How to Pronounce Negative Contractions

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

I don't, I didn't.

Let's talk about it.

One of the worst listening mistakes you can have is when you think someone said I have,

when really they said I haven't.

When you think they said yes, but really they said no, you could find yourself in a really

tough situation.

Or to use a lovely idiom, you could find yourself in a jam.

You might be surprised, but this happens a lot.

Today I want to help you pronounce accurately negative contractions.

A contraction is when we put two words together and put an apostrophe in the middle.

Usually it's a subject in a verb like these: I am becomes I'm, we have becomes we've, and

what is becomes what's.

Most positive contractions like these are pretty easy to hear, but negative contractions

are a little bit trickier.

Let's look at this sentence.

We weren't ready for the party.

We weren't ready for the party.

What letter do you not hear?

We weren't ready.

Weren't ready.

It's that final T. If I said it clearly we weren't ready, it would be pretty simple to

understand this because that T helps you to realize, "Oh, this is a negative contraction."

But I have some bad news.

In fast English, usually that final T is stopped short.

We call this a stop T. Listen carefully again.

We weren't ready.

My tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth.

It's trying to make the T sound, but no air comes out.

We weren't ready.

As we go through these contractions, I want to help you understand negative contractions

more clearly.

But do you know what?

Sometimes native speakers ask for clarification, too.

So for me, I might ask another native speaker, "Wait, did you say you were ready or you weren't

ready?"

Emphasizing that T. So if you need to ask for clarification in the middle of a conversation,

it is essential to know if someone is using a positive or negative sentence, so feel free

to ask them for clarification.

There are specifically two pronunciation rules that we're going to be talking about for negative

contractions, but I find it easiest to talk about the rules when we are already talking

about some examples.

So let's get started with the first negative contraction: is, isn't.

Is, isn't.

You could say isn't with a clear T, but in fast conversations, we're often going to cut

off that T and make it a stop t.

Let's look at these sentences.

My cat is playing.

My cat isn't playing.

Listen carefully for the difference here.

You're not going to hear a T sound, but there is a difference.

My cat is playing.

My cat isn't playing.

Did you hear a little vowel sound that was added in that second negative contraction,

isn't, isn't.

There's a little sound added between the S and the N.

This is called a schwa sounds, and it shows up a lot, all over English.

Isn't.

Isn't.

This is the first rule dealing with negative contractions.

A lot of words that have two consonants side-by-side, S and an N in this word, are going to have

a little added schwa sound, isn't, isn't, so you're going to have to train your ears

to listen carefully for that little added schwa sound.

Let's go to the next negative contraction, where you'll meet the second rule that will

help you to pronounce these negative contractions naturally: are, aren't, are, aren't.

Let's look at this sentence.

My cats are playing.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats are playing.

My cats aren't playing.

You could say my cats aren't playing with a clear T, but like I said, in fast conversation,

you're not going to hear that, so I want you to be able to train your ears to hear the

correct positive or negative word.

When I say that full negative sentence, listen for a quick pause or stop after the contraction.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats aren't playing.

That's because the word aren't with the clear T, that T is going to be a stop T. There's

no added schwa sound like in the first rule, but instead there's going to be a stop happening,

a slight pause before saying the next word.

Listen carefully.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats aren't playing.

There's a pause because my tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats aren't playing.

Now that we've mentioned these two rules for dealing with negative contractions, let's

go on to all of the negative contractions that you might encounter.

You'll be able to hear if it's the first role, which uses that added schwa sound, isn't,

isn't, or if it's simply a stop T with a little pause afterwards aren't, aren't.

Let's go to the list of negative contractions.

Was, wasn't, was wasn't.

My cat was playing.

My cat wasn't playing.

Can you guess which rule this contraction uses?

Wasn't.

Do you hear a little schwa sound added?

Wasn't.

In my throat, here.

Wasn't.

It's using that first rule because we're adding that slight schwa sound.

What I want you to do during lesson is I want you to try to say these sentences with me.

Try to say the positive sentence.

Try to say that negative sentence.

It's going to challenge your pronunciation muscles, but it will also help you to remember

how these are accurately pronounced because you're practicing it right now.

All right, let's go to the next one.

Were, weren't, were, weren't.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

Which rule is this negative contraction using?

Weren't, weren't.

It's using that second rule.

Just a stop T at the end.

If we used the first rule and we added a schwa sound, it would sound like my cats weren't

playing, and that is not natural.

We don't want to add a schwa sound if there shouldn't be one.

So this is a good chance for your mind to be immersed in all of these contractions and

remember the correct ones.

Say these sentences with me.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

Have, haven't.

Have, haven't.

My cats have played, my cats haven't played.

My cats have played, my cats haven't played.

Can you guess which rule this contraction uses?

It's the first one.

We added a little schwa sound.

Haven't.

Haven't.

Haven't.

Say that sentence with me.

My cats haven't played.

Has, hasn't, has, hasn't.

My cat has played.

My cat hasn't played.

My cat has played.

My cat hasn't played.

Which rule is this one using?

Hasn't.

Do you hear that little schwa sound added?

It's the first rule.

My cat hasn't played.

Say that with me.

My cat hasn't played.

Had, hadn't.

Had, hadn't.

My cat had played, my cat hadn't played.

My cat hadn't played.

Which rule is this?

It's that first one.

There's a little schwa sound added.

Listen carefully.

My cat hadn't.

My cat hadn't played.

Say it with me.

My cat hadn't played.

Do, don't.

Do, don't.

My cats do play.

My cats don't play.

Listen carefully.

My cats do play.

My cats don't play.

The difference is very slight.

Which role do you think is being used here?

Don't.

Don't.

Do you hear any added schwa sounds?

No.

This is going to be the second rule, which uses just the stop T. Don't.

My tongue is stopped at top of my mouth.

If we use that first rule, it would sound like don't or something that's not very natural.

So make sure that you just use the stop T. My cats don't play.

If you're curious about the grammar of that first positive sentence, my cats do play.

Why are there two verbs side by side?

One of them is do, one of them is play.

Is this correct grammar?

Yes, it is.

We often use do for emphasis, and if you'd like to see how you can use that in other

situations, I made a video about this.

Native speakers use it all the time.

You can check out that grammar lesson up here.

Does, doesn't, does, doesn't.

My cat does play often.

My cat doesn't play often.

Which rule is being used here?

My cat doesn't play often.

Do you hear that added schwa sound in my throat?

Doesn't.

Doesn't.

It's rule number one.

We're adding that little schwa sound.

Say it with me.

My cat doesn't play often.

And if you're curious, is it pronounced often or often?

I'm going to leave it a mystery.

You can check out this video I made up here, talking about which one of these is correct.

All right, let's go to the next contraction.

Did, didn't, did, didn't.

My cat did play.

My cat didn't play.

What is happening here?

My cat didn't play.

Which rule is being used here first?

Let's get that taken care of.

My cat didn't.

Do you hear my throat making that little schwa sound?

Didn't.

It's going to be rule number one.

Didn't.

But there's something else that's happening here.

That second D is going to be stopped short.

So it sounds like dih and then unh.

It seems quite strange when we slow it down like that, but it's completely natural to

say.

My cat didn't play.

My cat didn't play.

Can, can't, can, can't.

My cats can play.

My cats can't play.

My cats can play.

My cats can't play.

Which role is being used here?

Do you hear any added schwa sounds?

Can't.

Nope.

Instead, it's just that stop T at the end.

It's rule number two.

Can't.

Can't.

Say it with me.

My cats can't play.

If you tried to add a schwa sound can, it just sounds unnatural.

So make sure you say, my cats can't play.

Will, won't, will won't.

My cats will play.

My cats won't play.

This is the most simple because there's actually two different spellings, two different vowel

sounds that are happening here.

Listen for the vows.

My cats will play, that short I.

My cats will play.

Or in the negative contraction, my cats won't play.

There's still a stop T happening, so it's still using that second rule.

Won't.

We're not hearing that T. But because the vowel sound is different, it's a little bit

easier to understand that someone's using a negative word compared to a positive word.

Say it with me.

My cats won't play.

My cats won't play.

Could, couldn't, could, couldn't.

My cats could play.

My cats couldn't play.

Which rule is this?

We're adding a little schwa sound, rule number one.

Couldn't.

Couldn't.

Say it with me.

My cats couldn't play.

My cats couldn't play.

Would, wouldn't.

Would, wouldn't.

My cats would play.

My cats wouldn't play.

My cats would play.

My cats wouldn't play.

When we slow it down, it's a little bit awkward.

That's why we use this only for fast English, when we cut off the T at the end.

Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't play.

Which role is being used here?

Well, we're adding a little schwa sound.

Wouldn't.

You hear that?

Wouldn't.

My cats wouldn't play.

Should, shouldn't, should, shouldn't.

My cats should play.

My cats shouldn't play.

Shouldn't.

Which rule is this?

It's rule number one.

We're adding a little schwa sounds.

Say that negative sentence with me.

My cats shouldn't play.

My cats shouldn't play.

I don't know why they shouldn't play.

Maybe they had some surgery and need to recover.

My cats shouldn't play.

Whew.

That was a lot of contractions to practice.

Now let's review them together.

I've combined all of the negative contractions that use rule one together so your mouth gets

used to using that rule one.

And then I've combined all of the contractions that use rule two together.

What I'd like you to do is, I'm going to say each sentence twice, I want you to listen

the first time.

The second time, speak out loud with me.

Repeat.

Use your beautiful speaking muscles.

Let's do it.

My cat isn't playing.

My cat isn't playing.

My cat wasn't playing.

My cat wasn't playing.

My cats haven't played.

My cats haven't played.

My cat hasn't played.

My cat hasn't played.

My cats hadn't played.

My cats hadn't played.

My cat doesn't play often.

My cat doesn't play often.

My cats didn't play.

My cats didn't play.

My cats couldn't play.

My cats couldn't play.

My cats wouldn't play.

My cats wouldn't play.

My cats shouldn't play.

My cats shouldn't play.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats weren't playing, my cats weren't playing.

My cats don't play.

My cats don't play.

My cats can't play.

My cats can't play.

My cats won't play.

My cats won't play.

Great work.

We talked about my cats playing a lot today.

If you would like to continue practicing negative contractions, especially in real life conversations,

I invite you to check out the 30 day English listening challenge.

In this course, I will send you a short lesson every day for 30 days.

It should take you five to 10 minutes to complete, and you'll be able to hear natural negative

contractions and other vocabulary expressions that we use in daily life.

Hundreds of other English learners have already finished this course and loved it.

So I hope that you will, as well.

Click up here for some more information about how to become my student.

Now I have a question for you.

Let me know in the comments.

Can you make a sentence using one of these negative contractions?

Make sure that you read it out loud and exercise your pronunciation muscles.

Thank you so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for

a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to join the 30 Day English Listening Challenge.

You'll be on the right path to increasing your listening skills and understanding fast

English speakers.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

Thanks so much.

Bye.