Learn Fast, Connected Speech with Friends

hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from  englishfulltime.com today I have got such a fun  

video for you we are going to analyze an episode  of Friends different clips from the episode in  

order to study and learn fast connected speech  that native speakers use in real everyday life to  

improve your listening skills and your speaking  skills we're just gonna jump right into it the  

way this is going to work is I'm going to show you  the clip and then we're going to break it down and  

I'm going to analyze different parts of it so in  this episode Chandler and Rachel find a cheesecake  

that belongs to their neighbor basically it was  delivered to the wrong address they eat it and  

then there's this whole thing with the cheesecake  throughout the entire episode where you know they  

they love this cheesecake they end up eating and  or stealing another one uh and so we're just we're  

just gonna roll with it you're gonna see clips  about a cheesecake basically okay so here's the  

first one hi hey you've got to try this cheesecake  oh you know I'm not that much of a sweet tooth  

oh my God it's so creamy okay so Chandler  says you have got to try this cheesecake  

and there's a few things I want to talk to  you about here first you have notice that  

the H is almost undetectable you've got to try  this cheesecake you have got to try you huhv  

got and why does this happen this happens because  of the stress in the sentence the rhythm of the  

sentence so you is stressed you you huhv you huhv and have that A sound it gets reduced  

to you huhv you huhv got got to try and now  we have tuh try not to try tuh try tuh try you  

huhv got tuh try this cheesecake okay and this  cheesecake do you see how he puts emphasis on  

those words this cheesecake you have got to  try this cheesecake Rachel says you know I'm  

not that much of a sweet tooth yuh know yuh know  not you know yuh yuh yuh know yuh know I'm not  

that much of a sweet tooth oh you know I'm not  that much of a sweet tooth and then much of a is

muh chuh vuh muh chuh vuh muh chuh vuh and then she says  wow it's so creamy it's so creamy so creamy  

she cuts off the e sound of it's tso creamy let's  listen to this clip again with all of these things  

in mind hey you have got to try this cheesecake  oh you know I'm not that much of a sweet tooth  

oh my God it's so creamy by the way I forgot to  let you know earlier in this video that I created  

a really helpful document cheat sheet that you can  download that has everything we're going over in  

this video the dialogue from the clips as well  as all of the reductions we're focusing on the  

connected speech etc so you should download that  and follow along it'll be so much easier you don't  

have to take all these notes by hand you can just  print this out and then you can write directly on  

the document okay let's take a look at the next  clip oh my God that is the best cheesecake I've  

ever had where did you get this it was at the  front door when I got home somebody sent it to us  

Rachel says oh my God that is the best cheesecake  I've ever had where did you get this right I want  

to draw your attention to that is what's happening  to the T here because she says tha/diz the best  

cheesecake I've ever had right tha/diz tha/diz  tha/diz oh my god that is the best cheesecake I've ever had  

that Tat the end of that turning into a flap  and she's saying that is that is the T in English  

if you don't already know this there are like 10  different ways to pronounce the T in English Okay  

this is a letter that really confuses English  students because they see it and they think  

the T makes the T sound but it does not always  make the T sound and this is one of those cases  

hey okay big announcement if you love studying  American pronunciation with me and if you dream  

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it back to the video okay next Rachel says where  did you get this where did you get this so look  

at what happens here we're using a flap again  we can use a flat for the T or the D she says

where/did where/did where/did where/did /did  /did /did /did okay where/did and then she says  

djyou we have the D and then we have the Y and  sometimes when we connect them instead of creating  

the D Y sound it creates a Djyou sound so she could  have said where did you where did you get this but  

she doesn't she says where/did-djyou where/did-djyou where/did-djyou get this where did you get this now  

let's look at get this here we have a t that is  both a glottal stop and the held T she says geʔ 

this so she doesn't say get this she says geʔ  this so try that geʔ this where did you geʔ  

this where did you geʔ this it's like you hear  a little pause in between get and this where  

did you geʔ this and then of course Chandler says  it was at the front door when I got home somebody  

sent it to us it was at the front door it was  at it was at the front door when I got home  

when I got home when I got home and then he says  somebody sent it to us and here of course he's  

lying and that's why he's speaking so fast and  that's supposed to be the humor of it all and I  

want to point out this T wow we have a lot of  Ts in this lesson he says somebody sent right  

sent he doesn't say sent he says se nit se nit because the T in American English after an N  

sometimes disappears sometimes we  just drop it like in the word inernet  

I often don't say internet I say iner inernet  inernet or the center of something I might say  

the center or the cener the cener okay so a T  after an N sometimes just disappears so he says  

somebody se nit to us se nit to us somebody  sent it to us when you're listening to TV shows  

and you're going oh my gosh I didn't hear the  thing I was supposed to hear realize that maybe  

it's because that thing is not there right I've  had students actually this is so crazy one of my  

students in our Accent Freedom Program I think  it was the very first round she confessed to me  

and to everybody that one time she got her ears  checked because she was so distraught over the  

fact that she could not understand TV shows or she  was like expecting sounds to be there that just  

weren't there and she thought something was wrong  with her hearing and the thing is it's often not  

you it's just the way the language is spoken but  maybe you've never been taught that this is what  

people are doing so you're expecting the language  to be a certain way when you hear it but it's not  

and that's confusing so anyhow I'm glad all of  these T examples are coming up in this lesson  

because now you can realize like hey you can trust  your ears more is what I'm trying to say than  

what you're probably trusting them at this moment  okay let's look at the next clip I feel terrible  

I'm a horrible horrible horrible person well I'm  sorry what all right so here Chandler says I feel  

terrible I am a horrible horrible horrible  person and the reason why I wanted to share  

this clip it's actually not about the connected  speech which is you know what we're focusing on  

in this lesson it's about the way he says horrible  because in my accent I would say I am a hor-uh-bol  

hor-uh-bol hor-uh-bol person but he doesn't say hor he  says har I am a har-uh-bol har-uh-bol har-uh-bol person  

I'm a horrible horrible horrible person this is  simply to point out that even native speakers  

even from the same country speak differently okay  so there's not one right way to speak and this is  

something we talk about in the Accent Freedom  Program extensively and actually show you how  

to do it you can build your own unique accent you  can learn what is sort of acceptable and correct  

and what you know what people will expect from  an English speaker what sounds they will expect  

and then you can learn how to play with them  and sound the way you want to sound and also  

I'm teaching this because I just want you to be  aware that things are said differently and again  

there's not one right way to say something you can  play around with it so Chandler says a horrible  

horrible horrible and I say hor-uh-bol hor-uh-bol so  he says har and I say hor I say hor that's funny okay sorry  

moving on let's watch the next clip you know what  forget it we are just hungry we have not had lunch  

we are just light-headed so let us go out and have  lunch and forget about the cheesecake yeah we'll  

drop it off downstairs so that we're not tempted  good idea where do you want to go to lunch Mama's  

Little Bakery Chicago Illinois so Chandler says  you know what forget it we are just hungry we  

have not had lunch we are just light-headed so  let us go out and have lunch and forget about  

the cheesecake Rachel says yeah we'll drop it  off downstairs so we're not tempted he says a  

good idea where do you want to go to lunch okay  so we have a lot of little things to break down  

here first of all let's just look quickly at the  way he's emphasizing words I'm sure you've heard  

that in English we contract words together a  lot like we are can get contracted to we're  

let us that can be let's usually when we're not  emphasizing these word pairs we just contract them  

and we say them together like instead of saying  let us we say let's instead of saying we are we  

say were but here he is separating them why is he  separating them because he's emphasizing what he's  

saying in the sentence okay he's being a little  bit more dramatic he's saying we are just hungry  

that's a lot different from just saying we're  just hungry we're just hungry no he's like we  

are just hungry we have not had lunch we are just  lightheaded so let us go out right he could have  

said so let's go out but that's more casual that's  like there's no emphasis there so he's separating  

all his words and he's saying them individually  to create that emphasis and to communicate his  

ideas the way he wants to communicate them and the  reason why I want to bring your attention to this  

is because when you hear an English rule like oh  native speakers they use contractions I don't want  

you to think like we always use contractions and  you have to always use contractions because there  

are no hard fast rules in communication there  are things people have tendencies to do right  

like we have a tendency to contract our words but  sometimes if we're wanting to emphasize something  

or be a little bit more dramatic when we speak we  might pull all of those contractions apart and say  

every single word so just be aware of that and  again feel that freedom to play around with the  

language when you are communicating and don't feel  like oh native speakers do this so I have to do it  

like this okay all right so let's look at forget  it when you read this word you read for get it  

right you think that T is a strong T it's not it's  ferge/diʔ e/diʔ e/diʔ e/diʔ it's a flap ferge/diʔ so  

we have two T's one is a flap and one is a glottal  stop ferge/diʔ ferge/diʔ and then I'm not saying  

for I'm saying fer fer ferge/diʔ ferge/diʔ ferge/diʔ and then later on when he says so let us go out  

and have lunch and forget about the cheesecake  right he's creating those little pauses and  

there again he says fergeʔ fergeʔ and forget about  the cheesecake so you should practice this script  

like print it out highlight these little things  things see what your mouth has a tendency to want  

to pronounce like how it wants to pronounce and  then try to pronounce these words the way that  

I'm showing you and see if you can work on that to  make it feel and sound more natural okay then when  

Rachel says yeah and we'll drop it off downstairs  I want to zoom in your attention to this wol  

okay it's we will it's contracted to we'll but we  don't usually say we'll we say wol wol okay but  

we say it so quickly because we're not focusing  on that word in the sentence we're gonna stress  

whatever comes after it right so she says yeah and  wol drop it off drop it off drop it off yeah and  

wol and wol and wol see it goes by really  fast we're not saying we'll we're saying wol yeah  

and we'll drop it off we'll drop it off downstairs  so that we're not tempted and that we're we are  

becomes we're but again in fast connected speech  it reduces down to were like where were they?  

right where were they? yeah and we'll drop it  off downstairs drop it off downstairs so that  

we're not tempted were were were not tempted  yeah we'll drop it off downstairs so that we're  

not tempted then then Chandler says where duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch where duh yuh  wanna go/duh

lunch now see how fast he said that right because  everything's connected where do you  want to go to  

lunch it's not where do you want to go to lunch if  you try to speak and say everything so perfectly  

like that it's going to be really hard to get it  out of your mouth quickly let me try where do you  

want to go to to lunch I can't do it or do you  want to go to lunch like it just doesn't sound or  

feel natural we reduce a lot of the sounds to uh  uh uh the schwa uh okay where to where duh where duh  

yuh where duh yuh where duh yuh where duh yuh where duh  yuh say instead of where do you we say where duh yuh

wanna instead of want to we say wanna and then  go/duh go/duh lunch where duh yuh  wanna go/duh

lunch where duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch where duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch practice saying that  

because your tongue in order to say it like that  your tongue has to be very relaxed in your mouth  

because it's going ..... so where do you want to  go to lunch we can also slow it down too if that  

feels too fast so where duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch where duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch where  

duh yuh  wanna go/duh lunch say it slower if that  gives you more control and then as you get better  

you can say it faster but do not sacrifice clarity  for speed okay this means make sure you're clear  

don't try to go fast if you're still losing your  clarity you can use this rhythm and intonation  

the where do you want to go to lunch but you can  slow down the speed you will still sound natural  

but you'll maintain your clarity okay let's take  a look at the next clip well thank you for lunch  

wait a minute I didn't pay I thought you paid  so apparently we just don't pay for food anymore

so here Chandler says well thank you for lunch  Rachel says what wait a minute I didn't pay I  

thought you paid and then Chandler says so  apparently we just don't pay for food anymore  

okay so let's look at a few things here Chandler  says thank you for lunch for for lunch is getting  

reduced down to fer fer Okay but if I just say fer  by itself like that it sounds weird well thank you  

for lunch that's the way that we say the word in  connected speech thank you fer lunch thank you  

fer lunch try that thank you fer lunch and then  Rachel says what wey/da minutʔ wey/da minutʔ wey/da

wey/da wey/da so that T again is becoming a flap  wey/da wey/da wey/da wey/da minutʔ wey/da minutʔ  

and there again glottal stop minutʔ minutʔ I'm  not even bringing my my tongue up for the T I'm  

not bringing the tongue up I'm leaving it down  wait a minute because we can stop the T in the  

back of the throat and use a glottal stop and  it still sounds perfectly normal we don't have  

to say wait a minute you don't have to release  that T at the end then she says I didn't pay I  

didn't pay okay what's happening here I did-n  did-n she's using what's called a syllabic N  

here it's an N Sound that is taking up an entire  syllable and there's no T at the end it's a held  

T so the T where your tongue is up but you're not  releasing it I did-n did-n so the D the second  

D is combining with the N and then the T is also  there combined but it's held okay and she's saying  

I did-n pay I did-n pay so try that I did-n pay I did-n pay I did-n pay I did-n pay I  

did-n pay I thought you paid I thought you paid  you can also try imitating the intonation patterns  

that you're hearing here right it's not I thought  you paid I thought you paid it's I thought you  

paid I thought you paid okay so practice doing  the intonation along with the pronunciation and  

then Chandler says so apparently we just don't  pay for food anymore okay so apparently we  

just don't pay don't pay don't pay for food  anymore great now let's watch the next clip  

do you see what I see ah it's still  there Mrs Braverman must be out

she could be out of town maybe she'll be gone for  months so Chandler says do you see what I see it's  

still there Mrs Braverman must be out Rachel says  she could be out of town maybe she'll be gone for  

months okay so we have a few things to go over  here duh you see wha/dai see duh you see wha/dai see  

duh you duh you duh you see wha/dai see wha/dai wha/dai  again flat for the T what I becomes wha/dai wha/dai 

when you start using the flap regularly for the Ts  in your English that will naturally just speed up  

your English because the flap sound is a fast  sound you cannot make a slow flap it is impossible  

it is simply a fast sound so when you start using  the flap you will naturally start speaking English  

at a faster rate do you see what I see duh you see wha/dai see duh duh duh duh you see do you see duh you see wha/dai 

see wha/dai see do you see what I see it's-still  there it's-still there now look at how these S's  

were combined it's still there when you combine  two letters like if one word ends with a letter  

and the next word starts with that same letter you  can often join those two sounds together you just  

have to say it a little bit longer usually so that  it sounds like the the letter is still there so  

they're saying it's still there you just draw out  that s a tiny tiny bit it's still there it's still  

there because if you don't do it correctly it will  sound like it still there it still there and we  

don't want to say it still there you want to say  it's still there it's still there so you have to  

hold on to that S you don't have to say it's still  there okay you don't have to create a pause just  

join the S's make it a little bit longer and you  will be able to connect your words and still sound  

natural because again if you accidentally  say it still there it's going to sound like  

you have made a grammatical mistake next when  Rachel says she could be out of town this is out  

of out of but she's not pronouncing it like that  she's saying a/duh a/duh she could be a/duh town a/duh town  

a/duh town yeah he's a/duh town she's a/duh town I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be a/duh  

town so a/duh town a/duh again flap there's a  flap there a/duh town and then she says maybe  

she'll be gone shol she will becomes shol shol  maybe shol be gone for months months now here  

with months she's not pronouncing the TH she's  just saying muns muns maybe shol be gone  

for muns this is very very common she could  be out of town maybe she'll be gone for months  

okay next clip how can you eat the cheesecake  without me what are you gonna do you're gonna  

go run tell Monica you're gonna tell Joey no  because then you're gonna have to tell them  

what we did we are dessert stealers we are living  outside of the law okay so here Chandler says how  

can you eat the cheesecake without me Rachel's  says oh what are you gonna do you gonna go run  

tell Monica gonna tell Joey no because then  you're gonna have to tell them what we did we  

are dessert stealers we are living outside of  the law Chandler when he says how can you eat  

the cheesecake without me okay look at that can  a lot of students have trouble with this word  

can can right because they're not actually  hearing that when we speak they're hearing  

something else what are they hearing in this case  we're reducing it down to KN KN KN so K N think of it  

like that how kn how kn Rachel says oh what are  you gonna do wha/der okay wha/der again there's a  

flap there wha/der yuh yuh yuh gonna do gonna do gonna  do you're gonna go run tell Monica yer gonna  

go run tell Monica yer gonna go run tell  Monica gonna tell Joey gonna gonna tell Joey  

what are you gonna do you're gonna go run tell  Monica gonna tell Joey and then later she  

says no because then you're gonna have to gonna  hafta going to have to becomes gonna hafta  

gonna hafta okay now let's look at the next clip  no we're gonna split it you take half and I take  

half well that's not fair you've already had some  Rachel says no we're gonna split it you take half  

and I take half Chandler says well that's not  fair you've already had some so here split it  

spli/dit again we have a flap for the T spli/dit  spli/dit spli/dit then you take half and I take  

half here we have a syllabic N for the and you  take half n I take half she's not saying and  

fully she's not saying you take half and I take  half it's you take half n I take half half n

I half n I half n I half n I okay you take half  and I take half and notice on half that the L is  

silent it's not haLf okay it's haf haf next clip  let's take a look what do we use to split it okay

Chandler says what do we use to split it whu duh  we use tuh spli/dit whu duh we whu duh we whu duh  

we whu duh whu duh whu duh we use tuh tuh spli/dit spli/dit spli/dit whu duh we use tuh spli/dit next clip

well this side looks bigger Rachel says all  right pick a half Chandler says okay well  

this side looks bigger let's look at this pick  a half pic kuh half see how the words are joined  

together with their syllables pic kuh half pic kuh half pic kuh half and of course that a it's not  

pick a half it's pic kuh pic kuh pic kuh half and then  Chandler says okay well this side looks bigger  

again we have two S's getting joined this-side  this-side he's not saying this side he's saying  

this-side this-side looks bigger okay next clip  okay there you go enjoy your half my friend  

but that is it no sharing no switching and don't  come crying to me if you eat your piece too fast

Rachel says okay there you go enjoy your half my  friend but that is it no sharing no switching and  

don't come crying to me if you eat your piece too  fast okay so there's a few things here enjoy that  

E sound is getting reduced to an e sound injoy  injoy like they went in the house in injoy your  

half my friend okay I think intonation is really  really fun to imitate so I really when you're  

practicing this I really want you to try and do  it and read it and say it like they say it enjoy  

your half my friend but that is it no sharing no  switching and don't come crying to me if you eat  

your piece too fast so when you're imitating you  want to match the intonation the up and down the  

melody of how the speakers are speaking but you  also want to pay attention to the rhythm and the  

length of the words and it's like a a call and  response like you want to hear something and  

then repeat exactly it's kind of like music in  that way if you sing a song you're singing it  

with the melody of the actual song and with the  length of the words and everything so that it  

sounds like the song and that's how people can  sing a song and other people can recognize the  

song I don't know why I did this it's not a phone  call anyways you want to think of a language in  

the same way right that's why when I say this no  sharing no switching and don't come crying to me  

it sounds the way Rachel made it sound because  I'm making my voice go up and down the way she  

did it and I'm lengthening words the way she did  it and shortening words the way she did it and I'm  

using the same sounds so don't come crying to me  she didn't say don't come crying to me don't come  

crying to me she said don't come crying to me  right if you eat your piece too fast she didn't  

say if you eat your piece too fast if you eat your  piece too fast that's different that's a different  

pattern so think of language as patterns and then  try to imitate the pattern and that is how you  

will sound the way they sound in the clips anyhow  this is just a really good exercise to train your  

mouth the sounds the connections intonation all  of that okay anyways going back to what I was  

teaching you she said if you eat your piece too  fast yer piece yer piece she didn't say your she  

said yer yer yer oh she says that for your half  too enjoy yer half my friend and if you eat yer  

piece too fast so she uses the yer both times  and that's common we commonly reduce your down  

to yer and then let's look at that is it she says  tha/dizit tha/dizit tha/diz tha/dizit right so  

again there's a flap there tha/dizit my friend  tha/dizit okay let's look at the next clip oh

you're gonna give him some of your piece oh oh  no no no no switching no sharing don't come  

crying to me ha ha ha okay so Rachel says all right you  can give me some of your peace wow that was fast  

right you gonna give me some of your peace so  you're gonna you're gonna give me give me suh muh  

yer some of your piece you're gonna give me  suh muh yer piece all right you're gonna give me  

suh muh yer piece the are there is implied because  if we wrote this down in a grammatically correct  

way it should be are you gonna give me some  of your piece but sometimes we drop off words  

when what we're going to say is understandable  even without the word so she says all right you  

gonna give me suh muh yer piece you're gonna  you're gonna you're gonna give me give me give  

me suh muh suh muh suh muh suh muh yer piece yer  piece yer piece and Chandler says oh no no no  

no switching no sharing and don't come crying  to me so he's you know using he's imitating her  

and the way she said what she said previously  to him okay so let's look at the final clip oh  

hey look there's a piece that doesn't have  floor on it stick to your side come on now

all right what are we having all right  so Rachel says Oh yay look there's a  

piece that doesn't have floor on it and  Chandler says stick to your side Rachel  

says come on now and then Joey comes and  he's like all right what are we having  

okay so here let's look at stick to your side  right so we have stick tuh stick tuh not stick  

to your it's stick tuh yer stick tuh yer side  stick tuh yer side and then Joey he says all  

right what are we having whuh/duh we havin' now a  couple things here having usually has a G at the  

end but ING words frequently in English they can  have their G dropped and in some accents people do  

this more than in other accents so he says what  do we have in then I want to point out that he  

says whuh/duh whuh/duh whuh/duh we havin' whuh/duh we  havin' right so for what are we having he says  

all right whuh/duh we havin' whuh/duh we havin'  okay so that is it I hope you enjoyed this lesson  

I've actually never done a lesson like this on my  channel before where I use clips from an actual  

TV show so I need to know I need tuh need tuh I need  to know if this is interesting and helpful for you  

if you learn something so please if you learned  something in this video go ahead and click that  

like button because I will keep an eye on that and  I will see how many people like this video let me  

know in the comments if you want more videos like  this tell me what you learned if you found this  

interesting fascinating too long too drawn out  if you have feedback and suggestions for me I  

am all ears please share them with me and again  if you want to work on your pronunciation and  

your spoken English with me registration for my  accent Freedom course opens on June 8th so get  

on my email list as soon as possible so you do  not miss the enrollment dates you can sign up  

at englishfulltime.com also do not forget to  download the cheat sheet and study guide that  

goes along with this video so you can see all  of my notes about how to do these reductions  

and what to pay attention to alright that's it  and I can't wait to see you in another video bye