THIS IS WHY IT’S SO DIFFICULT: How to Speak American English | Learn English with FRIENDS

I was recently enjoying a latte  in a little NYC coffee shop,  

and it reminded me of two iconic NYC coffee shops:

The Seinfeld coffee shop and the Friends coffee  

shop. So many pivotal scenes in both shows  happened in these coffee shops. So today,  

we’ll take a scene from Friends and  we’ll do a full analysis to help us  

understand the American accent better in  order to improve listening comprehension.

By the way, I said “So many pivotal scenes in  both shows happened in those coffee shops” – do  

you know what pivotal means? The definition  is: Being of vital or central importance;  

crucial. In other words, really important to the  story line, the development of the characters,  

and so on. Pivotal scenes. First,  this is the scene we’ll study today.

If I were omnipotent for a day,  I would want, um, world peace,  

no more hunger, good things for the rainforest.

And bigger boobs.

Well, so you took mine.

Chandler what about you?

Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day  I'd make myself omnipotent forever.

See, there's always one guy. If I had  a wish, I'd wish for three more wishes.

Now let’s do that full, in-depth analysis.

If I were omnipotent for a day, I would want, um,

When you're omnipotent it means you're  all powerful, we use this word with  

God for example. God is omnipotent so  now they're discussing what if I was.

If I were omnipotent for a day—

This is the subjunctive mood that is not  reality and that's why we're conjugating  

to be with were. I were. If I were I would  do this. Not reality but if Phoebe happens  

to be so lucky as to be omnipotent for  a day this is what she would do. If I  

were. If it's something that happened in  the past we would use was. For example,  

I was there. But if we were going to talk about  something that didn't happen then we would say,  

“If I were there, I would have said  something.” So that's the difference  

between was and were. Were is subjunctive so  they're all using the subjunctive mood here.

If I were omnipotent for a day,

I didn’t introduce myself. How rude! I’m  Rachel, and I’ve been teaching English and  

the American Accent here on Youtube for over  15 years. Check out RachelsEnglish.com/free  

to get my free course, The Top 3 Ways  to Master the American accent. You’ll  

start hearing the difference immediately  with this method. Back to the Analysis.

If were omnipotent for a day,

If I were omnipotent for a day. So we have  three stress words there. We have if I,  

I were omnipotent, nip, and in these  cases all of our stress syllables are  

going down then up. This is to show  that this is the first half of the  

phrase and she's going to add more to  it. If I were omnipotent for a day.

If I were omnipotent for a day,

She's saying om, om, like with the  a as in Father vowel. Omnipotent.

If I were omnipotent--

Omni. Our stressed syllable has the I as in  sit vowel then forget the O, forget the E,  

they're both schwa. Po-tent, potent, potent,  potent, potent, we want those to be said quickly  

the way that you can help yourself pronounce  a long multi-syllable word more easily is to  

really focus on stress. So break it up like  this. Um, that's unstressed. Low and pitch,  

fast, Om-ni, this one is stressed. In  this case, ni, it has a change in pitch,  

down and then up, longer, louder. Om-ni, and  then two unstress syllables. Potent, potent,  

and when you're practicing unstressed syllables  see how much you can simplify your mouth movement.

Omnipotent. If I were omnipotent for a  day, omnipotent, tent, tent. And she's  

doing a stop T here, not releasing the T  the T at the end. Omnipotent, nt, nt, nt.

If I were omnipotent--

You know what, it almost sounds like omnipotent,  omnipotent, doesn't it? She's making this more  

of a flap t, omnipotent [flap] the tongue  bouncing against the roof of the mouth.

If I were omnipotent--

If I were omnipotent for a day,

For a day, for a day. So we have two  unstressed words in a row and for is  

really reduced that's going to sound like  fr, fr, really just f r but in phonetics,  

in the International Phonetic Alphabet  we would write it schwa r, fr, fr, fr,  

but there's pretty much no vowel. The r takes  over the schwa fr, fr, fr, for a, for a. And  

the letter A, the article here is also just a  schwa. So it links together really smoothly,  

for a, for a, for a day, for day, for a  day. No breaks between our words here.

For a day,

I would want—

I would want. So two more stressed words  here and again, they have the down up shape,  

I would want and just like the NT  ending here she's not releasing the t,  

tt but it's want, want, want, nt, nt, nt with this  sort of abrupt stop at the end that's the stop T.

I would want--

I would want. The word would very fast. I  would, would want. When we compare it to  

the length of I and want, I would want. I  would write that phonetically w schwa d,  

there's no l sound in this word  and it's fast it's would, would,  

would, would, would would. And it's not  very loud. I would want, would, would.

I would want—

Um, world peace, no more hunger,  good things for the rainforest.

She's listing things so her stress is going up.  Our stress goes up for everything in a list until  

the last item, rainforest then we'll see here  if our intonation goes down. World peace and  

it's this change in pitch along with the length  that shows us that this is a stressed syllable,  

it's more clear. Now I know world is one of the  hardest words to pronounce. Let's look at the  

pronunciation W and then forget the vowel. It's  the r vowel consonant combination. ER, it's just  

one sound. Wer. Think of this word: were, were.  It's the same kind of sounds you want down here  

and the beginning of the word. Were, were, were,  were, were, were. Now, the tricky part also, it's  

not just the r but it's that dark L, world. This  dark sound is made with the back of the tongue,  

uhl, so you don't actually lift your tongue tip.  World. Your tongue presses down and back in the  

back but the tip touches behind the bottom front  teeth. World. so I'm moving the tongue tip down it  

was up for the R, I'm moving it down, world, then  I'm bringing it down and pressing the back of the  

tongue down and back. Now, it might be confusing  to think about that you might just want to focus  

on the sound and on imitating it. World. Try that.  World. World peace, and then a little light D on  

the end, not release, linking right into the  p sound. World, that's the D. World Peace.

World peace,

Peace, peace. Listen to just  that word in slow motion,  

you can really hear the shape of stress  and how the pitch is going up at the end.

Peace,

No more hunger,

No more hunger. Hunger, again she's making  a list it's not the last thing in the list  

so it goes hunger, it goes down up,  no more hunger, no and more these are  

less stressed they're kind of flatter, no  more hung, no more hung, no more hunger.

No more hunger,

Now the N here is actually part of the NG sound,  hung, so it's it's not pronounced like an N, it's  

pronounced ng, with the back of the tongue and  then we do get a hard G. Hunger, ger, ger, ger,  

that g releases into the schwa r ending, hunger.  I just might as well write out the whole IPA  

for this. it's the uh vowel, very neutral, very  relaxed in American English, Hu, hunger. Hunger.

Hunger,

Good things for the rainforest,

Good things. So she's going up here.  Good. This is the u vowel like in push,  

it's not ooh like in shu, but uh, uh, push.  Sugar. Good things for the rainforest. And  

then yes it's her last item in the list, she's  put a period and it does go down, rainforest.

Rainforest.

So we've got good things  for the, things for the pronounced  

more quickly those are not stressed and we do  have that reduction where for becomes fr, fr,  

fr, for the, for the, for the.  Not very clear, not very loud,  

pretty flat and pitch, for the, for  the, for the, for the rainforest.

For the rainforest.

and bigger boobs.

So three things for the world, one thing  for herself that she throws in at the end.

And bigger boobs.

And this is also a statement. And big, we have  stressed on our adjective, and bigger boobs,  

and stress on our noun. The word and,  the D is dropped and the, and, and,  

and, is just connecting up into that  stress syllable. And big, bigger boobs.

Here double O is the u vowel like in shu,  

here it's the u vowel like in push. so double  O can have a couple different pronunciations.  

The u vowel and the uh vowel, we  see both of those examples here.

And bigger boobs.

Boob here she's using the slang verb, the chest  of a female but it also means a stupid person a  

fool a dunce, or a mistake that someone  has made. So let's use it in a sentence.

What do you think of Professor Smith?

I think he's a total boob  and his classes are boring.

And bigger boobs.

Well,

Well, well. Well is one of these filler  words that isn't very clearly pronounced  

sometimes. Here I'm really just hearing L  I'm not hearing the W at all. Well, well.

Well,

See you took mine.

See you took mine. So we have two stressed  words in that phrase. See and you are just  

going up towards our first stress syllable.  See, you took mine. The word u is not fully  

pronounced. It's reduced, I would write that  with the Y consonant and the schwa vowel. A  

lot of our words in English, a lot of  our common words like you, like for,  

the vowel gets replaced with the schwa. See  you, see you, see you. See you took mine.

See, you took mine.

Took mine. These both have more length and an up  down shape of stress, a pitch change. See you,  

see you, see you. That is fast.  Now, we have another double O here,  

took. Which pronunciation is that? Took.  It's the uh vowel that we had in good.  

That's the same vowel we have in  push and sugar. Took, took mine.

Took mine.

Chandler what about you?

Chandler, Chandler. Questioning intonation,  first syllable stress, Chandler.

Chandler,

What about you?

What about you? What about you? So we have  one stress word then after Chandler and it's  

you. What and about said very quickly,  let's listen to just those two words.

What about—

What about you?

So they're flat and they're fast  and they're quieter compared to you,  

which has more volume and that up  down shape of stress.

What about—

What about you?

Question words like what, when, where, how,  why, usually in questions like this one,  

they're not stressed but in a statement  like “I don't care what you said.” There  

it's a statement I'm not asking a question.  In a statement then those question words are  

usually stressed but here in question  usually unstressed said very quickly.

What about you?

What about, what about, what about. So, we're  linking here with a flap t. What about, what  

about [flap]. What about, what about, what about,  what about. And he also does a stop T at the end,  

it's not what about with a true T but the sound  just abruptly stops. What about, what about, what  

about, that's our stop T. So, see if you can say  those words as quickly as I am, right now you're  

going to have to simplify your mouth movements.  Try it out. What about, what about, what about.

What about--

It's not very clear, is it? The  contrast of these less clear words  

with the more clear words like you is  an important part of American English.

What about—

What about you?

Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day, I’d,

Uh, if I were omnipotent for a  day. So he's thinking here with  

the thinking vowel that's the uh vowel  like in butter very relaxed. If I were  

omnipotent for a day. So again we have  I were, subjunctive mood not reality.

Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day I'd—

Omnipotent, omnipotent. I also hear this as a flap  to here. Omnipotent, omnipotent, omnipotent. Sort  

of a tricky word, focus on the stress. Dadadada.  It might help you to actually take the sounds out  

and just do it on nonsense sounds like da or ma.  Mamamama, dadadada, dadadada, helps you feel the  

stress. Omnipotent, omnipotent, omnipotent.  And again we have that stop T at the end.

So four syllables, second  syllable stress. Omnipotent.

Omnipotent—

for a day I’d—

For a day, for a day, for, not pronounced for but  pronounced fer. A, not pronounced a but pronounced  

uh. For a, for a, for a. Linked together,  very smooth. For a, for a, for a, for a day.

For a day,

Very short compared to day which has more length  more volume and a change in direction of pitch.

For day,

for day, I’d

Here we have I’d, I’d. So this is a contraction  of I would. When we're talking in the subjunctive  

mood and we're using if, then we're often using  would. If this thing that is not true was true  

then I would do this. But it's very common  to use would in a contraction I’d, I’d, I’d.

Day, I’d--

Day, I’d, day, I’d, and it links together from the  a diphthong of day right into the I diphthong of  

I and D, the D isn't released, it's just made  with the tongue up at the roof of the mouth,  

tip of the tongue at the roof of the mouth  and the vocal cords vibrating I’d, I’d, I’d.

Day, I’d--

Make myself omnipotent forever.

A few more stress words here. Make myself, make.  Any pitch change is a stress syllable. Make myself  

omnipotent forever. And then it's a statement  at the end with the intonation going down.

Make myself omnipotent forever.

Make myself, make myself, we don't really hear  K, the k release there. Make myself, make myself,  

that would be a little over pronounced, make  myself, make. So it sounds like there's no K  

there but actually the back of my tongue is  in position for the K and that cuts off the  

air every so quickly before I go into the M. Make  myself, make myself, and that's how we hear a K.

It's the same thing that happens with  the stop T. The air stops and that's  

why we hear that stop consonant. Make myself,  make, make. So it's not May. It's not long,  

there is an abrupt stop. That's what makes  us hear a K. Make myself, make myself.

Make myself—

Omnipotent.

Omnipotent. Omnipotent. Another flap  T and stop T at the end. If this is  

a tricky word for you you're going  to get a workout working with this  

dialogue because we hear it three  times. Omnipotent. Omnipotent.

Omnipotent—

Forever.

Forever. Forever. Two Rs there, make sure  you're not saying for ever, it's for, err,  

just the f schwa r. Fr, fr, fr, forever. So a  quick er at the end or I should say schwa R,  

a quick schwa R, let me say that  again. So a quick schwa R in our  

first syllable and in our last syllable.  Fer, ver, fer, ver. Forever. Forever.

Forever.

Forever. Up down shape of stress. When  you focus on that shape, I think it helps  

make the word easier to pronounce. Forever.  Really smoothly connect all of your sounds.

Forever.

See? There's always one guy.

See? See? Pitch going up,  questioning intonation it  

can also show like exasperation  like I can't believe this. See?

See? There's always one guy.

Three of our syllables in this  next phrase are stressed. Can  

you feel what they are when  you listen to it on a loop?

There's always one guy—

There’s always. There, I  feel that scoop in the voice.

There's always—

So that's our adverb there's always one. Longer,  and then guy. Also longer this time going down  

and pitch. There's always one guy. Notice the  z sound for the apostrophe of is is linking  

in here. Ending consonant links into beginning  vowel, that's one of the ways that we make our  

speech really smooth in English. There's  always, there's al, sal, there's always.

There's always one guy.

The word one here, it looks like it starts with a  

vowel but it actually starts with a w  sound. W, A as in butter n. One, one.

One—

one guy. If I had a wish—

If I had a wish. So she's using sort of a  funny voice here because she's pretending  

to quote that one guy. If I had a wish, wish, we  really hear that stretching up of the pitch. Wish,  

if I had a, these four words said  very quickly they're not stressed.

If I had a--

If I had a. Almost no vowel here, you could  probably just think of the F linking into  

the I diphthong. If I, if I, if I, if  I had a, if I had a, if I had a. The H  

is dropped. I had, linking right into  the a vowel then a flap linking into  

the schwa again. If I had a, if I had  a, if I had a, if I had a, if I had a.

If I had a—

What's up with Americans doing this  with English? Well it's the contrast  

between stressed and unstressed that actually  makes clear English, so in order to have that  

contrast you have to have some words that are  said very quickly. And it ends up being hard  

to understand on its own. But in a whole sentence  that contrast makes the whole sentence very clear.

If I had a wish—

I'd wish be three more wishes.

Again, we have the I’d contraction.  That’s short for I would, I’d, I’d,  

I’d, I’d wish, I'd wish, I'd wish. So  it's fast, it's not going to be stressed.

I’d wish—

So the pitch is all just coming down for our  scoop at three. I'd wish for, all going down.  

Three and then we have a change of direction  and as almost always we have this reduction,  

it's not four but it's for, wish for,  wish for, wish for, wish for, wish for.

I’d wish for three more wishes.

I’d wish for three more wishes.

She kind of stresses more as well that's  pretty clear. Three more wishes. Three  

more wi-- and then statement intonation  at the end going down. Three more wishes.

Three more wishes.

All longer than for example, for or one  very short word. For. Three more wishes.  

Three more wi-. These are all at least twice  as long as our tiny little reduction, for.

Three more wishes.

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

If I were omnipotent for a day,  I would want, um, world peace,  

no more hunger, good things for the rainforest.

And bigger boobs.

Well, so you took mine.

Chandler what about you?

Uh, if I were omnipotent for a day,  I'd make myself omnipotent forever.

See, there's always one guy. If I had  a wish, I'd wish for three more wishes.

Thanks so much for studying with  me, keep up your learning now with  

this video and don't forget to  subscribe with notifications on,  

I love being your English teacher. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.