FAST ENGLISH You CAN

Today, we’re taking a scene from TV. An episode of

Friends. They’re talking about
New Year’s Eve and making a pact.

I say this year, no dates, we make
a pact, just the six of us, dinner.

We’re going to study that conversation, actually,
four conversations, to learn some vocabulary

words, idioms, but more importantly, to study the
rhythm of American English. How do Americans speak

so fast? And why do they speak so fast? We’ll
study reductions and you’ll get fast English.

Also, 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 and more natural English,

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

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

For the next four weeks, we’re taking four
scenes, all from the same Friends episode,

season 1 episode 10, all about their New Year’s
eve pact. We’re going to do an in-depth analysis

of the pronunciation. Studying this way
is critical to understanding Americans

and being easily understood yourself.
Here’s the scene we’ll study today.

Hey, do you guys know what
you’re doing for New Year’s?

Wait, what? What is wrong with New Year’s?
Well, nothing for you. You have Paolo,

you don’t have to face the horrible pressures of
this holiday. Desperate scramble to find anything

with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss
when the ball drops, man, I’m talking loud.

Well, for your information, Paolo is
going to be in Rome this New Year so

I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.
It’s just that I’m sick of being a victim

of this Dick Clark holiday. I say this year, no
dates, we make a pact. Just the six of us, dinner.

You know, I was hoping for
a little more enthusiasm.

Next up is our in-depth analysis. When
we study like this, you can really start

to see the give and take. Stressed and
unstressed, and the linking between words.

These are the things that make up the
character, the feel of American English.

But also, they’re the very things that
make understanding English so hard

if what you’ve learned is that each
word is separate and fully pronounced.

Hey, do you guys know what
you’re doing for New Year’s?

We start with the word hey. But it’s said
pretty quickly, it sort of has an abrupt stop.

Hey. Hey. Hey. So it still has that up down
shape, but it doesn’t go hey. Hey. Hey. Hey.

Hey

So this word can be a greeting word, when you
see someone on the street that you know. Hey,

how are you doing? Or you walk into
work and you see a co-worker there.

Hey, how are you doing today? This is not being
used as a greeting here. They’re already there.

She probably greeted them when they walked in.
Here, it’s being used a little bit differently,

it’s just to get their attention to announce
that she’s about to say something. Hey. Hey.

Hey,. Hey, do you guys know what
you’re doing for New Year’s?

Then she asks her question. Do you guys
know what you’re doing for New Year’s? So

more stress on you, do you guys know what
you’re doing, also doing, for New Year’s,

and then the event, New Year’s, compound word,
first word will get more stress, New Year’s,

like eyeball or basketball. It’s the first
word of a compound word that is more stressed.

Do you guys know what you’re doing for New Year’s?

And it’s all extremely smooth. It’s not do you
guys know what, but do you guys know what, do you

guys know what. Knowing your stressed syllable can
help you smooth things out. There’s no stopping,

no breaks you just smoothly glide your energy
towards that stressed word. Do you guys know

what you’re doing. Do you guys know what you’re
doing. See if you can imitate it that smoothly.

It might feel unclear to you, but this
is what’s natural in American English.

do you guys know what you’re doing.

I would put a little bit of length on know
as well. Do you guys know what you’re doing

for New Year’s? Know what you’re, know what
you’re. Do you know what’s happening here? Do

you hear that? It’s not what you’re,
but it’s what you’re, what you’re–

do you guys know what you’re doing–

When a word ends in a T and the next word
begins with Y, most commonly you or your,

it’s pretty common to make that final
T a CH instead. So it’s not what

you’re, but what you’re, what
you’re, what you’re, what you’re.

And the word ‘you’re’ reduces. It’s not you’re but
it’s said very quickly: you’re, you’re, you’re,

you’re. You can’t make that quickly enough.
What you’re, what you’re, what you’re doing.

What you’re doing,

for New Year’s?

And then we have another reduction: for New
Year’s, for New Year’s, it’s not for, but: fur,

fur, fur. And when we reduce it like we want to,

we want to make sure that it glides really
smoothly, connects with no break into the

next word. So it’s not for New Year’s,
but for New Year’s, for New Year’s,

uuh. As if it’s just another syllable in the
same word. For New Year’s. For New Year’s.

For New Year’s?

It’s so different speaking this way.
Most of my students have learned

to make words separate, clearer, do you
guys know what you’re doing for New Year’s?

But that’s not at all how Americans speak, we
glide it together so smoothly. No breaks in sound.

Do you guys know what you’re doing for New Year’s?

New Year’s is short for New Year’s Eve, the
night before New Year’s Day, when we celebrate.

If we were going to talk about New
Year’s Day, we would probably say

all of that, if you hear just New Year’s,
that means the night before New Year’s day.

New Year’s–

Gee! What?

Oh my gosh, guys. I almost forgot. I want to
let you know that in January, right here on this

channel, I’m doing a 30 Day Vocabulary Challenge.
A new video every day for 30 days, we’re learning

words off the academic word list over 100 words,
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the download, please follow the link in the video
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card. Let’s supercharge your vocabulary
in January. And now back to the analysis.

Gee! What? Big, up down shapes of stress there.
Gee! What? Her pitch is a little bit higher.

She’s surprised that question got this reaction.

Gee! What?

The exclamation ‘Gee!’ the letter
G there makes the Jjj– J sound.

It’s not gee, gee, with a
hard G, but jjj— gee! Gee!

Gee!

What?

Gee! What? Really light release of the true T
there. It’s not what, but what, super light.

What?

What is wrong with New Year’s?

What is wrong with New Year’s? And then she
starts laughing towards the end of her phrase.

What is wrong with New Year’s?

What, wrong, new, our three most stressed
words there. What is, I would say here the

stress is going up, what is wrong with New
Year’s? And then on new, it starts coming

down. What is wrong with New Year’s? Notice how
these two words link together? What is, what is,

they link very smoothly with the flap T. When
a word ends in a vowel or diphthong plus T, and

the next word begins a vowel or diphthong, that’s
going to be a flap T to link: what is, what is.

What is

wrong with New Year’s?

In the word wrong, the W is silent,

and actually, in the word what, the H
is silent. Now, there is a pronunciation

where there is a little escape of air. What,
what, but that’s not very common anymore.

Now really we just do a clean W sound: what, what,
what is wrong? What is wrong with New Year’s?

What is wrong with New Year’s?

The word with, this word is unstressed. What
is wrong with New Year’s? And the unvoiced TH

here said so quickly, I almost don’t even hear it.
With New Year’s? With New Year’s? With New Year’s?

It’s almost as if it’s dropped to help link
those words smoothly, and to help make this word

‘with’ said very quickly, because it’s unstressed,
and we want that contrast with the longer

stressed words. Again, everything
links together very smoothly.

What is wrong with New Year’s?

Well, nothing for you. You
have Paulo. You don’t have

to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.

Now he has a really long thought group here. I
would write it with several different periods

to break it up into different sentences, when
he says it, he really doesn’t take any breaks. He

says the whole thing connected smoothly until he
gets to the end of holiday where he puts a break.

Well, nothing for you. You have Paulo. You don’t have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.

Well, nothing for you. Well, said very quickly
and the word ‘for’ how was that pronounced?

Well, nothing for you.

Nothing for, nothing for, it’s
reduced, again, it’s not for,

it’s for, and that’s said quickly, it’s
unstressed, it’s lower in pitch. Nothing

for, both of these syllables unstressed, coming
down from that peak of stress in ‘noth–’

Now this is the letter O, it makes the UH
vowel like in love, butter, stuff. Nuh–nuh–

nothing for, nothing for.

Nothing for,

you.

Nothing for you. You, stressing you, kind
of an up down, and then up again, you,

that really brings those changes of pitch, really
brings stress to that word. Nothing for you.

Nothing for you,

You have Paolo.

You have Paolo. You have Paolo.

The peak of stress there, the stressed
syllable of her boyfriend’s name Paolo,

and then it falls down in pitch afterwards.
You and have, both go up towards that.

You have, you have, you have. Do you notice
he’s dropping the H there. That’s a common

reduction in the word have. You have, you
have, you have, you have, you have Paulo.

You have Paolo.

Linking and reductions. Such an important
part to sounding natural speaking English.

You have Paolo. You have Paolo. You have Paolo.

You don’t have to face the horrible pressures–

You don’t have to face the horrible pressures–
Some stress on face, the adjective, horrible,

and the noun, pressures. Both of
those have first syllable stress.

You don’t have to face the horrible pressures.

You don’t have to– now we have four words there
before our stressed word face. What do you think

are they pronounced? You don’t have to, you don’t
have to. No, I doubt it. That’s too clear isn’t

it? These are unstressed words. Let’s listen
to how just those four words are pronounced.

You don’t have to–

You don’t have to– you don’t have to–
you don’t have to– you don’t have to–

It’s very different, isn’t it? Linking together
very smoothly. You don’t, I would say the T

there is dropped, N apostrophe T. We have a
couple different pronunciations. It can be

don’t, with the true T, that’s the least common.
It can be: don’t have, don’t have, with a stop T,

that’s common, but it can also be don’t have,
don’t have, with no T, that’s also pretty common.

Here, he’s dropped the T completely, you don’t
have to, don’t have, the N goes right into the

AA vowel of have, because guess what? He
also dropped the H just like he did here.

You don’t have to–

You don’t have to– You don’t have to– You don’t have to–

The V very very week, the T certainly not a true T

You don’t have to– And it’s a very week flap T then schwa for the word to.

So I’m going to say it slowly so we can hear it but of course it isn’t the right pace.

don’t have to– don’t have to–

but it’s said much more quickly. Don’t have to– don’t have to– don’t have to–

You don’t have to– You don’t have to– You don’t have to–

You don’t have to–

If everything was said that way,
Americans wouldn’t be able to

understand English, but it’s funny, we can
say half of our words that way, but when

we have our stressed syllables and our stress
words in there too, we understand everything.

You don’t have to–

face the horrible pressures of–

Face, on the other hand, is quite clear.

Face the horrible,

Face the horrible, face the, face the, much
clearer than what we’ve just heard you don’t have

to. The word the, it’s unstressed, it’s a quick
little word linking these two stressed syllables.

The the the the the. When we have
an unstressed word like this,

where it begins with a voiced TH, the, this,
these, those, you don’t have to bring the tongue

tip through. The tongue tip can touch the backs
of the teeth, you don’t want it at the roof of

the mouth coming down, because that’s going to
sound like a D, duh, but just touching the backs

of the teeth, the the the the, straight ahead
in the back, the the the, face the horrible.

Face the horrible,

So the word horrible has first syllable
stress. I would pronounce it with the AW

as in law, followed by R. That’s the most common
pronunciation. When this vowel is followed by R,

it’s not pure, but it becomes ho-oh-oh– horrible,
a little bit more lip rounding, and the tongue

shifts back a little bit more. He’s pronouncing
it with a vowel more like the AH vowel like in

father, har har har horrible, horrible, but this
one’s more common. Hor hor hor horrible, horrible.

Horrible,

pressures of this holiday.

Horrible pressures of this holiday.

So we have stress on horr– press–
hol– also the first syllable of holiday.

Horrible pressures of this holiday.

Pressures of this, the unstressed
syllable of the word pressures, and

the words of and this , are all unstressed, said
more quickly. Ssures of this, ssures of this.

Pressures of this–

holiday.

The word ‘of’, he’s actually not
reducing that to just the schwa.

He is making the v sound. Pressures
of this, of this. The word this

rising up towards the peak of
stress in holiday. This holiday.

And notice the double S here in pressures is the
SH sound. Pressures. Pressures of this holiday.

Pressures of this holiday.

Don’t separate your words out with gaps
and spaces. Link them together smoothly.

Pressures of this holiday.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips just

so you can have somebody to kiss when
the ball drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Now, again another very long thought group.
This should be written as multiple sentences,

but he doesn’t stop, he just keeps his energy
going, linking word after word after word.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips just

so you can have somebody to kiss when
the ball drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips–
Can you sense the stressed syllables there?

Let’s listen to just that on a loop three times.
Desperate scramble to find anything with lips–

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips–

Those are our four stressed
words, stressed syllables.

Desperate scramble to find anything with lips–

Let’s talk about the first word: desperate. So
this is one of those words that can be pronounced

as two syllables or three, just like family and
camera. Desperate. It’s a little bit more common

to just make it two syllables, so instead of
des-per-ate, it becomes desperate, desperate.

Desperate, desperate, desperate.

The first syllable ends in S, and the second
syllable has the PR cluster. Desperate.

Desperate. First syllable stress there. Desperate
scramble. Now the T in desperate is a stop T,

because the next word begins with a consonant.
So it’s not desperate, but desperate,

desperate scramble. That stop of air is
what signifies the T. Desperate scramble.

Desperate scramble. Desperate
scramble. Desperate scramble to find–

Desperate scramble to find– scramble to find–
Before our next stressed syllable, anything,

the EH as in bed vowel, we have unstressed
syllables, the second syllable of scramble,

the word to, and the word find. They’re all lower
in pitch, flatter. Scramble to find anything–

Scramble to– ble to– Do you
notice that’s not a true T?

That’s a flap T. Scramble to– The tongue just
flaps or taps against the roof of the mouth.

It’s said quickly, it’s not the OO vowel, but
the schwa. Scramble to– scramble to find.

Scramble to find–

And he doesn’t really make a D here. I’ve played
it in slow motion, and I don’t really hear any

of that D sound. I certainly don’t hear ddd– a
released D. Let’s listen to this in slow motion.

Find,

find anything with lips–

And he just keeps on going, doesn’t he? He speaks
pretty quickly here, and it’s not just the pacing

but it’s that there are no breaks,
that’s what makes it harder to bring in,

and it’s part of his character, I’ve noticed
that Chandler does this a lot when he’s speaking.

He runs sentences together.

Find anything with lips.

Anything with lips. So the TH
in anything, that’s unvoiced,

the tongue tip does have to come through
the teeth for that. Anything with lips.

Anything with lips.

And the unvoiced TH in ‘with’ said very very
quickly: with lips, with lips, with lips.

With lips.

just so you can have somebody to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can have somebody–
just so you can have somebody to–

Wow a lot of words there that are less stressed

and flatter before our next stressed
word ‘kiss’. Kiss when the ball drops–

Just so you can have somebody
to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can have somebody to–
That’s not how that’s pronounced,

we have some reductions, and it’s
said very quickly. The word just,

it’s really common to drop that T when
the next word begins with the consonant.

So these two words link together with an S. Just
so, just so, just so, just so, just so, just so.

Just so–

you can have
somebody to kiss when the ball drops.

Just so you can– can can can.
The word can reduces. That schwa

is said instead of the AA vowel, can becomes can.
Just so you can, just so you can, just you can,

just so you can. The word so, it’s that OH
diphthong, so, but it’s not said that clearly,

is it? It’s not just so, but it’s just so you
can, I think I would write that with the schwa.

Just so you can, just so you can,
just so you can, just you can.

Just so you can–

So you can have somebody, so you can have,
so you can have, so you can have. I don’t

think I hear an H there. Again, dropping the
H in half, the N linking into the AA vowel.

Can have, can have, can have, can have,
can have somebody, can have somebody,

can have somebody. A little bit of
stress on our stressed syllable there.

So you can have somebody, so you can
have somebody, so you can have somebody.

Again, the letter O, makes the UH vowel like and
butter. Some, some, some, somebody, somebody,

somebody. It’s not some body. This word by
itself, body, but in the whole word, body.

Body. Somebody. Somebo– that’s the
schwa. Somebody. Somebody. Somebody.

Somebody–

Now, the word to. How is it pronounced?

Somebody to–

Somebody to– body to– The tongue flaps for
the D because it comes between two vowels and

it flaps for the T. It actually sounds the
same. Flap T, flap D, they sound the same.

Somebody to, somebody to, and
again, the vowel in ‘to’ reduces,

it’s the schwa, it’s not the OO vowel.
Somebody to, somebody to, somebody to kiss.

Somebody to kiss–

when the ball drops.

Kiss when the ball drops. You can really
feel that shape of stress. Kiss when the–

When and the, lower in pitch, not stressed,
less important. Kiss when the ball drops.

Kiss when the ball drops. Kiss when the
ball drops. Kiss when the ball drops.

Ball drops. The DR cluster, you know, there’s
a pronunciation that’s more common than

DR, and it’s JR. Jr jr jr draw, draw, draw.

So rather than draw, it’s draw, you
can make a J sound there. Drops.

Ball drops. Ball drops. Ball
drops. Man, I’m talking loud.

Man, I’m talking loud. Lots of
stress on man. Man, I’m talking loud.

A little bit on loud.

Man, I’m talking loud.

The word man, if you looked it up in the
dictionary, you would see the AA vowel,

but it’s not pure when it’s followed by N.

The back of the tongue relaxes, so it goes
through another sound, mauh– uh uh uh uh–

you can think of it as being the UH as
in butter vowel, or the schwa. Man, man,

man, I’m talking loud. Man I’m talkin–

Talking. The L in this word is silent.

Man, I’m talking loud.

And rather than making an ING ending,

He drops the NG and makes just an N.
Talkin, talkin, talkin loud, talkin loud.

Talkin loud.

The final D in loud is not released
like that. It’s not loud, but it’s loud.

Tongue goes up into position, the vocal
cords vibrate, but it’s unreleased.

That’s the most common pronunciation for
a D at the end of a thought group. Loud.

Loud. Loud. Loud.

Well, for your information.

Well, for your information. Here, Rachel slows
down and gets extra clear with her pronunciation,

because Chandler’s made an assumption about her
and it’s wrong. He thinks that her boyfriend

will be in town for New Year’s, she won’t have to
worry about being alone, so, but he’s going to be

out of town. So she slows down, she pronounces
things a little bit more carefully, because

she’s calling him out on his assumption. She’s
saying you made an assumption, and it was wrong.

Well, for your information.

Well, well, well, this is just
like when she said: hey, hey.

It’s got a quick up down shape but it feels a
little abrupt. Well, well, now the for reduction,

you know, it’s unstressed, but I don’t
know that I would write it with a schwa.

Like I said she’s being a little bit more
clear here than normal conversation. For your,

for your, for your. I think I am hearing
more of that AW, R combination rather than:

fer yer fer yer fer yer, which would be a little
bit more conversational, much more common would

be the reduction. But she’s being extra clear
here. She wants to set the record straight.

Well, for your information.

For your information. So a little bit of shape of
stress on your, and information. Notice we have

FOR in this word, it’s not information, it’s
always information, it’s always the schwa in the

pronunciation. That’s an unstressed syllable in
a word that may be stressed, but still unstressed

syllables will be unstressed. Information.
–mation. TION, making the sounds SH, schwa, N.

For your information.

Paulo is going to be in Rome this New Year’s.

Paolo is going to be in Rome this New
Year’s. Paolo, stressed, is going to be in

Rome, stressed, this New Year’s,
she stresses new but it’s going up,

because she’s going to keep
going, she’s not done talking.

Paolo is going to be in Rome this New Year’s.

What about ‘is going to be’
in our unstressed words here?

Is going to be in– is going
to be in– is going to be in–

Is going to be in–

Do you hear, when we listen to just those
unstressed words, how much they’re on the same

pitch, it’s so different than our stressed words
that really have a change in pitch. Paolo, uh–

is going to be in– uhhh–

I love that about studying pronunciation.
Stressed syllables have a pitch change

happening ,unstressed syllables tend to
have much less pitch change happening.

Now, sometimes they’re coming down
from a stress syllable, or leading

up to a stressed syllable, but they don’t
have a change of direction, and this set here,

this set of unstressed words is so flat. Is going
to be, becomes: is gonna, is gonna, gonna, gonna.

Is gonna be in, be in, be in, be in,
linking together really smoothly, no break.

Is going to be in,

Rome this New Year’s.

Rome this New Year’s. This, said quickly.

Rome this New Year’s, and it’s
going to be lower in pitch.

Rome this New Year’s.

So I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.

So I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.
Just, pathet– our stressed syllable of pathetic,

and rest, are our most stressed words
there. Let’s look at ‘so I’ll be’.

So I’ll be–

So I’ll be– so I’ll be–
so I’ll be– so I’ll be–

Her pitch is pretty high here, it’s a
little bit flatter, so I’ll be just–

the energy going towards our stressed syllable
there. Just. This word is so often pronounced as

‘all’ but I do hear it a little bit
more with that AI diphthong. I’ll,

I’ll, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll. So I’ll be–
so I’ll be– so I’ll be– so I’ll be–

So I’ll be–

just as pathetic as the rest of you.

Just as pathetic– just as–

So here we have an ST cluster. The next word
begins with a vowel, so you do link the T in.

It’s not ‘as’ though. She makes that a schwa.
The word as, often becomes uz, just as, just as.

Just as, just as, just as
pathetic as the rest of you.

Just as pathetic as– again,
the word as becomes: uz uz uz

uz, uz the uz the uz the. Lower in
pitch, two unstressed words here.

Just as pathetic as–

Now, our stress word, pathetic. The TH there is
unvoiced. Bring your tongue tip through the teeth.

Then we have a letter T, it comes
between two vowels, that’s a flap,

not a true T but ra, a flap
T. Pathetic. Rarara, rerere.

Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic as the rest of you.

Pathetic as the rest of you.

Rest of you. The word of reduces, of of of of of.
Schwa, said more quickly. Rest of you. And that

T links into the vowel with a
light true T release. Rest of you.

The rest of you.

It’s just that I’m sick of being a victim–

It’s just that I’m sick of being a victim–
He’s really angry here, isn’t he? Sick of being a

victim. He’s holding on to that V a little bit
which brings more stress into that syllable.

A victim is someone who’s harmed by something
unpleasant. Or someone who’s fooled by something,

cheated by something, or someone. He
feels that he’s a victim of this holiday.

He’s harmed by the expectations that you
bring a date on this holiday. It’s too much

pressure, and it makes his life
difficult at this time of year.

It’s just that I’m sick of being a victim–

It’s just that I’m– said really quickly.

It’s just that I’m–

I don’t even really hear it ‘it’s’. It’s more like
I’m hearing the sound starting with just, even

though I know ‘it’s’ belongs there grammatically.
Just that I’m, just that I’m, just that I’m,

just that I’m. T dropped in just, vowel reduced
in that, it becomes the schwa, that that that,

just that I’m, just that I’m. And the T that
links these two words together is a flap because

it comes between two vowel or diphthong sounds.
Just that I’m, just that I’m, just that I’m.

Just that I’m–

sick of being a victim–

Sick of being a victim– sick of being a–
Unstressed words, less clear, the word ‘of’ say

that quickly with a schwa. Sick of being– I’m not
really sure if I’m hearing a V. You can definitely

get away with dropping it and just link that schwa
into the B sound. A being, a being, a being, a

being a, being a. The letter A also just the schwa
in IPA. Being a, being a. Sick of being a victim.

Sick of being a victim–

of this Dick Clark–

Victim of this, of this, of this, of this–

Again, the word ‘of’ just the
schwa. Linking into the next word.

In this case, the word this. Of this– of this–
of this– of this– victim of this Dick Clark–

Victim of this Dick Clark–

Dick Clark. So we have two ending K’s. He puts
a little break here, he does release that K.

This sound, he doesn’t. When the next word
begins with a consonant, and we have an ending K,

it’s pretty common to drop the release and just
stop the air by lifting the back of the tongue

against the soft palate. That’s
the position for K. Dick–

but skipping that release of air.
Instead of the release of air,

you just go into the next sound, in this case,
it’s another K sound. Dick Clark. Dick Clark.

Dick Clark–

Dick Clark used to host a show every New
Year’s Eve, televised from New York City,

where there would be concerts, different bands
would play, I think there was a parade maybe,

a lot of energy around times square,
lots of people gathered there. And

then at midnight the ball would drop. So
Dick Clark was the TV host of this event.

Dick Clark–

holiday.
I say this year, no dates–

Holiday. I say this year– so again,

he links the sentences together with
no break. Holiday. I say this year–

Holiday. I say this year–

Holiday I– hol– Stress on holiday.
Holiday. I say this year. I say this year.

Holiday. I say this year–

no dates–

This year– this year– No dates.
More stress on this and no.

This year, no dates–

we make a pact.

We make a pact. A pact is an agreement
that you enter into with other people.

Or it could also be between two
companies, organizations, or countries.

Make and pact, stressed. We
make a pact. The words we and a,

unstressed, lower in pitch, we make a pact,
and everything does link together. We make a

pact. The ending K here links into the schwa,
and he does do a full release of the KT cluster.

We make a pact.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Now let’s listen to this next sentence.
I’m not going to tell you what the most

stressed syllables are. I want you to
listen to it three times and you tell

me what you think the most stressed syllables are.

Just the six of us, dinner.

Some stress on just. Just the six of us, dinner.
And then dinner. Even though just has some stress,

the T is still dropped because it comes between
two consonants. And that’s just so common. Just

the six of us. The letter X makes the sounds KS
here. Six of us. Six of– links right into the

schwa of ‘of’ and I do hear the V. Six of us–
which links into the UH vowel for us. Six of us.

Six of us,

dinner.

Dinner. Dinner. First syllable
stress. DA-da. Dinner.

Dinner.

Sure!

Sure! Sure! Rachel gives a quick up down
shape high pitch, sure, sure. There are a

couple different ways to pronounce this word. She
did it with the UR vowel R combination, like in

bird. Ur ur ur. So it’s really just two sounds
SH and R. Sure. Sh-rr. Sh-rr. Sure. Sure.

Sure!

You know, I was hoping for
a little more enthusiasm.

You know, you know, the word you, said so quickly,
you almost don’t hear it. You know, you know,

you know. In this phrase, it’s really common
to reduce the word you to ya ya ya. You know,

and stress is there on the verb. You know.

You know,

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm. And actually, he
wasn’t done there. He said:

I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm than that. I didn’t even write it down
because I didn’t even notice at the beginning.

It’s so low in pitch, coming
down after the stress of

enthu– and then also other
people start cheering over it.

Enthusiasm than that.

I was– these two words become: I was, I was,

low in pitch, flatter, I would write was
with the schwa. Was, was, I was, I was.

I was–

I was– I was– I was– I was hoping.

I was hoping.

Hoping. I’m having a hard time deciding,
I think he does change the NG to just N,

but this is said so quickly, I almost can’t
tell. Hoping for a little, hoping for a

little. Definitely the word for becomes fur, the R
links into the schwa, for a, for a, for a, for a.

Hoping for a little,

more enthusiasm.

Hoping for a little more enthusiasm. So little
and more, also flatter. They don’t really have

the stressed shape that hopin' and enthusiasm
have. Little, little, little, rararararara.

Do you hear that? It’s a flap T.

That’s because it comes between two vowels. Now
you’re probably looking here and you’re saying,

wait, the L is a consonant, that’s not a vowel.

True. But we’re talking not about the
letters here, but about the sounds,

and in IPA, that ending is written schwa L. So now
you see the T sound does come between two vowels,

therefore, it’s a flap T. Little, little,
little, little more, little more, little more.

Little more,

enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm. The TH there is the unvoiced TH,
and the tongue tip does have to come through

the teeth for that. Enthusiasm. Both of these
letters S make a Z sound. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm.

Let’s listen to this whole
conversation one more time.

Hey, do you guys know what
you’re doing for New Year’s?

Wait, what? What is wrong with New Year’s?
Well, nothing for you. You have Paolo,

you don’t have to face the horrible pressures of
this holiday. Desperate scramble to find anything

with lips just so you can have somebody to kiss
when the ball drops, man, I’m talking loud.

Well, for your information, Paolo is
going to be in Rome this New Year so

I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.
It’s just that I’m sick of being a victim

of this Dick Clark holiday. I say this year, no
dates, we make a pact. Just the six of us, dinner.

You know, I was hoping for
a little more enthusiasm.

So what happens with the pact? Next
week, we’re going to study this scene.

I just want to be with him all
the time. You know, day and night,

and night and day, and special occasions.

Wait a minute. Wait, I see where this is
going. You’re going to ask him the New Year’s,

aren’t you? You’re going to break the
pact. She’s going to break the pact.

No. No. No. No. No. No.
Yeah, could I just?

Yeah, ‘cause I already asked Janice.
Come on! This was a pact! This was your pact!

I snapped, okay? I couldn’t
handle the pressure and I snapped.

Yep, but Janice, that was like
the worst breakup in history.

I’m not saying it was a good
idea. I’m saying I snapped.

If you didn’t understand all that,
don’t worry about it. We’re going to

do an in-depth analysis of it next week. But
needless to say, the pact has been broken.

And it deteriorates further. This
is the third scene that we’ll study.

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 gonna have dates.
Uh, four.

Four?
Five.

Five.
Sorry! Paolo’s catching an earlier flight.

Okay, so I’m gonna 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.

Who’s with whom. She got a
little cut off there. And

we’ll finish with a fourth
scene at the stroke of midnight.

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 gonna kiss but me?

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

So stick with me. All of December,
we’re learning English with TV.

We’re going to follow the pact and watch
how it falls apart, and you’re going to

improve your listening comprehension along the
way. If you love this kind of analysis video,

I have over 150 that aren’t on my YouTube channel,
in my online school Rachel’s English Academy.

There’s also audio that goes with each lesson
to help you train your imitation skills, and

really change your habits, this kind of training
will transform your voice and your confidence.

To sign up, visit rachelsenglishacademy.com

While you’re waiting for next week’s video
to drop, check out more of the videos on

my 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 don’t want you to miss

any in this awesome December 2020 series, where
we study four scenes from the Friends New Year’s

episode of season one. Okay guys, that’s it,
and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.