DO and DOES Reduction -- American English Pronunciation

479,945 views ・ 2015-04-07

Rachel's English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
In this American English pronunciation video,
0
1
3221
00:03
we’re going to study using DO and DOES as helping verbs,
1
3223
4094
00:07
and their pronunciation.
2
7318
1834
00:09
3
9153
6369
00:15
Do you know what a helping verb is?
4
15523
2238
00:17
It’s a verb that helps the main verb of the sentence
5
17762
3523
00:21
– so it’s not the main verb.
6
21286
2012
00:23
It’s an auxillary verb.
7
23299
1926
00:25
Let’s look at two examples:
8
25226
2015
00:27
I do it all the time.
9
27242
2154
00:29
What do you think?
10
29397
2190
00:31
In one sentence, ‘do’ is the main verb;
11
31588
2660
00:34
it’s the only verb.
12
34249
1793
00:36
In the other sentence, it’s the helping verb,
13
36043
2633
00:38
the auxiliary verb.
14
38677
1562
00:40
Which is which?
15
40240
2417
00:42
‘Think’ is a verb, it’s the main verb of that sentence.
16
42658
3960
00:46
So ‘do’ is the helping verb in the second sentence,
17
46619
4309
00:50
and the main verb in the first sentence.
18
50929
3681
00:54
What do you notice about the pronunciation?
19
54611
3412
00:58
In the first sentence, I pronounce it fully, do,
20
58024
3683
01:01
with the OO as in BOO vowel.
21
61708
2593
01:04
In the second sentence, it’s not as clear.
22
64302
2665
01:06
What do you think?
23
66968
1544
01:08
I reduce the vowel to the schwa, duh, duh.
24
68521
4215
01:12
I say it as fast as I can.
25
72737
2419
01:15
You might notice I’m dropping the T in ‘what’
26
75157
3213
01:18
and reducing the vowel in ‘you’ to the schwa as well:
27
78371
3512
01:21
what do you, what do you.
28
81884
1794
01:23
What do you think?
29
83679
1452
01:25
That makes the words in that phrase flow together,
30
85132
3156
01:28
just like we want in American English.
31
88289
3080
01:31
Content words are words we want to stress,
32
91370
3151
01:34
words we want to fully pronounce.
33
94522
2414
01:36
Verbs are content words, but helping verbs are not.
34
96937
4014
01:40
These are function words,
35
100952
1779
01:42
which are unstressed and sometimes reduced.
36
102732
3531
01:46
Duh, duh.
37
106264
1735
01:48
This same idea works with the word ‘does’.
38
108000
3515
01:51
Fully pronounced, ‘does’,
39
111516
1896
01:53
with the UH as in BUTTER vowel.
40
113413
2619
01:56
But when it’s a helping verb, it’s pronounced ‘diz’,
41
116033
4364
02:00
does, does.
42
120398
2722
02:03
Different, right? It’s less clear, very, very quick,
43
123121
4165
02:07
and we reduce the vowel to the schwa.
44
127287
2958
02:10
The jaw doesn’t really need to drop - 'does'.
45
130246
3893
02:14
She does accounting for the firm.
46
134140
2438
02:16
What does he need?
47
136579
1849
02:18
She does accounting, does, does.
48
138429
3294
02:21
It’s the only verb, fully pronounced.
49
141724
3102
02:24
She does, she does.
50
144827
2689
02:27
What does he need?
51
147517
1340
02:28
does, does, does.
52
148858
2093
02:30
Unstressed, very fast.
53
150952
2372
02:33
Need’ is the main verb here.
54
153325
2939
02:36
Does, does.
55
156265
1515
02:37
What does he, what does he.
56
157781
2467
02:40
Notice I’m dropping the H in ‘he’, as we often do.
57
160249
4023
02:44
What does he need?
58
164273
1775
02:46
Let’s listen to a few more sentences
59
166049
2069
02:48
with ‘does’ and ‘do’:
60
168119
2611
02:50
Why does it do that?
61
170731
1771
02:52
Which one sounds fully pronounced, ‘does’ or ‘do’?
62
172503
3808
02:56
Why does it do that? Why does, does, does.
63
176312
3752
03:00
That’s not fully pronounced.
64
180065
1772
03:01
Do that, do that.
65
181838
2796
03:04
‘Do’ is fully pronounced.
66
184635
1940
03:06
Do is the main verb,
67
186576
1653
03:08
and ‘does’ is the helping verb, does.
68
188230
4442
03:12
How do you feel?
69
192673
1657
03:14
Is ‘do’ fully pronounced?
70
194331
2571
03:16
How do you feel?
71
196903
1681
03:18
No. It’s reduced.
72
198585
2046
03:20
‘Feel’ is the main verb, and ‘do’ is the helping verb.
73
200632
4245
03:24
Did you notice that every time ‘do’ and ‘does’
74
204878
3358
03:28
were helping verbs, they were making questions?
75
208237
3332
03:31
And every time they were main verbs,
76
211570
2566
03:34
they were making statements.
77
214137
2218
03:36
Actually, they can be in a statement
78
216356
2060
03:38
as an auxiliary verb too,
79
218417
2056
03:40
but in those cases they are being added for emphasis,
80
220474
3227
03:43
and so they will be stressed.
81
223702
1586
03:45
For example: I do like them.
82
225289
3055
03:48
‘Like’ is the main verb,
83
228345
1651
03:49
but we add ‘do’ to add emphasis.
84
229997
3828
03:53
>> You don’t like them, do you?
85
233826
1696
03:55
>> I do! I do like them.
86
235523
3083
03:58
It does work.
87
238607
1845
04:00
‘Work’ is the main verb,
88
240453
1716
04:02
but we add ‘does’ for emphasis.
89
242170
2626
04:04
>> This thing doesn’t work.
90
244797
1863
04:06
>> It does work, you’re doing it wrong.
91
246661
3293
04:09
So, if ‘do’ or ‘does’ are in a question,
92
249955
3346
04:13
try to reduce them.
93
253302
1467
04:14
Link them to the words around them,
94
254770
2026
04:16
and make them really fast.
95
256797
2560
04:19
I hope this video has helped you understand
96
259358
2649
04:22
when and how you can use
97
262008
2563
04:24
‘do’ and ‘does’ as helping verbs.
98
264572
3180
04:27
If there’s a word or phrase you’d like help pronouncing,
99
267753
3288
04:31
please put it in the comments below.
100
271042
2380
04:33
Don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list
101
273423
2478
04:35
by clicking here or in the description below
102
275902
2778
04:38
to keep up with all of my latest videos
103
278681
2684
04:41
– it’s free.
104
281366
1546
04:42
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
105
282913
4612
04:47
106
287526
25474
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7