Can You Pronounce... IT'S DON'T HADN'T YOU'VE AIN'T AREN'T ?

Well, hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish. In this  pronunciation lesson today I'm going to teach you  

how to pronounce I've, we're, it's didn't and many  more of the most common contractions in spoken  

English! And at the end, you and I are going to  practise speaking together. We'll practice using  

these contractions in a short dialogue back and  forth in a regular conversation together. If you  

want to jump past the pronunciation work and you  want to practise speaking fluently with me in this  

dialogue you can jump over to that timestamp there  but I recommend that you spend some time with me  

now warming up your mouth muscles and practising  with me first. If your goal is to sound relaxed  

and natural when you speak English, you have got  to practice with me in this lesson! Are you ready?

So, what is a contraction? A shortened  form of a word where there are fewer  

sounds spoken. For example, the word HAVE  can be heard in an English sentence just as  

/v/. Most English contractions involve  auxiliary or modal verbs, and these are often  

unstressed parts of a sentence, so the sounds  change and they reduce they become lower in pitch;  

harder to hear! You'll hear contractions  used by native English speakers  

all the time when they speak... Or maybe  you won't because they're actually harder  

to hear and a little harder to process. But  you can also see them when they're written in  

informal English and you can usually recognise  them because they have that little apostrophe.

Which one of these contractions is hardest for  you to pronounce? Or is there another that you  

find really difficult? Let me know down  in the comments. So, in this lesson we're  

going to go through all of the contractions  that are made by auxiliary verbs: DO, HAVE,  

and BE and there are plenty of them! Let's start  with DO - the auxiliary verb in the simple tense. 

But you'll only hear it spoken as a contraction  when it's used in its negative form:  

DO NOT which is DON'T

Now, there are two things that I want you to  notice here. One is that vowel sound changes  

'OH' DON'T is different to 'OO' DO

DO DON'T The second is that stop t which is  

really really common instead of hearing that T  sound, fully aspirated, with that release of air  

to make the sound the stop t stops it short before  the air is released it's like you catch the sound  

listen to the difference don't i'm releasing the  air don't or don't don't sometimes my students  

say to me but emma i can't hear that t it's  not there that's not true because without that  

stopped t sound that nasally m sound continues  for longer don't compare that to don't don't  

so that sound is stopped short that's your stopped  t sound i probably could keep talking about that  

for a while but it's really really common to  hear that stop t in negative contractions and in  

many other everyday english words that end  in a t sound practice it with me don't don't

i don't want to go

what about does not it is way more common to  hear native english speakers say doesn't doesn't  

doesn't and again you can hear that  stopped t sound right you've also got  

two syllables there one of them is  stronger than the other can you hear it  

doesn't doesn't doesn't that first syllable  we've got a few tricky consonant sounds  

there at the end so you know if you're  feeling a little bit stuck here a little  

bit tongue-tied why don't you just pause for a  minute and just focus on the end of that word

i mean really this word is often spoken so quickly  that it sounds like it doesn't doesn't so really  

just loosen up the muscles in your mouth  don't get stuck trying to be really precise  

doesn't doesn't doesn't doesn't  he doesn't play football  

it doesn't matter and then we have our past tense  form did not which is didn't you're right didn't  

that first d is stronger than the second  one didn't didn't didn't didn't there's that  

cluster again again i'm using that stop t sound  because that's the most comfortable for me  

you can choose whether you want to use the  aspirated at the end or not in my accent it's very  

very common to hear the stop t are you ready to  practice with me i don't like it we don't eat meat

they don't bother me

she doesn't want to

it doesn't matter you didn't call

he didn't believe me

okay now let's look at the verb be so in the  present tense it conjugates to am is and are b  

is a little different because it can be contracted  when it's a main verb as well as when it's an  

auxiliary verb here's the paper he's coming so  here the be verb is the main verb in our sentence  

and here it's the auxiliary verb it's making the  continuous tense there are many be contractions  

to get through so i want to go through them  one by one practice out loud with me i'm i'm

you're you're remember the pronunciation is  exactly the same as this word here you're  

and in my accent you don't really hear that er  sound at the end it's just the vowel or all where  

where and again the pronunciation of this  contraction is just the same as that word  

there there again exactly the  same as these two he's he's

she's she's

it's

it's it's has a tricky consonant cluster

it's practice these sentences after me i'm hungry

you're coming too

she's gonna win

it's about to rain okay let's take a  look at the negative forms now with  

negative contractions with b verb we have two  choices we have two different ways that we can  

pronounce these contractions you can make the  contraction by linking the be verb to the subject  

or by linking the be verb to not  let's take a look you are not  

can be you're not or you aren't oh that's a new  sound there aunt aunt aunt can you hear that

at the end ah

aunt we're not we aren't we aren't they're not  

they aren't they aren't all right let's take  a look at is he's not he isn't that's another  

new sound we have isn't isn't i know there are a  few tricky consonant clusters there aren't there

practice practice practice isn't  she's not she isn't it's not

it isn't now because that that t  sound comes between two vowels it  

actually sounds a lot more like  a d in my accent can you hear it  

it isn't it isn't if i slow it down it  isn't it isn't it isn't so to make that the  

sound i'm just flicking my tongue ever  so quickly up behind my teeth on the gums

it isn't it isn't it isn't and lastly we have  

the negative contraction with am  i am not becomes i'm not and i am

there is only one way to pronounce this  contraction i'm not i am doesn't exist  

in some dialects you will hear i ain't

everything you think you know about famous  quotes it ain't so it is really important to  

know that ain't exists in english and it's going  to help you with your listening comprehension when  

you're watching movies or you're hearing  different accents or different dialects  

so even if you don't use it yourself  it's good to know it okay let's practice  

be verb contractions you after  me you aren't coming are you

she isn't gonna lose

they aren't leaving yet

and of course we have the be verb in the past  tense right was not becomes wasn't wasn't this  

is often unstressed in our sentences so the sound  really flattens out and it becomes a lot more like  

wasn't wasn't wasn't it's a lot like  doesn't really doesn't wasn't wasn't  

to clearly pronounce this word it  needs to be wasn't wasn't wasn't  

to understand native speakers  especially australians  

your need to listen out for wasn't wasn't  i wasn't waiting long he wasn't there

it wasn't raining yesterday

and of course then we have were not were not  becomes weren't and you'll notice that in my  

accent i don't pronounce that er sound  in the middle there weren't weren't were  

and don't be afraid to play around with  that stop t either won't want weren't

you weren't invited we weren't  planning to go they weren't old enough

have is our auxiliary verb in the perfect tenses  it's the present perfect isn't it we have have  

and has they really only get contracted when  they're used as auxiliary verbs like this  

there are a couple of exceptions to that rule some  dialects maybe they use the contraction when have  

is the main verb but they're the exceptions it's  not really common to hear i've one of those or  

he's three in fact he's three has a different  meaning entirely we're using the be verb aren't  

we and we're saying he is three years old so don't  contract have or has when it's the main verb in a  

sentence but do contract it when it's an auxiliary  verb it's very natural so you hear have as just  

what is really important here is that you have  your mouth positioned correctly to make this sound

you need your teeth touching your lower lip

let's try out these contractions  together i've i've i've been waiting

you've you've you've had enough

we've we've

we've seen her

they've they've

they've eaten it all a little tip there when  some of these contractions can feel a little  

bit hard when we're practicing out loud and we're  focusing just on the contraction they've eaten  

if you link that consonant sound to the next word  which is also very very natural in spoken english  

linking those sounds it's a  little easier to pronounce  

they've eaten they've eaten they've eaten  when you contract has it sounds like s

and z they work together they have the same  

tongue and mouth position but one uses  air to make the sound it's unvoiced

and the other uses your vocal chords  it's voiced this sound listen out it's  

it's now because t is an unvoiced sound as well  the sound that is unvoiced follows it's it's  

now compare that to she's she's now vowel sounds  are all voiced sounds so the sound that follows is

she's she's okay practice with me ready it's been  broken she's been at school he's asked his mum

let's look at negative contractions with  have now there are two ways that you can say  

have not just like with the be verb the first  way is using the contraction that we just learnt  

and then adding not so we have the subject with  not we've not seen her they've not asked for it  

the same rules apply for hus we have our subject

with not it's not been broken he's not  asked his mum now this way of contracting  

is pretty common in british english  but in australian and american english  

it's much more common to hear the other way  of contracting has haven't and hasn't now  

the pronunciation here is quite simple really  we just take the verb have has and we add and

lucky we did all that practice with  

right have and has haven't hasn't try these  sentences with me i haven't been to africa

she hasn't asked her mom yet

to be honest it really doesn't matter  which type of pronunciation you choose  

either of them is going to help you to sound  more natural when you're speaking english so  

i want you to compare we're going to go one  and the other i've not i haven't you've not  

you haven't we've not we  haven't they've not they haven't

he's not he hasn't

she's not she hasn't it's not it hasn't have and  has are in the present tense but there is only  

one past tense form had so i guess  that makes things a little easier right  

no matter what the subject we're always  using had not so let's try the contraction

all right follow along after me  i hadn't eaten so i was hungry

you hadn't bothered to find out

we hadn't brought our pillows

it hadn't rained all day so why was he so drenched

so we practiced the pronunciation  of lots of common contractions there  

now let's practice using these contractions a  little more naturally by practicing together  

in a little dialogue so it's a  conversation between two people  

you and me i'm gonna start and you'll see  your part of the conversation pop up on screen

you get to say it out loud  and once we get through it  

we'll swap places and you'll get to practice the  lines that i said and vice versa are you ready

aren't you late

but weren't you meant to pick up dinner on the way

don't worry kate's bringing dessert  and the johnsons aren't coming anyway

why don't you just pick up a pizza on the way

no i'm not late

what i didn't know that i haven't  got time to organize dinner

that's right they're away for the weekend

good idea i've got just enough time if i leave now  well that's it for this lesson let me know down in  

the comments if you want me to make another lesson  like this all about modal verb contractions or  

contractions with will they can be a little tricky  as well there are many contractions to learn  

but you don't need to feel intimidated by them  just show up to practice with me and you'll get  

familiar with the way that they sound and you'll  start to hear them more you'll recognize them as  

native speakers are speaking i hope you have a  marvelous week ahead thank you for being here  

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for more english lessons to help you  practice and improve your english speaking  

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