

These are the things that make up the  character, the feel of American English.  

But also, they're the very things that  make understanding English so hard  

if what you've learned is that each  word is separate and fully pronounced.

Hey, do you guys know what  you're doing for New Year's? 

We start with the word hey. But it's said  pretty quickly, it sort of has an abrupt stop.  

Hey. Hey. Hey. So it still has that up down  shape, but it doesn't go hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. 

Hey

So this word can be a greeting word, when you  see someone on the street that you know. Hey,  

how are you doing? Or you walk into  work and you see a co-worker there.  

Hey, how are you doing today? This is not being  used as a greeting here. They're already there.  

She probably greeted them when they walked in.  Here, it's being used a little bit differently,  

it's just to get their attention to announce  that she's about to say something. Hey. Hey. 

Hey,. Hey, do you guys know what  you're doing for New Year's? 

Then she asks her question. Do you guys  know what you're doing for New Year's? So  

more stress on you, do you guys know what  you're doing, also doing, for New Year's,  

and then the event, New Year's, compound word,  first word will get more stress, New Year's,  

like eyeball or basketball. It's the first  word of a compound word that is more stressed.

Do you guys know what you're doing for New Year's?  

And it's all extremely smooth. It's not do you  guys know what, but do you guys know what, do you  

guys know what. Knowing your stressed syllable can  help you smooth things out. There's no stopping,  

no breaks you just smoothly glide your energy  towards that stressed word. Do you guys know  

what you're doing. Do you guys know what you're  doing. See if you can imitate it that smoothly.  

It might feel unclear to you, but this  is what's natural in American English.

do you guys know what you're doing.

I would put a little bit of length on know  as well. Do you guys know what you're doing  

for New Year's? Know what you're, know what  you're. Do you know what's happening here? Do  

you hear that? It's not what you're,  but it's what you're, what you're--

do you guys know what you're doing--

When a word ends in a T and the next word  begins with Y, most commonly you or your,  

it's pretty common to make that final  T a CH instead. So it's not what  

you're, but what you're, what  you're, what you're, what you're.

And the word 'you're' reduces. It's not you're but  it's said very quickly: you're, you're, you're,  

you're. You can't make that quickly enough.  What you're, what you're, what you're doing.

What you're doing,

for New Year's?

And then we have another reduction: for New  Year's, for New Year's, it's not for, but: fur,  

fur, fur. And when we reduce it like we want to,  

we want to make sure that it glides really  smoothly, connects with no break into the  

next word. So it's not for New Year's,  but for New Year's, for New Year's,  

uuh. As if it's just another syllable in the  same word. For New Year's. For New Year's.

For New Year's?

It's so different speaking this way.  Most of my students have learned  

to make words separate, clearer, do you  guys know what you're doing for New Year's?  

But that's not at all how Americans speak, we  glide it together so smoothly. No breaks in sound.

Do you guys know what you're doing for New Year's?

New Year's is short for New Year's Eve, the  night before New Year's Day, when we celebrate.  

If we were going to talk about New  Year's Day, we would probably say  

all of that, if you hear just New Year's,  that means the night before New Year's day.

New Year's--

Gee! What?

Oh my gosh, guys. I almost forgot. I want to  let you know that in January, right here on this  

channel, I’m doing a 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge.  A new video every day for 30 days, we're learning  

words off the academic word list over 100 words,  with a download that includes quizzes to make  

sure you're really getting them. If you want to  officially join this challenge with me, and get  

the download, please follow the link in the video  description, or click the link right here in the  

card. Let's supercharge your vocabulary  in January. And now back to the analysis.

Gee! What? Big, up down shapes of stress there.  Gee! What? Her pitch is a little bit higher.  

She's surprised that question got this reaction.

Gee! What? 

The exclamation 'Gee!' the letter  G there makes the Jjj-- J sound.  

It's not gee, gee, with a  hard G, but jjj--- gee! Gee!

Gee!

What?

Gee! What? Really light release of the true T  there. It's not what, but what, super light.

What?

What is wrong with New Year's?

What is wrong with New Year's? And then she  starts laughing towards the end of her phrase.

What is wrong with New Year's? 

What, wrong, new, our three most stressed  words there. What is, I would say here the  

stress is going up, what is wrong with New  Year's? And then on new, it starts coming  

down. What is wrong with New Year's? Notice how  these two words link together? What is, what is,  

they link very smoothly with the flap T. When  a word ends in a vowel or diphthong plus T, and  

the next word begins a vowel or diphthong, that's  going to be a flap T to link: what is, what is.

What is

wrong with New Year's?

In the word wrong, the W is silent,  

and actually, in the word what, the H  is silent. Now, there is a pronunciation  

where there is a little escape of air. What,  what, but that's not very common anymore.

Now really we just do a clean W sound: what, what,  what is wrong? What is wrong with New Year's?

What is wrong with New Year's?

The word with, this word is unstressed. What  is wrong with New Year's? And the unvoiced TH  

here said so quickly, I almost don't even hear it.  With New Year's? With New Year's? With New Year's?  

It's almost as if it's dropped to help link  those words smoothly, and to help make this word  

'with' said very quickly, because it's unstressed,  and we want that contrast with the longer  

stressed words. Again, everything  links together very smoothly.

What is wrong with New Year's?

Well, nothing for you. You  have Paulo. You don't have  

to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.

Now he has a really long thought group here. I  would write it with several different periods  

to break it up into different sentences, when  he says it, he really doesn't take any breaks. He  

says the whole thing connected smoothly until he  gets to the end of holiday where he puts a break.

Well, nothing for you. You have Paulo. You don't have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.

Well, nothing for you. Well, said very quickly  and the word 'for' how was that pronounced?

Well, nothing for you. 

Nothing for, nothing for, it's  reduced, again, it's not for,  

it's for, and that's said quickly, it's  unstressed, it's lower in pitch. Nothing  

for, both of these syllables unstressed, coming  down from that peak of stress in 'noth--'

Now this is the letter O, it makes the UH  vowel like in love, butter, stuff. Nuh--nuh--  

nothing for, nothing for.

Nothing for,

you.

Nothing for you. You, stressing you, kind  of an up down, and then up again, you,  

that really brings those changes of pitch, really  brings stress to that word. Nothing for you.

Nothing for you,

You have Paolo.

You have Paolo. You have Paolo.

The peak of stress there, the stressed  syllable of her boyfriend's name Paolo,  

and then it falls down in pitch afterwards.  You and have, both go up towards that.  

You have, you have, you have. Do you notice  he's dropping the H there. That's a common  

reduction in the word have. You have, you  have, you have, you have, you have Paulo.

You have Paolo.

Linking and reductions. Such an important  part to sounding natural speaking English.  

You have Paolo. You have Paolo. You have Paolo.

You don't have to face the horrible pressures--

You don't have to face the horrible pressures-- Some stress on face, the adjective, horrible,  

and the noun, pressures. Both of  those have first syllable stress.

You don't have to face the horrible pressures.  

You don't have to-- now we have four words there  before our stressed word face. What do you think  

are they pronounced? You don't have to, you don't  have to. No, I doubt it. That's too clear isn't  

it? These are unstressed words. Let's listen  to how just those four words are pronounced.

You don't have to--

You don't have to-- you don't have to--  you don't have to-- you don't have to-- 

It's very different, isn't it? Linking together  very smoothly. You don't, I would say the T  

there is dropped, N apostrophe T. We have a  couple different pronunciations. It can be  

don't, with the true T, that's the least common.  It can be: don't have, don't have, with a stop T,  

that's common, but it can also be don't have,  don't have, with no T, that's also pretty common.  

Here, he's dropped the T completely, you don't  have to, don't have, the N goes right into the  

AA vowel of have, because guess what? He  also dropped the H just like he did here.

You don't have to--  

You don't have to-- You don't have to-- You don't have to--

The V very very week, the T certainly not a true T

You don't have to-- And it's a very week flap T then schwa for the word to.

So I'm going to say it slowly so we can hear it but of course it isn't the right pace.

don't have to-- don't have to--

but it's said much more quickly. Don't have to-- don't have to-- don't have to-- 

You don't have to-- You don't have to-- You don't have to--

You don't have to--

If everything was said that way,  Americans wouldn't be able to  

understand English, but it's funny, we can  say half of our words that way, but when  

we have our stressed syllables and our stress  words in there too, we understand everything.

You don't have to--

face the horrible pressures of--

Face, on the other hand, is quite clear.

Face the horrible,

Face the horrible, face the, face the, much  clearer than what we've just heard you don't have  

to. The word the, it's unstressed, it's a quick  little word linking these two stressed syllables.  

The the the the the. When we have  an unstressed word like this,  

where it begins with a voiced TH, the, this,  these, those, you don't have to bring the tongue  

tip through. The tongue tip can touch the backs  of the teeth, you don't want it at the roof of  

the mouth coming down, because that's going to  sound like a D, duh, but just touching the backs  

of the teeth, the the the the, straight ahead  in the back, the the the, face the horrible.

Face the horrible,

So the word horrible has first syllable  stress. I would pronounce it with the AW  

as in law, followed by R. That's the most common  pronunciation. When this vowel is followed by R,  

it's not pure, but it becomes ho-oh-oh-- horrible,  a little bit more lip rounding, and the tongue  

shifts back a little bit more. He's pronouncing  it with a vowel more like the AH vowel like in  

father, har har har horrible, horrible, but this  one's more common. Hor hor hor horrible, horrible.

Horrible,

pressures of this holiday.

Horrible pressures of this holiday.  

So we have stress on horr-- press--  hol-- also the first syllable of holiday.

Horrible pressures of this holiday.

Pressures of this, the unstressed  syllable of the word pressures, and  

the words of and this , are all unstressed, said  more quickly. Ssures of this, ssures of this.

Pressures of this--

holiday.

The word 'of', he's actually not  reducing that to just the schwa.  

He is making the v sound. Pressures  of this, of this. The word this  

rising up towards the peak of  stress in holiday. This holiday.

And notice the double S here in pressures is the  SH sound. Pressures. Pressures of this holiday.

Pressures of this holiday.

Don't separate your words out with gaps  and spaces. Link them together smoothly.

Pressures of this holiday.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips just  

so you can have somebody to kiss when  the ball drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Now, again another very long thought group.  This should be written as multiple sentences,  

but he doesn't stop, he just keeps his energy  going, linking word after word after word.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips just  

so you can have somebody to kiss when  the ball drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips-- Can you sense the stressed syllables there?  

Let's listen to just that on a loop three times. Desperate scramble to find anything with lips-- 

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips--

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips--

Those are our four stressed  words, stressed syllables.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips-- 

Let's talk about the first word: desperate. So  this is one of those words that can be pronounced  

as two syllables or three, just like family and  camera. Desperate. It's a little bit more common  

to just make it two syllables, so instead of  des-per-ate, it becomes desperate, desperate.

Desperate, desperate, desperate.

The first syllable ends in S, and the second  syllable has the PR cluster. Desperate.  

Desperate. First syllable stress there. Desperate  scramble. Now the T in desperate is a stop T,  

because the next word begins with a consonant.  So it's not desperate, but desperate,  

desperate scramble. That stop of air is  what signifies the T. Desperate scramble.

Desperate scramble. Desperate  scramble. Desperate scramble to find--

Desperate scramble to find-- scramble to find-- Before our next stressed syllable, anything,  

the EH as in bed vowel, we have unstressed  syllables, the second syllable of scramble,  

the word to, and the word find. They're all lower  in pitch, flatter. Scramble to find anything--

Scramble to-- ble to-- Do you  notice that's not a true T?  

That's a flap T. Scramble to-- The tongue just  flaps or taps against the roof of the mouth.  

It's said quickly, it's not the OO vowel, but  the schwa. Scramble to-- scramble to find.

Scramble to find--

And he doesn't really make a D here. I've played  it in slow motion, and I don't really hear any  

of that D sound. I certainly don't hear ddd-- a  released D. Let's listen to this in slow motion.

Find,

find anything with lips--

And he just keeps on going, doesn't he? He speaks  pretty quickly here, and it's not just the pacing  

but it's that there are no breaks,  that's what makes it harder to bring in,  

and it's part of his character, I’ve noticed  that Chandler does this a lot when he's speaking.  

He runs sentences together.

Find anything with lips.

Anything with lips. So the TH  in anything, that's unvoiced,  

the tongue tip does have to come through  the teeth for that. Anything with lips.

Anything with lips.

And the unvoiced TH in 'with' said very very  quickly: with lips, with lips, with lips.

With lips.

just so you can have somebody to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can have somebody--  just so you can have somebody to-- 

Wow a lot of words there that are less stressed  

and flatter before our next stressed  word 'kiss'. Kiss when the ball drops--

Just so you can have somebody  to kiss when the ball drops. 

Just so you can have somebody  to kiss when the ball drops. 

Just so you can have somebody  to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can have somebody to-- That's not how that's pronounced,  

we have some reductions, and it's  said very quickly. The word just,  

it's really common to drop that T when  the next word begins with the consonant.  

So these two words link together with an S. Just  so, just so, just so, just so, just so, just so.

Just so--

you can have  somebody to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can-- can can can.  The word can reduces. That schwa  

is said instead of the AA vowel, can becomes can.  Just so you can, just so you can, just you can,  

just so you can. The word so, it's that OH  diphthong, so, but it's not said that clearly,  

is it? It's not just so, but it's just so you  can, I think I would write that with the schwa.  

Just so you can, just so you can,  just so you can, just you can.

Just so you can--

So you can have somebody, so you can have,  so you can have, so you can have. I don't  

think I hear an H there. Again, dropping the  H in half, the N linking into the AA vowel. 

Can have, can have, can have, can have,  can have somebody, can have somebody,  

can have somebody. A little bit of  stress on our stressed syllable there.

So you can have somebody, so you can  have somebody, so you can have somebody.

Again, the letter O, makes the UH vowel like and  butter. Some, some, some, somebody, somebody,  

somebody. It's not some body. This word by  itself, body, but in the whole word, body.  

Body. Somebody. Somebo-- that's the  schwa. Somebody. Somebody. Somebody.

Somebody--

Now, the word to. How is it pronounced? 

Somebody to--

Somebody to-- body to-- The tongue flaps for  the D because it comes between two vowels and  

it flaps for the T. It actually sounds the  same. Flap T, flap D, they sound the same.  

Somebody to, somebody to, and  again, the vowel in 'to' reduces,  

it's the schwa, it's not the OO vowel.  Somebody to, somebody to, somebody to kiss.

Somebody to kiss--

when the ball drops.

Kiss when the ball drops. You can really  feel that shape of stress. Kiss when the--

When and the, lower in pitch, not stressed,  less important. Kiss when the ball drops.

Kiss when the ball drops. Kiss when the  ball drops. Kiss when the ball drops.

Ball drops. The DR cluster, you know, there's  a pronunciation that's more common than 

DR, and it's JR. Jr jr jr draw, draw, draw.  

So rather than draw, it's draw, you  can make a J sound there. Drops.

Ball drops. Ball drops. Ball  drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Man, I’m talking loud. Lots of  stress on man. Man, I’m talking loud.

A little bit on loud.

Man, I’m talking loud.

The word man, if you looked it up in the  dictionary, you would see the AA vowel,  

but it's not pure when it's followed by N.  

The back of the tongue relaxes, so it goes  through another sound, mauh-- uh uh uh uh--  

you can think of it as being the UH as  in butter vowel, or the schwa. Man, man,  

man, I’m talking loud. Man I’m talkin--

Talking. The L in this word is silent.

Man, I’m talking loud.

And rather than making an ING ending,  

He drops the NG and makes just an N.  Talkin, talkin, talkin loud, talkin loud.

Talkin loud.

The final D in loud is not released  like that. It's not loud, but it's loud.  

Tongue goes up into position, the vocal  cords vibrate, but it's unreleased.  

That's the most common pronunciation for  a D at the end of a thought group. Loud.

Loud. Loud. Loud.

Well, for your information.

Well, for your information. Here, Rachel slows  down and gets extra clear with her pronunciation,  

because Chandler's made an assumption about her  and it's wrong. He thinks that her boyfriend  

will be in town for New Year's, she won't have to  worry about being alone, so, but he's going to be  

out of town. So she slows down, she pronounces  things a little bit more carefully, because  

she's calling him out on his assumption. She's  saying you made an assumption, and it was wrong.

Well, for your information.

Well, well, well, this is just  like when she said: hey, hey.  

It's got a quick up down shape but it feels a  little abrupt. Well, well, now the for reduction,  

you know, it's unstressed, but I don't  know that I would write it with a schwa.  

Like I said she's being a little bit more  clear here than normal conversation. For your,  

for your, for your. I think I am hearing  more of that AW, R combination rather than:  

fer yer fer yer fer yer, which would be a little  bit more conversational, much more common would  

be the reduction. But she's being extra clear  here. She wants to set the record straight.

Well, for your information.

For your information. So a little bit of shape of  stress on your, and information. Notice we have  

FOR in this word, it's not information, it's  always information, it's always the schwa in the  

pronunciation. That's an unstressed syllable in  a word that may be stressed, but still unstressed  

syllables will be unstressed. Information.  --mation. TION, making the sounds SH, schwa, N.

For your information.

Paulo is going to be in Rome this New Year's.

Paolo is going to be in Rome this New  Year's. Paolo, stressed, is going to be in  

Rome, stressed, this New Year's,  she stresses new but it's going up,  

because she's going to keep  going, she's not done talking.

Paolo is going to be in Rome this New Year's.

What about 'is going to be'  in our unstressed words here? 

Is going to be in-- is going  to be in-- is going to be in--

Is going to be in--

Do you hear, when we listen to just those  unstressed words, how much they're on the same  

pitch, it's so different than our stressed words  that really have a change in pitch. Paolo, uh--  

is going to be in-- uhhh--

I love that about studying pronunciation.  Stressed syllables have a pitch change  

happening ,unstressed syllables tend to  have much less pitch change happening.  

Now, sometimes they're coming down  from a stress syllable, or leading  

up to a stressed syllable, but they don't  have a change of direction, and this set here,  

this set of unstressed words is so flat. Is going  to be, becomes: is gonna, is gonna, gonna, gonna.

Is gonna be in, be in, be in, be in,  linking together really smoothly, no break.

Is going to be in,

Rome this New Year's.

Rome this New Year's. This, said quickly.  

Rome this New Year's, and it's  going to be lower in pitch.

Rome this New Year's.

So I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.

So I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.  Just, pathet-- our stressed syllable of pathetic,  

and rest, are our most stressed words  there. Let's look at 'so I’ll be'.

So I’ll be--

So I’ll be-- so I’ll be--  so I’ll be-- so I’ll be--

Her pitch is pretty high here, it's a  little bit flatter, so I’ll be just--  

the energy going towards our stressed syllable  there. Just. This word is so often pronounced as  

'all' but I do hear it a little bit  more with that AI diphthong. I’ll,  

I’ll, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll. So I’ll be--  so I’ll be-- so I’ll be-- so I’ll be--

So I’ll be--

just as pathetic as the rest of you.

Just as pathetic-- just as--

So here we have an ST cluster. The next word  begins with a vowel, so you do link the T in.  

It's not 'as' though. She makes that a schwa.  The word as, often becomes uz, just as, just as.

Just as, just as, just as  pathetic as the rest of you.

Just as pathetic as-- again,  the word as becomes: uz uz uz 

uz, uz the uz the uz the. Lower in  pitch, two unstressed words here.

Just as pathetic as--

Now, our stress word, pathetic. The TH there is  unvoiced. Bring your tongue tip through the teeth.  

Then we have a letter T, it comes  between two vowels, that's a flap,  

not a true T but ra, a flap  T. Pathetic. Rarara, rerere.  

Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic as the rest of you.

Pathetic as the rest of you.

Rest of you. The word of reduces, of of of of of.  Schwa, said more quickly. Rest of you. And that  

T links into the vowel with a  light true T release. Rest of you.

The rest of you.

It's just that I’m sick of being a victim--

It's just that I’m sick of being a victim-- He's really angry here, isn't he? Sick of being a  

victim. He's holding on to that V a little bit  which brings more stress into that syllable.  

A victim is someone who's harmed by something  unpleasant. Or someone who's fooled by something,  

cheated by something, or someone. He  feels that he's a victim of this holiday.  

He's harmed by the expectations that you  bring a date on this holiday. It's too much  

pressure, and it makes his life  difficult at this time of year.

It's just that I’m sick of being a victim-- 

It's just that I’m-- said really quickly.

It's just that I’m--

I don't even really hear it 'it's'. It's more like  I’m hearing the sound starting with just, even  

though I know 'it's' belongs there grammatically.  Just that I’m, just that I’m, just that I’m,  

just that I’m. T dropped in just, vowel reduced  in that, it becomes the schwa, that that that,  

just that I’m, just that I’m. And the T that  links these two words together is a flap because  

it comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds.  Just that I’m, just that I’m, just that I’m.

Just that I’m--

sick of being a victim--

Sick of being a victim-- sick of being a-- Unstressed words, less clear, the word 'of' say  

that quickly with a schwa. Sick of being-- I’m not  really sure if I’m hearing a V. You can definitely  

get away with dropping it and just link that schwa  into the B sound. A being, a being, a being, a  

being a, being a. The letter A also just the schwa  in IPA. Being a, being a. Sick of being a victim.

Sick of being a victim--

of this Dick Clark--

Victim of this, of this, of this, of this--

Again, the word 'of' just the  schwa. Linking into the next word.  

In this case, the word this. Of this-- of this--  of this-- of this-- victim of this Dick Clark--

Victim of this Dick Clark-- 

Dick Clark. So we have two ending K's. He puts  a little break here, he does release that K.  

This sound, he doesn't. When the next word  begins with a consonant, and we have an ending K,  

it's pretty common to drop the release and just  stop the air by lifting the back of the tongue  

against the soft palate. That's  the position for K. Dick--  

but skipping that release of air.  Instead of the release of air,  

you just go into the next sound, in this case,  it's another K sound. Dick Clark. Dick Clark.

Dick Clark--

Dick Clark used to host a show every New  Year's Eve, televised from New York City,  

where there would be concerts, different bands  would play, I think there was a parade maybe,  

a lot of energy around times square,  lots of people gathered there. And  

then at midnight the ball would drop. So  Dick Clark was the TV host of this event.

Dick Clark--

holiday. I say this year, no dates--

Holiday. I say this year-- so again,  

he links the sentences together with  no break. Holiday. I say this year--

Holiday. I say this year--

Holiday I-- hol-- Stress on holiday.  Holiday. I say this year. I say this year.

Holiday. I say this year--

no dates--

This year-- this year-- No dates.  More stress on this and no.

This year, no dates--

we make a pact.

We make a pact. A pact is an agreement  that you enter into with other people.  

Or it could also be between two  companies, organizations, or countries.  

Make and pact, stressed. We  make a pact. The words we and a,  

unstressed, lower in pitch, we make a pact,  and everything does link together. We make a  

pact. The ending K here links into the schwa,  and he does do a full release of the KT cluster.

We make a pact.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Now let's listen to this next sentence.  I’m not going to tell you what the most  

stressed syllables are. I want you to  listen to it three times and you tell  

me what you think the most stressed syllables are.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Some stress on just. Just the six of us, dinner.  And then dinner. Even though just has some stress,  

the T is still dropped because it comes between  two consonants. And that's just so common. Just  

the six of us. The letter X makes the sounds KS  here. Six of us. Six of-- links right into the  

schwa of 'of' and I do hear the V. Six of us--  which links into the UH vowel for us. Six of us.

Six of us,

dinner.

Dinner. Dinner. First syllable  stress. DA-da. Dinner.

Dinner.

Sure!

Sure! Sure! Rachel gives a quick up down  shape high pitch, sure, sure. There are a  

couple different ways to pronounce this word. She  did it with the UR vowel R combination, like in  

bird. Ur ur ur. So it's really just two sounds  SH and R. Sure. Sh-rr. Sh-rr. Sure. Sure.

Sure!

You know, I was hoping for  a little more enthusiasm.

You know, you know, the word you, said so quickly,  you almost don't hear it. You know, you know,  

you know. In this phrase, it's really common  to reduce the word you to ya ya ya. You know,  

and stress is there on the verb. You know.

You know,

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.  

Enthusiasm. And actually, he  wasn't done there. He said:

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm than that. I didn't even write it down  because I didn't even notice at the beginning.  

It's so low in pitch, coming  down after the stress of  

enthu-- and then also other  people start cheering over it.

Enthusiasm than that.

Enthusiasm than that.

Enthusiasm than that.

I was-- these two words become: I was, I was,  

low in pitch, flatter, I would write was  with the schwa. Was, was, I was, I was.

I was--

I was-- I was-- I was-- I was hoping.

I was hoping.

I was hoping.

I was hoping.

Hoping. I’m having a hard time deciding,  I think he does change the NG to just N,  

but this is said so quickly, I almost can't  tell. Hoping for a little, hoping for a  

little. Definitely the word for becomes fur, the R  links into the schwa, for a, for a, for a, for a.

Hoping for a little,

more enthusiasm.

Hoping for a little more enthusiasm. So little  and more, also flatter. They don't really have  

the stressed shape that hopin' and enthusiasm  have. Little, little, little, rararararara.  

Do you hear that? It's a flap T.

That's because it comes between two vowels. Now  you're probably looking here and you're saying,  

wait, the L is a consonant, that's not a vowel.  

True. But we're talking not about the  letters here, but about the sounds,  

and in IPA, that ending is written schwa L. So now  you see the T sound does come between two vowels,  

therefore, it's a flap T. Little, little,  little, little more, little more, little more.

Little more,

enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm. The TH there is the unvoiced TH,  and the tongue tip does have to come through  

the teeth for that. Enthusiasm. Both of these  letters S make a Z sound. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm.

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

Hey, do you guys know what  you're doing for New Year's? 

Wait, what? What is wrong with New Year's? Well, nothing for you. You have Paolo,  

you don't have to face the horrible pressures of  this holiday. Desperate scramble to find anything  

with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss  when the ball drops, man, I’m talking loud. 

Well, for your information, Paolo is  going to be in Rome this New Year so  

I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you. It's just that I’m sick of being a victim  

of this Dick Clark holiday. I say this year, no  dates, we make a pact. Just the six of us, dinner. 

You know, I was hoping for  a little more enthusiasm.

So what happens with the pact? Next  week, we're going to study this scene.

I just want to be with him all  the time. You know, day and night,  

and night and day, and special occasions.

Wait a minute. Wait, I see where this is  going. You're going to ask him the New Year's,  

aren't you? You're going to break the  pact. She's going to break the pact. 

No. No. No. No. No. No. Yeah, could I just? 

Yeah, 'cause I already asked Janice. Come on! This was a pact! This was your pact! 

I snapped, okay? I couldn't  handle the pressure and I snapped. 

Yep, but Janice, that was like  the worst breakup in history. 

I’m not saying it was a good  idea. I’m saying I snapped.

If you didn't understand all that,  don't worry about it. We're going to  

do an in-depth analysis of it next week. But  needless to say, the pact has been broken.  

And it deteriorates further. This  is the third scene that we'll study.

Tell me something. What does the  phrase 'no date pact' mean to you? 

Look, I’m sorry, okay? It's just that  Chandler, has somebody, and Phoebe has  

somebody, I thought I'd asked fun Bobby! Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, fun Bobby? 

Yeah! Okay, so on our no date evening,  

three of you now are gonna have dates. Uh, four. 

Four? Five. 

Five. Sorry! Paolo's catching an earlier flight. 

Okay, so I’m gonna be the only one  standing there alone when the ball drops? 

Oh, come on! We'll have, we'll have a big  party and no one will know who's with whom.

Who's with whom. She got a  little cut off there. And  

we'll finish with a fourth  scene at the stroke of midnight.

In 20 seconds, it'll be midnight. And the moment of joy is upon us. 

Looks like that no date pact thing worked out? Happy New Year! 

You know, I just thought I’d throw this out here,  

I’m no math whiz but I do believe there  are three girls and three guys right here. 

Oh, I don't feel like kissing anyone tonight. I can't kiss anyone. 

So I’m kissing everyone? No. No. No. You can't kiss Ross,  

that's your brother. Oh yeah. 

Well perfect, perfect. So now  everybody's gonna kiss but me? 

All right, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me!  It's midnight! Somebody kiss me! It's midnight!

So stick with me. All of December,  we're learning English with TV.  

We're going to follow the pact and watch  how it falls apart, and you're going to  

improve your listening comprehension along the  way. If you love this kind of analysis video,  

I have over 150 that aren't on my YouTube channel,  in my online school Rachel's English Academy.

There's also audio that goes with each lesson  to help you train your imitation skills, and  

really change your habits, this kind of training  will transform your voice and your confidence.  

To sign up, visit rachelsenglishacademy.com

While you're waiting for next week's video  to drop, check out more of the videos on  

my YouTube channel, including this one. And  don't forget to subscribe with notifications.  

I make new videos on the English language  every Tuesday. And I don't want you to miss  

any in this awesome December 2020 series, where  we study four scenes from the Friends New Year's  

episode of season one. Okay guys, that's it,  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.