UNDERSTAND NATIVE ENGLISH: How English Really Sounds!

82,249 views ・ 2023-07-25

mmmEnglish


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Well, hey there, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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Today we are going to practise saying ten of the most common
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English words.
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Now of course, I'll show you how to pronounce them correctly,
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but even better,
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how native speakers actually pronounce these words
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naturally when they speak.
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So this lesson is going to help you to understand
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fast talking native English speakers,
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but it will also help you to sound more relaxed
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as you begin to speak English fluently.
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But to do that I need you to practise with me out loud.
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Can you do that?
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When I say the most common words in English,
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I'm talking about the ones that occur most frequently.
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And in English, these are function words,
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the words that exist to make our sentences
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grammatically correct,
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articles, prepositions, pronouns,
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and even some really simple verbs that we use every day.
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Now because they are so common and they're used so often,
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native English speakers use them quite quickly
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and very efficiently when we say them,
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which means that the pronunciation of a
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word that you learned from a dictionary
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or from your English teacher
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may not be exactly how it sounds when spoken
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at a natural pace by a native English speaker.
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Let's get started with at.
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Now, sometimes you will hear this word stressed.
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At.
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You need to be here at three o'clock.
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And by stressing at in that sentence, I'm adding emphasis.
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I'm making the meaning stronger.
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You need to be here exactly at three o'clock,
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not before, not after, at three.
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But most of the time when you hear this word, it's unstressed.
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It's not stressed.
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And that strong vowel sound
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reduces to a schwa.
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I'll meet you at the car.
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I'll pick you up at eight.
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The verb do conjugates, doesn't it?
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So it can be do or does depending on the subject.
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What you need to remember is that when do is the main verb
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in our sentence. It's usually stressed.
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I do it often.
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But as an auxiliary verb,
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it's helping the main verb in our sentence
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and then it becomes a grammatical word. It usually
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reduces down.
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Do you want to come?
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Try it.
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If you're using does instead of do, it also reduces.
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Does becomes...
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Does she need to see it?
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Your turn.
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Do you feel like your English speaking skills
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are holding you back?
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Others aren't really seeing you for who you really are.
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Anytime I had to talk with natives,
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I was just so unconfident because I was afraid of
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making mistakes all the time.
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Most of the time I read in English and I understand,
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I watch the videos with the subtitles
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but in that moment to speak, I felt afraid.
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I felt shame.
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It's time to break free from those negative feelings
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and find your English voice with Hey Lady!
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We understand the challenges that women face
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on their English journey,
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and that's why we're growing a supportive community of women
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who are working towards the same goal.
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From when I joined to today is that chance to
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talk with people without fear of judgment.
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When we see each other, we're so happy,
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and we have the opportunity to get to know new people
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all the time. I mean, it's really amazing for me.
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It's really like a dream come true actually.
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Join Hey Lady! today and start living your best life in English!
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To find out more, look for the link down in the description below.
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As a pronoun,
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you can be stressed when we need to clarify
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who is doing something.
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I didn't ask you. I asked her!
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But we don't always emphasise you. Often you just hear it as..
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Do you know who did it?
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I'll meet you there.
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As can be stressed as well.
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I guess it didn't take as long as last time!
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But usually this is an unstressed word,
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so it sounds more like...
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So again, we're using our
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schwa sound for that unstressed vowel sound.
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It wasn't as hard as I thought.
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Try it now.
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Now there is a pattern to look for here and more importantly
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to listen for.
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And that is the way that words that start with a vowel sound
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often link to the last sound of the word before it
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when spoken naturally.
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And that link happens when there is a consonant sound
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at the end of that word.
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As starts with a vowel.
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So this is a perfect opportunity to highlight it for you.
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It wasn't as hard as I thought.
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Try it.
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Okay, so let's talk about grammatical words that start with
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the letter H,
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like he, him, her
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and even have and has.
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All of these words are often pronounced without the H sound.
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when speaking quickly.
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Does he want to come?
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I'll ask him if you want.
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But remember,
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if you are using this reduced form
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and you are not pronouncing the H,
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you must link the to the word before it.
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I'll ask him if you want.
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Try it.
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I want to buy a car.
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Try it.
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Okay, let's try the verb have or has now.
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So just like the verb do, we conjugate have,
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depending on the subject.
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Sometimes it's has.
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So when this is the main verb in a sentence,
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it's stressed and both have and has
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use the
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vowel sound.
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But just like the pronouns we talked about, sometimes
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native speakers will drop that H sound when speaking quickly.
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She has three dogs.
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I have two.
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Now have is another one of these special verbs. It's an
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auxiliary verb.
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It is an auxiliary verb in all of the perfect tenses,
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which is why it is such a common word in English.
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Usually when it's the main verb in a sentence, it's stressed,
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but it's unstressed when it's an auxiliary verb in a perfect tense.
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And when it's spoken, we often use contractions.
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I have becomes I've.
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We have
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becomes we've.
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He has becomes he's.
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Now it can be stressed when it's an auxiliary verb
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if we're trying to emphasise that something is true.
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I've been to India.
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No you haven't.
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I have, I have been to India!
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Here's a good one.
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Grammatically,
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but is used in several different ways
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and it can be stressed.
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So when it's stressed it's pronounced,
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but.
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I'll help you, but I need a favor first,
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more often than not,
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but is usually unstressed and the pronunciation changes.
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So instead of but, it becomes,
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but.
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But I don't want to.
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Try it.
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They ate it, but they didn't like it.
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Now it's unusual to hear this word stressed
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unless you are referring to the number four.
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For is usually unstressed. And again,
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it's that vowel sound that reduces to the schwa.
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Instead of for, you hear
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And in my accent,
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you don't hear the pronunciation of that final R.
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The ending is just the vowel sound.
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I bought this apple for you.
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Can you get one for me?
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Try it.
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Of is almost always unstressed.
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Instead of saying,
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of,
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reduce or relax that vowel sound down to a schwa.
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Would you like a cup of tea?
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Do you notice how that consonant sound at the end of cup
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links to of and that vowel sound?
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Would you like a cup of tea?
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Of course, how could we forget it?
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Ninety-nine per cent of the time when you hear it
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being spoken in English, it's unstressed.
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So when I just said it,
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then I was stressing it, emphasising it,
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so you knew which word I was talking about.
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But it doesn't usually sound like this.
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It usually sounds like..
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Again, that schwa sound, you've got to relax.
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You've got to get into this sound and relax with me.
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And usually we use a stop T at the end here.
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So the air is not released.
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Instead of
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we catch the air
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so that we can move quickly onto the next sound.
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So you will often just hear it being pronounced as
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You should be able to say it quite quickly
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when you don't have to release the air.
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I want it now.
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Get it out of the car.
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Goodness,
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there are lots of reductions and linking happening in that
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sentence, aren't there?
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Get it out of the car.
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Understanding how these really common English words actually
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sound when they're spoken in natural English
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is really important.
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To understand native speakers when they're talking fast,
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they're talking quickly,
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you need to know how these sounds reduce down
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and they link together when spoken.
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So I'm super glad that you hung around to watch this lesson
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all the way through.
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Make sure you bookmark this video or you save the playlist
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because you need to come back and review it
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with me a few times.
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Keep coming back to practise with me again and again.
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Now I have another video just like this one coming out soon with
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ten more common English words
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so that we can practise their natural pronunciation together.
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So make sure you subscribe,
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you come back and check out the next video.
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But in the meantime, if you want to learn more about
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linking and naturally spoken English,
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check out this series right here that I made for my students.
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You are absolutely going to love it.
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I'll see you in there.
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