CAN or CAN'T? — Can YOU HEAR the difference?

Wel... that was pretty awkward wasn't it? What  you just witnessed is a huge challenge for most  

English learners and that is telling the very  subtle difference when Americans say "can"  

and "can't." Now, although  these words look pretty similar,  

you may have noticed that depending on how they  are used in a sentence their pronunciation can  

change quite a bit. So what you see and what  you hear are actually quite different. So as  

our goal here at RealLife English is to help you  to confidently understand anyone, we will first  

be recapping the difference in the pronunciation  between these two words before testing your  

listening skills, so that you never confuse  "can" and "can't" again. Are you ready? Let's go!

So the weak form of "can" is usually pronounced  with a schwa sound. This is the uh sound which  

is the most common sound in English. So instead of  saying a strong "can", we'll usually reduce it to  

kən. Let me give you some examples. I kən  ride a bike. He kən go for a walk later.  

Now we do this when can is not the main verb  in the sentence, it's an auxiliary verb and  

auxiliary verbs in their nature are usually  reduced. So it can even link on to other words  

in the sentence. For example if I say "I"  "can" I'll reduce it and connect it Ikuhn.  

Ikuhn. It almost sounds just like one word right.  Ikuhn ride a bike. Why don't you give it a try?

Now the strong form of "can" which  you are probably more familiar with  

from your English classes is  pronounced with a short a sound  

just like the word "and." So we have two  very similar sounds there can, and, can,  

and. So we pronounce that short a sound with  the mouth relaxed and just slightly open.  

So if you're comfortable doing that, then why  don't you try saying it with me? "Can", "can."

Awesome! Now you might be asking yourself: "When  do we use the reduced version and when do we use  

the fully pronounced version of can?" So  when should I say kən when should i say  

it fully as kæn? So you would use this fully  pronounced kæn when you want to give emphasis,  

for example. So if I'm wanting to reassure you:  "You can win the game" or "you kæn pass the test."  

We'll also use it for contrast situations. So for  example "he can't come to the party but she kæn."  

Finally if you see this word coming  at the end of a sentence, you would  

also pronounce it fully. So for  example "I don't know if i kæn."

By the way, if you could understand the difference  when natives say "can" and "can't" without any  

difficulty, you'd probably feel a lot more  confident, right? Well, every week we make  

English lessons to help learners just like you to  go from feeling like a lost and insecure English  

learner, to being a confident and natural English  speaker. Does that sound like something that  

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Now to practice your pronunciation of "can't",  you can do the exact same exercises before.  

Take the word canter which is kind of a way that's  between walking and running like a horse might do.  

And just drop that final "er" syllable. So  it's can't. And something to keep in mind,  

with "can't", not like "can", it never  reduces. You don't have that schwa sound there.  

So make sure that you're always  saying that with a strong æ sound:  

kænt. But what happens here that does seem to trip  up most of my students, is that they don't hear  

that final t sound. Now this is exactly right.  Americans tend to take that T and make it into a  

glottal t. What does this mean? This means that  instead of releasing the full sound, we cut it off  

in the back of our throats. And if this sound does  not exist in your native language, then you might  

not even hear it, so it just sounds the same as  saying a full "can", right? Let's look at a couple  

examples: "I can't understand what he's saying."  "The team can't progress into the next round."

Now usually we only pronounce that t sound  at the end of can't if it's at the end of a  

sentence or we want to clarify or add more  emphasis. So let's look at some examples.  

If some person asked "can I borrow  your car?" Then I could respond  

"I've told you 10 times, no you can't" or  similar to the example that we saw before,  

a place where I've gotten in trouble with my  students is when they say something in English  

and I couldn't understand what they said. And  so I said "sorry I can't understand." But what  

happens here is because we have that glottal t  and then it's followed by a vowel, they connect.  

So they think that I said "I can understand", when  I said "I can't understand." You can see how this  

can cause some confusion? For sure in my classes  right and so to avoid this problem altogether,  

I started using a "didn't catch that" instead of  "I can't understand you". In all English lessons  

anyways having good listening skills is  absolutely essential if you want to feel  

confident communicating in any language. And a big  problem that I've heard from English learners from  

all around the world, is that they just don't have  enough good opportunities to practice speaking  

English with other people. And that's why we  decided to go and solve this problem for you.  

Our RealLife App is the only place where anytime,  anywhere, you can simply press a button and be  

instantly connected to another English speaker in  another part of the world for a fun and dynamic  

English conversation. That's right, you can  have a fascinating conversation about your life,  

about that other person's culture, about your  shared hobbies or even just about the weather,  

if you want. And we know for a lot of you, you  know, that having a teacher can be a life-changing  

experience, but maybe you just simply can't  afford it. And that's exactly why we've made  

the RealLife App a free resource that you can use  to practice your speaking every day. Does that  

sound pretty good? Then why don't you download  it now by clicking up here or down description  

below or you can simply search for RealLife  English in Apple app or Google Play Store.

Alright so now that you've warmed up,  it's time to test your English listening  

skills. So this test has two parts, in  the first part you will see my face,  

so you'll be able to see me saying 10  different example sentences. For each one  

you need to determine whether I said "can" or  "can't" in the example. In the second part,  

you're not going to see my face, so this is  really great to challenge your listening skills.  

Just like you would need to do, for example,  if you have a phone call or maybe a Zoom  

meeting without any video. Alright, are  you ready? Then let's jump into the test

So the first example:

Excellent! How did you do? All Right! Are  you ready to step the challenge up a notch?  

So now you're not going to see my face, you're  just going to have to really trust your ears.

Ah yeah! Great job! How do you feel after that?  Don't worry too much if that was a big challenge  

for you. You can watch the lesson over and  over as many times as you want until you can  

effortlessly understand the difference between can  and can't. And if you need a little bit more help,  

then be sure that you don't miss this lesson that  we did that really focuses in on the pronunciation  

differences between can and can't. You can find  that by clicking up here or down the description  

below. And let's recap what we learned today about  the differences between can and can't. So can is  

often pronounced in the weak form with a schwa  sound kən and when we have another word before it  

then it often links like Ikuhn. The strong  form of can is pronounced with a short æ  

sound just like in man. There are three  types of cases where you'll see can used  

in the strong form. And that's for emphasis,  contrast or if it's at the end of a sentence.  

Can't doesn't have a weak form as it is always  stressed. So be sure to always pronounce it  

with a strong æ: kænt. However, we usually  don't pronounce that t at the end of can't  

either. We use a glottal t kæn. Finally you'll  probably only hear that t sound and can't fully  

pronounced if it comes at the end of a sentence  and the person wants to add a bit more emphasis.

Alright! I hope that you really  enjoyed learning with today's lesson.  

Why don't you send it over to a friend and  challenge them to see if they score as good  

as you did? And if you want to continue  your English learning journey with us,  

then be sure to subscribe and why  don't you check out this lesson next!