English Pronunciation: Can vs Can't

Hi, everybody. My name is Esther. 

And in this video, we're going to talk  about how to use the word ‘can’ and ‘can't’. 

mmm, so first of all, let's talk  about the meaning of these words. 

‘can’ means you are able to do something. Maybe because you have the skill or maybe  

because your body allows you to do that thing. And ‘can't’ is the opposite, right. 

You can't do something. You're not able to do  

something because you don't have the skill or your body doesn't allow you to do it. 

Okay, let's move on to the pronunciation. How do we pronounce these words correctly? 

Now, I know it's not easy, but I know you if  you keep practicing, you're gonna get better. 

Believe me. So let's look at the first one. 

Now, this one actually sounds like a man's name. can 

can You'll notice,  

it sounds more like an ‘e’ than it does an ‘a’. Again, practice with me. 

can Now, this one is ‘can't’. 

If you look down here, I've  written the word ‘ant’. 

‘ant’, with the C in front. So practice with me: 

can't can't 

Yes, again: can 

can’t can 

can’t Okay, well let's see if  

you guys can put it in a sentence. I mmm do it. 

I can do it. I can do it. 

I can't do it. I can't do it. 

Let's do a couple more practices together. Okay, so let's start practicing  

with the word ‘can’ first. Here are some examples on the board. 

Let's start with the first one. I can swim. 

I can swim. I can swim. 

Make sure you guys are following along. Let's go on to the next one. 

The next one ‘eat’ right. And let's try it with ‘she’. 

She can eat. She can eat. 

She can eat. Okay, after that is ‘read’. 

And let's use ‘he’. He can read. 

He can read. He can read. 

After that is ‘drive’. And let's use ‘they’ with that one. 

They can drive. They can drive. 

They can drive. After that, ‘run’, right. 

‘we’ We can run. 

We can run. We can run. 

Okay, let's move on to ‘sing’. And let's do ‘you’. 

You can sing. You can sing. 

You can sing. Reminding you that,  

‘can’, okay it's pronounced ‘ken’. Let's go on to the next one, ‘dance’. 

And let's go back up to ‘I’. I can dance. 

I can dance. I can dance. 

And the last one ‘speak English’. Right, let's do that with ‘I’ as well because  

I know you want to be able to say this. I can speak English. 

I can speak English. I can speak English. 

Alright, let's move on to ‘can't’. Okay, so now we're going to practice with ‘can’t’. 

You can see I've only changed  this by putting a ‘t’ here. 

Changing ‘can’ to ‘can't’. So let's practice again. 

Make sure you guys are following after me. I can't swim. 

I can't swim. I can't swim. 

Let's move on to ‘eat’. She can't eat. 

Maybe she's full right. She can't eat. 

She can't eat. Next one is ‘read’. 

Let's do ‘he’. He can't read. 

He can't read. He can't read. 

After that is ‘drive’. And let's use ‘they’. 

They can't drive. They can't drive. 

They can't drive. Next one is ‘run’. 

Let's use ‘we’. We can't run. 

We can't run. We can't run. 

After that.. the next one is ‘sing’. 

Oh ‘you’. You can't sing. 

You can't sing. You can't sing. 

‘dance’ hmm, let's do ‘they’. 

They can't dance. They can't dance. 

They can't dance. And ‘speak English’. 

hmm, let's say ‘You can't speak English’. Well, that's what I'm here to help you with, 

but let's practice again. You can't speak English. 

You can't speak English, but again, that's something that  

we're gonna change as we keep practicing. Okay, and let's try a test now. 

Okay, so let's try a practice test together. It's not that hard. 

All you have to do is listen carefully. And as I read these sentences,  

you have to see if …. listen and see if I'm  

using one ‘can’ or two ‘can't’. All right, so I'll do this slowly. 

Let's try it together. The first one. 

Let's do ‘swim’. And let's use ‘I’. 

I can swim. I can swim. 

Which one do you think I used? Well, if you listen carefully,  

yes I use number one ‘can’. Let's go on to the next one, ‘eat’. 

And let's try ‘she’. She can eat. 

She can eat. Yes, I did number one again, ‘can’. 

After that is ‘read’. And let's use ‘he’. 

He can't read. He can't read. 

That was the second one, ‘can't’. How about ‘drive’. 

Let's use ‘he’ again. He can drive. 

He can drive. Yes, that was number one. 

He can drive. After that, ‘run’. 

Let's use ‘they’. They can't run. 

They can't run. Maybe they're too tired right. 

And I use number two. They can't run. 

Let's move on to the next one, ‘sing’. We can't sing. 

We can't sing. Yes, that was number two, ‘can't’. 

Next is ‘dance’. Let's do ‘dance’. 

Again, let's do ‘we’ again. We can't dance. 

We can't dance. Yes, again, I said, ‘can't’, number two. 

And the last one. You can speak English. 

You can speak English. Yes, the last one was ‘can’, number one. 

You can speak English. How did you guys do? 

Well, that's the end of our quiz. I know that it's difficult and it's  

gonna take a lot of time but you can do it. 

I'll see you guys next time. Bye.