How to Say I HAVE TO GO American English conversation and pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video,

we’re going to go over the pronunciation
of the phrase: I have to go.

Let’s start with the stress da-Da-da-DA,
I have to go.

It’s a four-syllable phrase with stress on the
second and fourth syllables, I have to go.

The verb ‘go’ has the most stress.
‘I’, as an unstressed word,

is going to be pretty fast and low in pitch,
I, I, I. I have to go.

You may drop the H here if you want.
I -ave, I -ave, I have to go.

Dropping the H in the word
like this is pretty common

even if it has secondary stress like it
does in this sentence. I have, I have.

I’m not reducing the vowel here, but I think
you probably would hear some people do that.

I have to go. Then the word ‘have’
is unstressed, that’s okay too.

But I’m making the AA vowel.
I –ave, I –ave, I –ave.

Next we have a V and a T.

I tend to make this V an F instead because
the next sound is unvoiced, ft, ft, ft.

So the bottom lip will come up and touch
the bottom of the top front teeth, ff.

Then the tongue goes to the roof
of the mouth for the T, ff.

The teeth are together and the air stops, ff, tt.

And I release the tongue and let the jaw drop a bit
for the next sound, which is the schwa, fft, fft.

Just a bit of jaw drop, the lips and tongue are
neutral, have to, have to, have to, have to go.

The final and most stressed word,
‘go’, begins with the G consonant.

So the back part of the tongue will
lift and touch the soft palate.

While the front part of the tongue stays
where it is, behind the bottom front teeth,

to g-, g-, g-, g-, to go.
To finish we have the OH as in NO diphthong.

Your jaw will need to drop for the
first half of that diphthong.

Then the jaw will come back up as the lips round,
go, oh, oh, for the second half of the diphthong,

go, go. I have to go,
da-Da-da-DA, I have to go.

Let’s watch one more time in slow motion.

This video is part of a series. Click
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If you have a phrase you’d like to suggest for
this series, please put it in the comments.

That’s it and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.