How to Pronounce the MOST Common English Words | Say Them NATURALLY!

320,598 views ・ 2020-12-17

mmmEnglish


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

00:00
Well hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
0
160
3809
00:03
Today I've got twenty of the most common English words
1
3969
3948
00:07
to share with you. I'm going to show you
2
7917
1963
00:09
how to pronounce them correctly but even better
3
9880
3960
00:13
how to actually pronounce these words naturally.
4
13840
3431
00:17
This will help you to understand fast-talking native speakers but
5
17600
3688
00:21
also help you to sound more relaxed
6
21288
2899
00:24
as you begin to speak English more fluently.
7
24331
2840
00:27
My main focus today is to give you lots of practice
8
27344
3949
00:31
so don't just watch this lesson okay?
9
31293
2848
00:34
I want you to practise out loud with me.
10
34141
2819
00:46
And if you'd like to take everything that you learned from today's
11
46080
2822
00:48
lesson and practise regularly with other people
12
48902
3105
00:52
then I really encourage you to check out Lingoda, one of the world's
13
52238
3046
00:55
best online language schools. Anyone who watches this channel
14
55284
4181
00:59
knows that I'm a huge fan of Lingoda
15
59465
2533
01:01
and in case you haven't already noticed,
16
61998
2848
01:05
they have a new look and I like it.
17
65278
3477
01:08
To celebrate, Lingoda have just introduced a range of new quizzes
18
68755
4109
01:12
and extra homework to their lessons
19
72864
1952
01:14
so that you can keep learning even when you're not in class.
20
74960
3383
01:18
As a teacher, one of the main reasons I recommend Lingoda
21
78343
3488
01:21
to my students is because they offer an easy to follow
22
81831
3776
01:25
structured path to reaching virtually any language certification.
23
85607
4271
01:29
And even if you simply want to improve your conversation skills,
24
89878
3643
01:33
Lingoda small group classes are available twenty-four hours a day
25
93665
3913
01:37
seven days a week to help you get the practice that you need.
26
97578
3179
01:40
The next Lingoda Sprint is just around the corner too.
27
100757
3163
01:43
This is a twelve week challenge designed to boost your language
28
103920
3832
01:47
skills and if you complete it
29
107752
1937
01:49
you can get up to a hundred percent of your payment back
30
109920
4075
01:53
which is crazy good!
31
113995
1751
01:55
I share more details about all of that up here in this video
32
115746
4045
01:59
but if you're not quite ready to jump in and take this Sprint,
33
119791
3113
02:02
Lingoda offer lots of different options to suit your learning goals  
34
122904
3496
02:06
and your availability including the chance to experience
35
126400
3484
02:09
their classes for seven days
36
129884
2116
02:12
absolutely free
37
132000
1522
02:13
and that's all before you commit to regular study with them.
38
133522
3156
02:16
If this sounds like something you're interested in
39
136678
2119
02:18
then make sure you check out the link in the description below.
40
138797
3110
02:22
I will put the link to their Instagram feed down there too
41
142224
2906
02:25
because there's lots of student success stories there
42
145130
3088
02:28
and they're always great to read
43
148218
1711
02:29
and if you do decide to jump in and start the Sprint,
44
149929
3167
02:33
make sure you use this code right here
45
153096
2747
02:35
which will give you a discount at the checkout.
46
155843
2612
02:38
And if you're already a student of Lingoda, make sure you let me
47
158640
3237
02:41
know how your classes are going down in the comments below.
48
161877
3460
02:45
The most common words in English are grammatical words,
49
165600
3709
02:49
they're articles, they're prepositions, they're pronouns
50
169309
4134
02:53
and even some really simple verbs that we use every day.
51
173443
4177
02:57
And because they're so common and they get used so often,
52
177620
3960
03:01
native English speakers will use them really quickly and efficiently
53
181580
4633
03:06
as we speak which means that the pronunciation of the word
54
186213
3807
03:10
that you learn in a dictionary or from your teacher at school 
55
190020
3536
03:13
may not be what it truly sounds like
56
193556
3123
03:16
when a native English speaker actually speaks it.
57
196679
4177
03:21
So today we'll talk about stressed and unstressed forms,
58
201000
3986
03:25
linking and contractions. These are all really important aspects
59
205200
4656
03:29
of English pronunciation that you need to understand
60
209856
2918
03:32
if you want to use English fluently.
61
212774
2299
03:35
I'm going to share them in no particular order,
62
215304
2738
03:38
mostly because it's really difficult to know which one of these
63
218042
4157
03:42
words is actually the most common. They are all extremely
64
222199
3978
03:46
common and they probably jostle around
65
226177
2723
03:48
for the number one position.
66
228900
1881
03:51
Of course, I will be sharing all of these words in my accent,
67
231120
4359
03:55
my Australian English accent.
68
235479
2201
03:57
There are some slight variations in the way that these words are
69
237680
3627
04:01
pronounced across English accents,
70
241307
2518
04:03
though lots of similarities as well.
71
243825
2341
04:06
Starting at number twenty. Sometimes you'll hear this word
72
246512
4867
04:11
stressed as at with that strong vowel sound.
73
251379
5178
04:16
You need to be here at three o'clock.
74
256989
3043
04:20
So when we're stressing at, we're emphasising and making
75
260240
3755
04:23
the meaning stronger.
76
263995
1663
04:25
You need to be here exactly at three o'clock.
77
265658
3947
04:29
Not before, not after, at three.
78
269605
3827
04:33
But most of the time when you hear this word it's not stressed
79
273547
3682
04:37
and the vowel sound reduces down to become that reduced
80
277229
5183
04:42
vowel sound, the schwa.
81
282412
2280
04:46
I'll meet you at the car.
82
286765
9165
04:55
I'll pick you up at eight.
83
295930
7752
05:04
Your turn.
84
304305
1305
05:08
Now we have the verb do. Now of course, it conjugates doesn't it?
85
308160
5130
05:13
It can be do or does depending on the subject
86
313290
3944
05:17
so what you need to remember is that when do is the main verb
87
317436
4520
05:21
in a sentence, it's usually stressed and it has that vowel sound.
88
321956
5524
05:27
I do it often.
89
327710
5913
05:33
But as an auxiliary verb, if it's helping the main verb in a sentence
90
333962
5163
05:39
then it usually reduces down so do becomes
91
339125
4717
05:45
Do you want to come?
92
345225
5792
05:51
Your turn.
93
351623
1748
05:54
Does she need to see it?
94
354320
8402
06:03
Try it.
95
363500
1475
06:06
So as a pronoun, you can be stressed especially when you need to
96
366800
4590
06:11
clarify who you're talking to or who you're talking about.
97
371390
3908
06:15
I didn't ask you, I asked her.
98
375298
2702
06:18
So that's when we hear it really strong
99
378604
2434
06:22
But most of the time when you hear this word, you just hear
100
382254
3769
06:28
Do you know who did it?
101
388732
7263
06:36
I'll meet you there.
102
396600
5170
06:42
Your turn.
103
402577
897
06:45
As can be stressed. I guess it didn't take as long as last time
104
405680
5669
06:51
but usually, it's an unstressed word and it sounds a little more like
105
411349
5130
06:58
Again we're using that schwa sound
106
418208
2899
07:01
for the unstressed vowel sound.
107
421107
2680
07:04
It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
108
424133
5709
07:10
One pronunciation pattern to look for but more importantly
109
430101
4072
07:14
to listen for is the way that words that start with a vowel sound
110
434173
5437
07:19
often link to the last sound of the word before it when spoken
111
439610
5006
07:24
naturally. Now as starts with a vowel sound so this is the perfect
112
444616
4766
07:29
time to mention it and to show you how it works.
113
449382
3077
07:39
It wasn't as hard as I thought.
114
459680
7690
07:49
Now pronouns, grammatical words that start with the letter H
115
469840
4304
07:54
like he, him, her. We can even include have and has.
116
474403
6503
08:01
They're often pronounced without the H sound
117
481137
3338
08:04
when we're speaking quickly.
118
484475
1349
08:06
Does he want to come?
119
486000
1711
08:11
Try it.
120
491545
1039
08:13
I'll ask him if you want.
121
493968
8525
08:24
But you've got to remember, if you're using this reduced form
122
504480
3869
08:28
and you're not pronouncing the H
123
508349
2371
08:30
you must be linking this word to the one before it okay? You can't
124
510720
5404
08:36
drop the H sound when it's the first word in a sentence and say
125
516441
5129
08:42
really liked the party.
126
522377
2134
08:44
You have to pronounce that H.
127
524943
2003
08:47
He really liked the party.
128
527119
1712
08:48
But you can drop it in the middle of a sentence.
129
528831
2990
08:52
I want to buy her a car.
130
532160
9460
09:01
Try it.
131
541620
1039
09:05
Now we have the verb have which is another very popular
132
545920
4176
09:10
English verb so like do, we conjugate have
133
550096
3851
09:13
depending on the subject.
134
553947
1562
09:15
So sometimes it's has, in the past it's had.
135
555653
4233
09:20
And in all of those examples, we're using the strong vowel sound.
136
560145
5061
09:25
Now when have is the main verb in a sentence, it's stressed.
137
565408
4980
09:30
Though sometimes just like with those pronouns,
138
570560
3394
09:34
native speakers will drop that H sound
139
574300
2765
09:37
when we're speaking quickly.
140
577065
1433
09:38
She has three dogs.
141
578498
6039
09:45
I have two.
142
585142
5066
09:50
You probably know that have is an auxillary verb in all of the
143
590208
4154
09:54
perfect tenses which is why it's one of the most common
144
594362
3843
09:58
English verbs, we see it a lot.
145
598205
2019
10:00
And when it's spoken naturally, we often use contractions,
146
600224
4505
10:04
so instead of saying I have, I've,
147
604729
4031
10:09
we have, we've,
148
609164
3299
10:12
he has, he's.
149
612722
2830
10:16
But even as an auxiliary verb, it can be stressed especially
150
616240
4583
10:20
if we want to emphasise that something is true
151
620823
3289
10:24
so I can easily say
152
624631
2294
10:27
I've been to India.
153
627040
2838
10:29
So it's unstressed there but what if someone said
154
629878
3778
10:33
no you haven't.
155
633656
1220
10:35
I have, I have been to India twice.
156
635164
5499
10:41
Grammatically, but is used in several different ways.
157
641200
4169
10:45
It can be stressed and you'll hear that strong vowel sound.
158
645369
3838
10:52
I'll help you but I need a favour from you first.
159
652724
4186
10:56
More often than not, but is unstressed and then
160
656910
3847
11:00
the pronunciation changes.
161
660757
1872
11:02
But I don't want to.
162
662629
7055
11:10
They ate it, but they didn't like it.
163
670400
7111
11:17
Try it.
164
677857
723
11:21
Now this is an unusual one to include in this list because  
165
681680
4000
11:25
usually we stress negative forms in English.
166
685680
4064
11:30
I'm not hungry.
167
690000
3145
11:33
But the adverb not is usually almost always linked
168
693145
5599
11:38
to the verb in spoken English. We say
169
698744
3420
11:42
I don't like it.
170
702164
1244
11:44
We can't believe it.
171
704157
1952
11:46
So most of the time, not is not pronounced as not.
172
706560
5751
11:52
It's contracted and it sounds like
173
712311
2653
12:01
can't, won't
174
721280
2894
12:04
haven't,
175
724866
1214
12:06
hasn't,
176
726858
1350
12:09
For.
177
729361
1429
12:10
It is quite unusual to hear this word pronounced as for
178
730934
4922
12:15
in spoken English so when you hear for, we're usually referring
179
735856
5844
12:21
to the noun, the number four.
180
741700
2490
12:24
For is usually unstressed and again,
181
744795
3778
12:28
that vowel sound reduces down to the schwa. We hear
182
748688
4272
12:37
Nothing right?
183
757040
1270
12:38
I bought this apple for you.
184
758656
6836
12:46
Can you get one for me?
185
766559
5962
12:53
Try.
186
773472
893
12:57
Ninety-nine per cent of the time you hear it being used in English,
187
777120
4302
13:01
it's unstressed
188
781422
1458
13:02
so when I said it just then, I stressed it so that you knew
189
782880
4199
13:07
which word I was talking about but usually it sounds a lot more like
190
787079
4724
13:14
It's that schwa sound again and we usually use a stop T
191
794830
4530
13:19
at the end as well so no air is released.
192
799360
3264
13:22
Instead of saying it, the air is caught by our tongue.
193
802624
5815
13:32
It's caught there so that we can move on to the next word
194
812000
3112
13:35
really quickly.
195
815112
1349
13:37
I want it now.
196
817902
9061
13:47
Get it out of the car.
197
827136
6761
13:54
Try it.
198
834791
1239
13:57
Goodness there are actually lots of reduced forms in that one
199
837920
3448
14:01
aren't there? Get it out of the car.
200
841368
4763
14:06
Now I've created a whole learning playlist that explains
201
846131
3103
14:09
the different ways that we link words together in spoken English
202
849234
4035
14:13
so if you haven't seen it yet, absolutely watch all of the videos
203
853471
4414
14:17
up in this playlist and even if you have, it's the type of practice
204
857885
4235
14:22
that you need to review, you need to come back to
205
862120
2892
14:25
so it might be a good time to go back to those lessons and
206
865012
3169
14:28
remind yourself about those familiar ways that we link
207
868181
3510
14:31
sounds together in English.
208
871691
1314
14:34
That can be stressed or unstressed, we say that
209
874320
4893
14:39
when it's stressed with that
210
879213
1512
14:41
vowel sound so when it's used as a determiner to explain
211
881360
4579
14:45
which specific thing we're talking about
212
885939
2861
14:48
you'll hear it stressed because it needs to be clear.
213
888800
3257
14:52
We'll say: not this one, that one.
214
892288
3981
14:56
And as an adverb it will probably also be stressed too. We'll say
215
896269
4761
15:01
I'm not that hungry.
216
901030
4410
15:05
But when that is used as a conjunction and it's connecting two
217
905671
4184
15:09
clauses together, it's unstressed, it reduces down to
218
909855
5069
15:17
It's that schwa sound again, the vowel sound reducing down
219
917453
4112
15:21
from that to
220
921565
2795
15:25
I told her that I'd be there.
221
925696
9575
15:35
Your turn.
222
935415
809
15:39
On. Here's another example of a grammatical word that starts with
223
939120
4494
15:43
a vowel sound so when it's said naturally, it's often linked
224
943614
4276
15:47
to the word that comes before it.
225
947890
1758
15:49
It's on my computer.
226
949965
8112
15:58
We'll go on Sunday.
227
958077
7523
16:06
Try it.
228
966160
942
16:08
The same rules apply for in, when we use it naturally
229
968918
3681
16:12
we need to focus on linking it to the sound that comes before it.
230
972599
5401
16:18
I'll meet you in there.
231
978576
5949
16:25
Try it.
232
985332
1148
16:28
That extra linking sound between two vowels there
233
988400
4917
16:33
is a bit of a pronunciation trick. Watch this lesson up here
234
993317
3417
16:36
if you want to learn a little bit more about this type of linking.
235
996734
4112
16:41
Let's talk about the articles a and an because they are unstressed  
236
1001653
5925
16:47
most of the time so usually when we want to stress and clarify
237
1007578
5195
16:52
to say that it's just one of something that we want, we say one.
238
1012773
5141
16:58
So we don't say I'll have a carrot.
239
1018318
3266
17:02
We say I'll have one carrot please.
240
1022160
3522
17:06
So most of the time, these articles are unstressed. We don't hear
241
1026000
4510
17:10
a and an, we just hear that reduced sound.
242
1030510
5201
17:18
Can you take a break?
243
1038939
7295
17:27
It was an excellent event.
244
1047280
11225
17:38
Your turn.
245
1058851
1303
17:43
Now of course and must make our list of most commonly used
246
1063040
4716
17:47
words right? When it's stressed, we say
247
1067756
3138
17:50
and but it becomes and unstressed.
248
1070894
5369
17:57
And often we drop that D sound at the end
249
1077128
3577
18:02
and compare these with me. When we're stressing I would say
250
1082437
4877
18:07
You and me are going.
251
1087516
2277
18:10
And unstressed, you and me are going.
252
1090880
3438
18:15
You and me are going.
253
1095384
5522
18:22
Come and visit me.
254
1102080
8392
18:30
Try it.
255
1110933
1401
18:34
How could we forget of? It's almost always unstressed as well.
256
1114560
5649
18:40
So instead of saying
257
1120209
1407
18:44
we just need to relax our mouth, relax that vowel sound down to
258
1124887
4496
18:53
Would you like a cup of tea?
259
1133520
10069
19:03
Notice that link between of and the consonant before it, cup of tea.
260
1143589
7985
19:11
Now to, when it's spelt like this
261
1151840
2666
19:14
is not usually stressed. It's usually unstressed
262
1154995
4132
19:19
so we reduce it down from to to
263
1159127
4000
19:26
I want to go to the beach.
264
1166320
9720
19:36
Try it.
265
1176040
1051
19:39
Be is the most commonly used verb in English
266
1179760
3956
19:43
but it does have several different forms, doesn't it?
267
1183716
3302
19:47
Depending on the subject and the tense so just like do and have,
268
1187018
5942
19:52
the be verb can be used as a main verb in a sentence.
269
1192960
4508
19:57
I'll be home soon.
270
1197727
1412
20:02
So instead of really stressing that verb be,
271
1202049
3907
20:05
it's just a shorter version.
272
1205956
2124
20:08
I'll be home soon.
273
1208598
3300
20:11
You will definitely hear the unstressed forms of be when it's used
274
1211898
4445
20:16
as an auxiliary verb in the continuous tense, in the passive voice.
275
1216343
4953
20:21
You're going to hear
276
1221296
1591
20:23
I am as I'm going.
277
1223120
4866
20:27
We are as we're waiting.
278
1227986
5075
20:33
Or it is as it's raining.
279
1233407
4995
20:38
Right? It's really common to hear these contractions
280
1238402
3091
20:41
when the be verb is the auxiliary verb.
281
1241493
3376
20:44
When it's used in the past tense the be verb is usually reduced
282
1244869
4162
20:49
as well. Again we see that schwa sound. Was becomes  
283
1249031
5148
20:56
I was upstairs earlier.
284
1256629
7445
21:04
Try it.
285
1264333
1133
21:07
They were really hungry.
286
1267920
7967
21:16
Your turn.
287
1276535
1088
21:20
Last but definitely not the least is the.
288
1280480
6391
21:26
You won't hear it pronounced like the very often, maybe
289
1286871
4165
21:31
just in your English class, you'll definitely hear a shorter version.
290
1291036
4964
21:38
And you'll also hear the, that's our favourite schwa sound
291
1298000
5950
21:43
making another appearance.
292
1303950
1986
21:47
So with the word the, we have two unstressed forms
293
1307435
4380
21:51
because the pronunciation changes depending on the word that
294
1311815
4285
21:56
follows it. If the word the is followed by a word that starts
295
1316100
4497
22:00
with a consonant sound,
296
1320597
1863
22:02
then that's when we hear that lazy schwa sound again.
297
1322460
6398
22:09
You left it in the car.
298
1329262
7531
22:17
Try it.
299
1337139
887
22:20
If the word the is followed by a vowel sound then it's pronounced
300
1340240
4797
22:27
Can you hear the difference?
301
1347920
2000
22:32
How do we get to the airport?
302
1352640
10333
22:42
Try it.
303
1362973
842
22:47
You made it all the way through! Awesome work!
304
1367520
3127
22:50
Make sure you bookmark this video
305
1370647
2460
22:53
save it to a playlist because you'll need to come back to it
306
1373280
3087
22:56
and review it and practise several times with me.
307
1376367
3379
22:59
It's not the kind of thing that you'll just instantly know,
308
1379746
3289
23:03
you've got to put in the practice and you'll be able to practise  
309
1383150
3570
23:06
using all of these words naturally and in context
310
1386720
3626
23:10
in any of my imitation lessons.
311
1390346
2560
23:13
Remember if you want to learn a little more about linking
312
1393120
3080
23:16
and naturally spoken English, then definitely check out this playlist
313
1396200
4554
23:20
up here, you will absolutely love it.
314
1400754
2453
23:23
And I'll see you in there!
315
1403207
1833
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7