Improve Your Accent The Best METHOD Friends TV English Lessons

We’re studying English with
TV, and Ross is freaking out.

Okay, so I’m going to be the only one
standing there alone when the ball drops?

It’s New Year’s Eve and he doesn’t have
a date. We’re going to do an in-depth

analysis of this scene from Friends to
study English and the characteristics

of American English and the American
accent. Studying like this can help

you increase your listening comprehension
and confidence speaking English. You’ll get

fast English. And we’ll have fun talking about
the culture of New Year’s in the United States

as we go. I make new videos every Tuesday to
help you speak faster, more natural English,

you’ll even be watching TV without subtitles. If
you like this video or you learned something new,

please give it a thumbs up and subscribe with
notifications. I’d love to see you back here.

We’ve already studied two scenes from this
episode where the six friends make a pact

to spend New Year’s eve together, no
dates. But that’s not how it works out.

Let’s watch the full scene that we’ll study today.
Tell me something. What does the phrase

‘no date pact’ mean to you?
Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s

just that Chandler, has somebody, and Phoebe
has somebody, I thought I’d asked Fun Bobby!

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?
Yeah!

Okay, so on our no date evening, three
of you now are going to have dates.

Uh, four.
Four?

Five.
Five.

Sorry! Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.

Okay, so I’m going to be the only one
standing there alone when the ball drops?

Oh, come on! We’ll have, we’ll have a big
party and no one will know who’s with whom.

Ross is so upset he’s talking over Rachel’s
last phrase: who’s with whom? Who’s with who,

who’s with whom, which one do you use? When?
Don’t worry, we’ll go over when to use who and

whom later in this video. In a moment, we’ll do
the analysis. First, I want to make sure you know

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the series and blow up your vocabulary
this January. Now, let’s do that analysis.

Tell me something.

Tell me something. Tell me
something. Stress on tell. Tell me something.

And then some more on some as well. We have a
true T starting tell, that’s because it starts

a stressed syllable. This L is a dark L and you
do not need to lift your tongue tip there. The

next sound is a consonant and Americans wouldn’t
lift their tongue tip there. They would say tell,

uhl, that’s the dark L, it’s made with the back
of the tongue, so not the tip. Leave the tip down.

Tell me. Tell me. So right from that dark sound
into the M, with the lips closing. Tell me

something. Something, something, first syllable
stress, and he doesn’t say something. He says

somethin, somethin, somethin, he changes the NG
sound to just an N sound. Somethin. This TH is an

unvoiced TH and the tongue tip does have to come
through the teeth for that. Tell me something.

Tell me something.

What does the phrase ‘no date pact’ mean to you?

What does the phrase ‘no date pact’– what
does the phrase– so in the first part of

this sentence we have most of our stress on
what. What does the phrase– and then the

other three words just come in on the downward
shape of that pitch. What does the phrase,

what– do you notice that’s a stop T because
the next word begins with a consonant.

What does the phrase did you learn that this word
is pronounced does? That’s true when it’s fully

pronounced, but it’s often reduced like here,
and here it’s not does, but it’s: dzz, dzz,

and it links smoothly into the next word.
Does the, does the, does the, does the.

So ‘what’ is stressed, it has more length and up
down shape. What does the, does the, does the.

These two words are said more quickly and
they’re flatter. What does the phrase,

what does the phrase.

What does the phrase–

In the word ‘phrase’ the letter S makes the
Z sound. That’s a weak sound at the end,

so it’s not phrase, but it’s also not phrase,

an S, it’s got less air. Phrase,
phrase, phrase. What does the phrase–

What does the phrase–

‘no date pact’ mean to you?

No date pact. All of these words
have a bit of a stressed feel. No

date pact mean to you? So he’s making
this phrase clear. No date pact.

A little bit almost of a lift between each
word: da da da, rather than no date pact,

it’s not that linked together. No
date pact. Making each word more clear.

No date pact mean to you?

Even though he is making it more clear
and separating the words a little bit,

he does still make this a stop T. He doesn’t
say no date pact, no date, he says no date–

No date

pact mean to you?

Ending KT sound cluster, I’m trying
to decide if I think I hear the T,

i’m not totally sure I think it is
probably weakly released. Date pact, pact.

Date pact,

mean to you?

Mean to you? And then we have

three words mean has the most stress. Mean
to, mean to, the word to, it just comes in

on the way down from the peak of
stress of mean. Mean to, mean to.

Mean to,

you?

And it’s reduced, isn’t it? It’s not to you,
but it’s to you, to you. The vowel there

changes to the schwa. To you. It is a true T.
That can be reduced as well, but here, it’s not.

Mean to you? You, you. A little
bit of that up down shape.

Mean to you?

So a pact is a promise, but it’s
almost even stronger than a promise.

You’re really committing to doing
something when you make a pact.

No date pact mean to you?

No date pact mean to you?
Look, I’m sorry, okay?

Look, i’m sorry, the word look, said really
quickly, it’s flat, it’s not stressed. Look, look,

look, look, look, you might not even recognize
that as the word look. You might also hear listen.

Look, listen. Said at the beginning of a phrase
like this. She’s probably already said that she’s

sorry, she’s probably already apologized for this,
but he’s really upset about it. So he’s bringing

up the fact that she made a pact here. It wasn’t
just a minor commitment, she really committed.

Look, I’m sorry, okay?

I’m sorry, okay? Really smooth linking there. I’m
sorry, okay? No breaks, no skips in the voice,

just smooth connection. The M linking right
into the S, ms, ms, I’m sorry. Sorry with the AH

as in father vowel plus R. Make sure you
let your jaw drop and have some space before

you make the R. So– oh– sor– sorry. I’m
sorry, okay? The ending EE vowel, unstressed,

links right into the OH diphthong with no break.
Sorry, okay? And then the pitch goes up again.

I’m sorry, okay?

It’s just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe
has somebody, I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby.

It’s just that Chandler has somebody– So her
pitch goes up here because she’s listing things

and when we list things, our pitch goes up at
the end of each one. Chandler has somebody,

Phoebe has somebody, I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby.

So when we get here, I bet we’ll
see that the intonation goes down.

It’s just that Chandler has somebody, and Phoebe
has somebody, I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby, so it does. So she’s naming who has
dates for New Year’s and there are three people on

that list. So the intonation goes up for Chandler.
Chandler has somebody, Phoebe has somebody.

I thought I’d ask Fun Bobby. And then the
intonation goes down showing she’s done with

her list. So let’s talk about the intonation, the
stress of the first part of this thought group.

It’s just that Chandler has somebody,

it’s just that Chandler has somebody–

It’s just that Chandler has somebody– So because
the overall trend of this phrase is going up,

rather than our shape of stress being like
this, Chandler, it goes like this: Chandler has

somebody– the dips go down and up. It’s just
that, it’s just that. These three words said very

quickly. It’s just that, it’s just that, it’s just
that. Can you do that? To make that so smooth,

you need to drop the T like she does, and you need
to reduce the vowel, it’s not that, but it’s that,

that, that, a schwa said really quickly,
stop T because the next word begins with a

consonant. It’s just that, it’s just that,
it’s just that, it’s just that Chandler–

It’s just that Chandler–

has somebody–

She pronounces that with no D. Chandler
has somebody– the word has written an IPA

with the Z consonant. When a Z, an ending
Z, links into a beginning S like here, has

some, has some, it’s likely that you’ll drop
the Z to help link and just connect the S in.

Has somebody, has somebody, has somebody.
So you don’t need to try to make a Z,

Zzz– and then an S. Has somebody.
You can just connect them with an S.

Chandler has somebody–

I want to talk about her pronunciation of
somebody. So that’s not what you’ll see in a

dictionary, she’s giving that second syllable
stress. Somebody. The word is written in the

dictionary with first syllable stress, somebody,
or, so this vowel can be AH or UH. Somebody,

somebody, it can even be a schwa: somebody.
All three of those pronunciations work.

Obviously you can get by with doing it with
second syllable stress because she does.

But it’s not the actual pronunciation. More
common to hear with first syllable stress,

and I think this pronunciation is more
common, the UH as in butter: Somebody,

somebody. But here she does the AH
as in father: somebody.

Somebody–

and Phoebe has somebody–

And Phoebe has somebody– the
word and becomes: an an an an an.

Just very fast, linked right
into the F sound for Phoebe.

An an an an, and Phoe– and Phoe–
and Phoebe– Phoebe has somebody–

Same stress rather than: Phoebe has somebody.
It’s Phoebe– Phoe– it’s going up because she’s

listing things. Phoebe has somebody– she does
the same pronunciation here, where she stresses

the second syllable, and does the AH as in father
but more common would be first syllable stress,

and the UH as I’m butter, somebody, but
she says somebody. Again, has linking,

just drop that Z sound, put them
together quickly, Phoebe has somebody–

Phoebe has somebody–

I–

Somebody, I– somebody, I– A little bit
now, the pitch going back down on I, she

links those two together and then puts a break,
very smooth connection between somebody and I.

Somebody, I–

thought I’d ask Fun Bobby.

Thought I’d ask, thought I’d ask. Do
you hear how the stress goes da-da-da.

Thought I’d ask– i’d, unstressed,
lower in pitch, said more quickly,

thought, a little bit more length, there’s
a flap T there linking those two words.

Thought I’d, thought I’d, dadadadada, thought
I’d ask, thought I’d ask. Now the D here also

comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds, the
AI sound of i’d, and the AH vowel of ask. So a D

between two vowel or diphthongs is the same
as a T between two vowel or diphthongs,

and it’s a flap. Now here you’re saying wait,
these are not vowel or diphthongs. That’s true.

But when we’re talking about these rules, we’re
talking about sounds, not letters. So thought,

unvoiced TH, AW as in law, T. So now the T comes
between two vowel or diphthong sounds, that’s why

it’s a flap T. So these flaps
will help you smooth this out.

Thought I’d ask, dadadadad, because you don’t
have to stop the air for that. Thought I’d ask.

I thought I’d ask,

Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby. Fun, so the adjective here, his
nickname, he’s become known as not just Bobby, but

Fun Bobby. You must have a pretty good
personality if your nickname is Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby.

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

So this is a yes no question. Yes no questions
also tend to go up in intonation. So it’s

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend,
Fun Bobby? We have these uh, uh,

little glide down and then up in
pitch for our stressed syllables.

Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

Fun Bobby? Fun Bobby? It’s
different than statement form:

Fun Bobby, Fun Bobby. There, you’re telling
somebody. But when you say it with intonation,

Fun Bobby, you’re asking somebody. Did I
hear that right? Did you say Fun Bobby?

Fun Bobby?

Your ex-boyfriend, Fun Bobby?

Your ex-boyfriend, Your ex-boyfriend. The word
‘your’ gets reduced, doesn’t it? It’s not your,

it’s your, said quickly, your, your, your,
your ex, your ex, your ex. Your ex-boyfriend?

Your ex-boyfriend,

Fun Bobby?

Boyfriend, Fun Bobby? Boyfriend, Fun– No, that’s
not how we say that. It’s very common to drop the

D in this combination, N, D consonant.
And that’s what he does. He doesn’t say:

boyfriend fun– he says: boyfriend fun– right
from the N into the F, smooth connection, no D.

Boyfriend, Fun–

boyfriend, Fun Bobby?
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Statement, not asking, but
telling, answering. Yeah! Up down shape.

Yeah!

Okay, so on our no date evening–

Ross isn’t too happy, so he’s really stressing
a lot of words, isn’t he? Okay, okay,

second syllable stress, leading up to the
peak there on the diphthong. Okay. Okay.

Okay–

so on our no date evening–

So on our no date evening, and each one of
those words gets stressed. No date evening.

So on our no date evening–

So on our, so on our, these
words are less stressed, they

glide together really smoothly,
don’t they? So on our–

Sometimes, when people need to
link two vowel or diphthong sounds,

they have a hard time with that. Feels too
sloppy, but we want that. No break in sound.

On can be pronounced with AH as in
father, or AW as in law: so on–

It might help you to link if you think about
going through a W sound between those two.

So on, so on, so on our– then the N consonant
links right into the next word. So on our–

So on our–

I would say he’s making that the AH as in father
vowel plus R. It can be reduced, it can be:

er, er, so on our– so on our– but he’s saying:
so on our, so on out. Very smoothly connected.

So on our–

no-date evening–

No-date evening– with all of his stress,
he actually gives us a true T here in date.

I hear that release. And by fully pronouncing
that T, he’s making it feel even more stressed.

No date evening. He’s annoyed because they made
a pact, no one would bring a date, it would

just be the six of them, and now, Chandler,
Phoebe, and Monica, are all bringing dates.

No date evening–

Let’s look at the word evening. This
looks like it could be three syllables,

evening, but it’s not, eve-ning,
evening, first syllable stress, evening.

Evening–

three of you now–

Three of you now– some stress on three, three
of you now, and it all links together smoothly,

there are no breaks there. Three of
you now. Three of you now. Uhhh–

Three of you now–

See if you can do it that smoothly. Avoid the
temptation you may have to separate or more

clearly pronounce your words. Three of you now.
This is a little bit tricky, it’s the unvoiced TH,

R cluster, thr, thr, thr, so the tongue
tip starts just through the teeth.

Thr, then it pulls back into the
mouth, backing up just a little bit,

it’s still pretty far forward, but it’s not
touching anything. Thr, thr, three of you now–

The word of, I would write that with the
schwa V. Three of, three of, three of you now.

Three of you now–

are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates. So there
was a little break there, but now,

all of these words flow together really
smoothly. That’s a thought group. A thought

group is all of the words that flow
together very smoothly between breaks.

Are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates. Are going to have dates.

Dates, definitely the most stressed
word there. Are going to have,

are going to have, are going to have, going
to of course reduces to ‘gonna’, so common.

And the R consonant links right into
that G with no break. Are go– are go–

are going to– are going to– are going to–
are going to have, are going to have dates.

Are going to have dates.

Uh, four.

Uh, Uh, this is the thinking
vowel in American English.

UH as in butter, very relaxed, neck, throat, uh,
Uh, four. Up down shape of stress, statement.

Uh, four.

In IPA, you’ll see this with the AW as in
law vowel. When this vowel is followed by R,

it’s not pure, the R influences it, so it’s
not AH, far, but it’s AW, four, four. So

the lips around a little bit more and the tongue
shifts back a bit more than for a pure AW vowel.

Four.

Four. Four.. Ross replies. Four. Up down shape.

Four.

Uh, Five.

Uh, Uh, Five. Rachel has to correct him. She also
has a date. Uh, Five. Up down shape of stress.

Uh, Five.

Five.

Five. Five. Again, quick up down shape. He’s
not saying: Five? How could there be Five?

But he’s saying: Five. Statement.
Acknowledging that it’s happening.

Five.

Sorry.

Sorry. Sorry. By making her intonation
go up, her attitude sort of looks like

not really sorry, right? She’s not
saying: Sorry, Sorry, but: Sorry, Sorry.

Sorry.

Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.

Paulo’s catching– a little bit of stress on
the name, Paulo’s catching, more on the verb.

Paolo is catching an earlier flight. So
we have quite a few stressed words there.

Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.

So the other syllables of our stressed words don’t
have that stressed feel. Paulo’s, lo’s, lo’s, two

unstressed syllables, lower in pitch. Paulo’s
catching an– ching an– the unstressed syllable

there, linking into the article. Ching an–
ching an– Lower in pitch, that’s a valley

compared to this peak. Catching an earlier–
two more unstressed syllables here in our stress

words. They’re also flatter in pitch and said more
quickly. Catching an earlier flight. And she does

do a light true T release there. It’s pretty
common to make a stop T in a case like that.

Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.

But everything links together really
smoothly, ending N consonant into the stressed

syllable here. Er– beginning with the UR as in
bird vowel, R consonant combination. Er, you don’t

need much jaw drop for that sound. Er, earlier,
an earlier, an earlier, an earlier flight.

An earlier flight.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. First syllable stress. This word can
go either way. Okay. It actually sounds kind of

like he’s making it a G. Okay, okay. You’ll
definitely hear that every once in a while.

Okay.

So I’m going to be–

So I’m going to be–
Really quick, little break there.

So I’m going to be– So I’m going to be–
He really stresses i’m– So I’m going to be– He’s

feeling really bad. There are six of them and now
he is the only one who will be alone. Going to,

Gonna. Gonna be– gonna be–
Everything really smoothly connected.

So I’m going to be–

the only one–

The only one– Again, just a little lift here.

He’s breaking this out, and really
stressing it. The only one. The word the,

pronounced here with the EE as in she vowel
because the next word begins with the diphthong.

We do that when the next word begins with the
vowel or diphthong, at least that’s the rule,

but I have noticed we don’t follow it that
closely. But here, he does. The only, the only.

The only–

one.

The only one. The only one.

The only one–

standing there alone when the ball drops?

When you listen to a fragment like this on a
loop, you really hear the rhythm of it, don’t you?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Dadadadadadadadada. It really starts to sound and
feel like music. Standing there alone when the

ball drops? Standing there alone– so we can
really feel our stress. Standing there alone

when the ball drops? Yes/no question so the pitch
goes up. Standing there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

If you think of it as a song,
as music, does it help you

with the speed of it? Standing
there alone when the ball drops?

Standing there alone when the ball drops?

So our unstressed syllables: ding there a– ding

there a– ding there a– ding there a– ding there
a– have less mouth movement, so we can get them

out more quickly. Ding there a– ding there
a– standing there alone when the ball drops?

When the, when the, when the,
when the, when the, when the.

Say those as quickly and as simply
as you can. When the ball drops?

When the ball drops?

Ball drops? Let’s talk about our L here. It’s a
dark L and it’s followed by a consonant so you

don’t need to lift your tongue tip for that.
Ball uhl uhl. That dark sound is made with

the back part of the tongue, the tip doesn’t
have to do anything. So don’t move your tip.

That will just slow things down. Keep
your tongue tip down. Ball drops?

Ball drops?

The DR cluster often gets turned
into what sounds like a JR,

and I think that’s what he’s doing here:
jrrops– instead of: drops, jjj– drops.

Drops?

Oh, come on!

Oh, come on! Come on– she let sort of a
popcorn, nasal quality come into her voice.

Sort of showing sympathy, but
also kind of fake sympathy.

Oh, come on!

Oh, Oh, come on! Oh, come on! Two-word
phrase, stress on the first word,

they link together smoothly, and the intonation
just falls down for the word on. Come on.

Oh, come on!

We’ll have, we’ll have a big party–

We’ll have, we’ll have– so she repeats herself,

We’ll have, and as she gets more excited,
her intonation goes up, we’ll have–

We’ll have, we’ll have–

Notice ‘we will’ is being pronounced: wuhl,
wuhl, I would write that with the schwa,

wuhl, wuhl, wuhl, and that’s a dark L, again, do
not lift your tongue tip. Takes too much time,

it’s an unstressed word said very quickly,
not necessary, it’s just going to mess up

the sound. Over here, too. Wuhl, wuhl,
wuhl, wuhl, we’ll have, we’ll have–

We’ll have, we’ll have–

a big party–

We’ll have a big party– we’ll have a–
va– The V sound links right into the

schwa for a very smooth connection.
We’ll have a big party. Big party.

We’ll have a big party–

What do you notice about the T here?

Big party–

It looks like it’s pronounced.
Party. Is that true?

Big party–

No, that’s a flap T. So the rule for
flap T is it’s a flap T if it comes

between two vowel or diphthong sounds,
or if it comes after an R before a vowel

or diphthong. And that’s what we have here.
Party. Party. Rararara. Flap of the tongue.

Party–

and no one will know who’s with who.

N- no one– n- no one–
Again, she starts and restarts.

Two N sounds: nnnn— n- no one–

N- no one– n- no one– no
one will know who’s with who.

No one will know who’s with who. So we have
stress on no, no one will know who’s with who.

No one will know who’s with who.

And this word starts to get cut
off because Ross starts talking.

Actually, it’s probably: who’s with whom. You
can’t hear it, but grammatically, that’s correct.

So this is the object that’s why we put the
M. If you can replace who with the word he,

then it’s just who. If you can replace it with
the word him, then it’s whom. Same with she or

her. So does it make sense to say he’s with her?
Yes, it does. Therefore, it’s who’s with whom.

No one will know who’s with who.

So we have our stress on no and know,
different words, different spellings, but

same pronunciation. N consonant, OH diphthong. No
one will– now, how is the word will pronounced?

No one will know–

No one will know, no one will– it’s really like
just a contraction. I don’t think you can get away

with writing it like this, but in pronunciation,
definitely. No one will know who’s with who.

No one will know who’s with who.

No one will know who’s–

So the word who and whom, those both have a silent
W, written in IPA, H, U, the apostrophe S adds a

light Z sound, who’s, who’s, who’s with whom.
Whom in IPA. No one will know who’s with whom.

The word ‘with’ said quickly: with,
with, with, with. With whom, with whom.

No one will know who’s with who.

Let’s listen to this whole
conversation one more time

Tell me something. What does the
phrase ‘no date pact’ mean to you?

Look, I’m sorry, okay? It’s just that Chandler,
has somebody, and Phoebe has somebody, I

thought I’d asked Fun Bobby!
Fun Bobby? Your ex-boyfriend,

Fun Bobby?
Yeah!

Okay, so on our no date evening, three
of you now are going to have dates.

Uh, four.
Four?

Five. .
Five. .

Sorry! Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.
Okay, so I’m going to be the only one

standing there alone when the ball drops?
Oh, come on! We’ll have, we’ll have a big

party and no one will know who’s with whom.

Next week, we’ll study the final scene in this

four-part series. We’re at the party counting
down to midnight. Here’s the scene we’ll study.

In 20 seconds, it’ll be midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.

Looks like that no date pact thing worked out?
Happy New Year!

You know? I just thought I’d throw this out here,

I’m no math whiz but I do believe there
are three girls and three guys right here.

Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.

So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No. You can’t kiss Ross,

that’s your brother.
Oh yeah.

Well perfect, perfect. So now
everybody’s going to kiss but me?

All right, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me!
It’s midnight! Somebody kiss me! It’s midnight!

If you didn’t catch all that,
don’t worry, you’ll get the full

in-depth analysis next week. So stick with me,

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youtube channel, including this one. And don’t
forget to subscribe with notifications. I make

new videos on the English language every Tuesday
and I’m doing a 30-day vocabulary challenge in

January that you won’t want to miss. That’s it
and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.