Do NOT say the T in N'T Contractions!

77,655 views ・ 2020-09-15

Rachel's English


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

00:00
Contractions.
0
0
1520
00:01
You can't sound natural speaking American English if you never use contractions.
1
1520
5120
00:06
We are out of bananas and milk.
2
6640
3220
00:09
We're out of bananas and milk.
3
9860
1800
00:11
We are out. That's not natural.
4
11660
2780
00:14
We're out! That's natural.
5
14440
2460
00:16
Today, we're going to work on accent training when it comes to contractions
6
16900
4140
00:21
and we're going to focus specifically on one kind: N apostrophe T contractions.
7
21040
5560
00:26
These are the ‘not’ contractions and there are a lot of them,
8
26600
3900
00:30
and three different ways to pronounce them.
9
30500
2220
00:32
Actually, four.
10
32720
1120
00:33
Do you know all of them?
11
33840
1560
00:35
We're going to go over everything to make sure you know the most natural pronunciations,
12
35400
5160
00:40
so as you learn English, you'll learn the best spoken English.
13
40560
3760
00:44
And then we'll quiz you to make sure you get it.
14
44320
2780
00:47
As always, if you like this video, or you learned something new,
15
47100
3380
00:50
please like and subscribe with notifications.
16
50480
3000
00:56
First, let me name all of the N apostrophe T contractions that we have in English,
17
56840
4640
01:01
then we'll go over all the different ways they can be pronounced.
18
61480
3580
01:05
We have: isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't, haven't, hasn't, hadn't,
19
65060
7240
01:12
won't, don't, didn't, doesn't, wouldn't, couldn't, shouldn't, and can't.
20
72300
8740
01:21
That's a lot, isn't it?
21
81040
1860
01:22
First we're going to take don't as our study word.
22
82900
4000
01:26
Do not. Don't.
23
86900
2220
01:29
Don't do that.
24
89120
1260
01:30
Don't say that.
25
90380
1340
01:31
Don't follow me.
26
91720
1320
01:33
Don't cry.
27
93040
1000
01:36
The pronunciation you probably learned for these words is: don't,
28
96360
4100
01:40
which is what I was just saying when I listed the words, don't, with a full T sound.
29
100460
5760
01:46
That's actually the least common pronunciation.
30
106220
3300
01:49
A more common pronunciation is what I did in those sample sentences, don't cry.
31
109520
5200
01:54
And that's a stop T. Don't. Don't. Don't cry.
32
114720
5120
01:59
It's not that it's dropped, that would be don--, but it's: don't, don't, that abrupt stop of air,
33
119840
8540
02:08
that signifies us the stop T, we just don't release it. Don't. Don't. Don't cry. Don't bother.
34
128380
9040
02:17
Let's go to Youglish and look at an example of the phrase: don't bother, with a stop T.
35
137420
5580
02:27
Don't bother. Don't bother.
36
147060
2860
02:29
Do you hear that stop? It's not: don't bother,
37
149920
3400
02:33
and it's also not: don bother. It's: don't bother.
38
153320
4560
02:44
We would never say it: don't bother, unless we were really exaggerating.
39
164600
5200
02:49
Don't bother.
40
169800
1940
02:51
It's a stop. Don't, don't, don't bother.
41
171740
4040
02:55
Let's look at: don't do.
42
175780
2360
03:00
Do you hear that stop T?
43
180040
2760
03:02
Don’t do-- So clear. Don't do.
44
182800
2380
03:10
Can you do that?
45
190080
1280
03:11
Can you stop the air? Don't do.
46
191360
3640
03:15
Don't do. Don't do it.
47
195000
2680
03:17
So the true T, almost never done.
48
197680
3060
03:20
The stop T, very common.
49
200740
2400
03:23
But you know what else is common?
50
203140
1740
03:24
Dropping the T sound completely. No T at all, no stop, just the N.
51
204880
6640
03:31
We already looked at don't bother with a stop T.
52
211520
4120
03:35
Now let's look at an example with a dropped T.
53
215640
3700
03:41
Don—bother. Right from the N to the B with no stop, no break, no T.
54
221300
7820
03:49
This is another common pronunciation.
55
229120
2360
03:56
Let's look at three examples of: ‘don't need’ with a stop T, and three with no T.
56
236500
6380
04:02
First, the stop T.
57
242880
1800
04:12
Now, with no T sound at all. A dropped T.
58
252820
3720
04:21
By the way, I’m going to the website Youglish here.
59
261480
3120
04:24
You can type in any phrase and get a lot of examples of places where these phrases pop up on YouTube.
60
264600
6120
04:30
When should you drop the N?
61
270720
2040
04:32
And when should you not drop the N?
62
272760
1960
04:34
You know, there are no rules here. You can do either one.
63
274720
3300
04:38
Whether the next sound is a consonant, don't mean, or don't mean, or a vowel, don't even, or don't even.
64
278020
10220
04:48
You'll hear examples of both.
65
288240
2740
04:50
Here are some phrases where I’m going to drop the T.
66
290980
3520
04:54
I don't even know.
67
294500
2000
04:58
I won't even be here.
68
298380
1580
04:59
Dropped T.
69
299960
1640
05:01
Another common pronunciation of N apostrophe T contractions.
70
301600
4600
05:06
That leaves us with one more pronunciation: CH.
71
306200
4440
05:10
When a word that ends in a T is followed by the word ‘you’ or ‘your’ or this ‘you’re’,
72
310640
5960
05:16
we sometimes make that T a CH sound when we link.
73
316600
4340
05:20
Don't you think so? Don't you, don't you, ch—
74
320940
4820
05:25
Do you hear that CH? Don't you?
75
325760
3880
05:29
The N is still there, but the T is now a CH sound.
76
329640
4240
05:33
Won't your boss be upset? Won't your— ch ch ch-- won't your—
77
333880
5080
05:52
Now, we're going to look at ‘don't you’ three ways:
78
352920
3180
05:56
with a CH, with a stop T, and dropped.
79
356100
3860
05:59
80
359960
13820
06:13
Now, we're going to quiz you.
81
373780
2340
06:16
The more you understand what you're hearing, not just the words, but
82
376120
4120
06:20
how the words are pronounced and used in a sentence,
83
380240
3060
06:23
the more natural you'll sound when you're speaking English.
84
383300
3440
06:26
So you'll hear a contraction, you'll figure out which of the four pronunciations you hear.
85
386740
5760
06:32
First, it'll be a little bit easier. You'll hear each example three times:
86
392500
4060
06:36
once at regular pace, once in slow motion,
87
396560
2940
06:39
and once again, at regular pace.
88
399500
2060
06:41
We'll go over the answers at the end of the video.
89
401560
3500
06:45
This is a 10-question quiz.
90
405060
2340
08:07
And now, a quiz that's a little tougher.
91
487420
2440
08:09
You'll hear each example twice but no slow motion version.
92
489860
4360
09:02
Now, let's check your answers.
93
542980
1740
09:04
You'll hear each segment five times with the answer on screen.
94
544720
3820
09:08
See if you can hear the right T pronunciation and hear how they're all different.
95
548540
4480
09:13
Maybe repeat out loud the last couple of times.
96
553020
3120
09:16
Try out these different pronunciations to sound more natural.
97
556140
5680
13:38
Now, a great exercise for you to do is take one of the words, and add one more word to it, like: isn't it?
98
818120
6840
13:44
Or isn't that? Then go to Youglish, plug it in, and just hit that next arrow over and over,
99
824960
6880
13:51
listening to 10, maybe 20 examples.
100
831840
2660
13:54
You'll notice a lot of stop T's, and a lot of dropped T's,
101
834500
3380
13:57
and it's a great way to get native-like pronunciations of these contractions.
102
837880
4540
14:02
Don't rely on what you learned before. What you learned was isn't, isn't, but it's isn't, stop T, that's right.
103
842420
11200
14:13
I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday here on YouTube,
104
853620
4260
14:17
all aimed at helping you sound more natural and be more confident speaking American English.
105
857880
5700
14:23
Please subscribe with notifications and keep your studies up right now with this next video.
106
863580
5860
14:29
Also check out my academy if you really want to focus step by step on improving your spoken English.
107
869440
5760
14:35
Rachel’s English Academy.
108
875200
1540
14:36
That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English!
109
876740
4580
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