English Conversation Idioms Study American Pronunciation
Hey guys. It’s fall, and I’m here with
my friend Laura.
Hey!
You’ve probably seen some of our other
baking videos. Every fall, I come up to Massachusetts,
where Laura lives, and we make a variety of
things. One year we made a pumpkin pie, which
we’re making this year, but not in the video.
But this year, we’re going to focus on apple
dumplings. Not apple fritters. So, if you
want to learn how to make apple dumplings,
you should probably look it up because this
is not really a recipe video. But this is
a real life English video where you get to
study English conversation happening as it
actually does.
So, you’re going to do the apples?
Yep.
Okay. I’ll make the pastry.
As always, there are lots of reductions to
study in American English. Did you notice
‘gonna’? This is how Americans pronounce
‘going to’ much of the time. Listen again.
So, you’re going to do the apples? [3x]
Yep.
Okay. I’ll make the pastry.
I used this reduction with another reduction,
yer. The ‘you are’ contraction, you’re,
is reduced this way in a sentence. Yer. Yer
gonna. Repeat that. Yer gonna, yer gonna.
Let’s hear it again.
So, you’re going to do the apples? [3x]
Yep.
Okay. I’ll make the pastry.
The ‘I will’ contraction, I’ll, is often
reduced. Then it sounds more like ‘all’,
all. I’ll make. Repeat that with me. I’ll,
I’ll make. Listen again.
I’ll make the pastry. [3x]
Wait. Is this a cup?
Yes. It is.
You sure?
Yep.
Okay.
I’m using this one, just…
Wait. Just let me see them.
A couple of things to notice about this sentence:
The T in the word ‘just’ was dropped.
We often drop the T when it comes between
two consonants, as it does here. Juss-let,
juss-let. Next, ‘let me’ became ‘lemme’.
The T was totally dropped. The two words ‘let
me’ are often pronounced together this way.
Lemme see, lemme try. Repeat that with me.
Lemme, lemme, lemme see. And finally, the
reduction of ‘them’ to ‘um’. This
is another common reduction. Repeat that with
me. Um, um. I have a video on this reduction.
See it by clicking here or in the description
below. Let’s do the sentence slowly together:
Juss-lemme-see-um. [3x]. Listen again.
Just let me see them. [3x]
Yeah, they’re the same.
The ‘they are’ contraction, they’re,
can also be reduced. Rather than fully pronouncing
‘they’re’, it’s ‘thur’. The TH
sound and the R sound. Thur. Try that. Thur,
they’re the same. Listen again.
Yeah, they’re the same. [3x]
Okay?
I just feel more comfortable using the
one that says it’s a cup.
Okay.
The word ‘comfortable’ looks like it should
have four syllables, but most Americans pronounce
it with three. I pronounced it COMF-der-ble.
I made a video on just this word already,
you can see it by clicking here or in the
description below. COMF-der-ble. Listen again.
I just feel more comfortable [3x] using
the one that says it’s a cup.
Okay.
Now Laura, for how many years did you train
as a pastry chef?
Fifteen.
Wow.
Yeah.
That’s a lot of training.
Well, but, wait. Fifteen minus the fifteen
years that I didn’t train.
Neither of us are professionals here.
No.
I know it looks like we are with our methods.
Neither, neither, this word can be pronounced
both ways. Sometimes people think one way
is British and one way is American, but either
one sounds just fine in American English.
Okay. Where is the new flour?
In the bag.
I had a fan write in and tell me that I
don’t follow the rules for the pronunciation
of the word ‘the’.
Oh really? What are the rules?
Well, and I noticed just then that I did
not use it correctly.
The rule is, if the word after ‘the’ begins
with a consonant sound, pronounce it ‘the’,
with the schwa vowel, uh, uh, the. If the
word after ‘the’ begins with a vowel or
diphthong, then pronounce it ‘the’, with
the EE as in SHE vowel, ee, ee, the.
Um, the. It should be a schwa before, before
a consonant. So, I said, “where’s the
new”, but I said “where’s theeee new”,
and I said ‘theee’, and you’re really
only supposed to do that before vowels. But,
since that person pointed it out, I noticed
that I do that quite a bit.
So it’s not like it would be strange.
It’s not strange. Because no one has
ever said, Rachel, shouldn’t that be ‘the’.
Like, no native speaker has ever noticed.
Right. And I didn’t even think about
it when you just said it.
No. No one thinks about it.
If you ever say ‘thuh’ instead of ‘thee’,
people probably won’t notice. Also, make
sure to always keep this word short, whether
it’s with the schwa or the EE vowel, the, the.
This is a very large bag of flour. Okay.
Now, I’m just curious, how much of it can
I spill. I’m guessing quite a bit.
We have a vacuum.
Okay. Oh, crap.
Crap. This is a word you can use when you
mess something up. To mess something up is
an idiom meaning, to do something the wrong
way, or to cause an outcome other than what
you intended. I turned left instead of right
— I messed up. ‘Crap’ is like a cuss
word, but less offensive. Still, you don’t
want to use it in a professional setting,
and some people might be offended by it. I
think it’s fine to use in a casual setting
among friends. Crap, crap. This is the less
offensive version of the word ‘shit’.
Oh, crap. [3x]
What was the article in that Mark was reading
about trans fats?
I don’t know.
The Atlantic?
I don’t think so. He’s been on this
kick for a while, so.
Oh, okay.
Let’s go back and study the phrase “I
don’t know.” Notice how Laura dropped
the T altogether: I don’t know. I don’t
know. In the phrase ‘I don’t think so’,
there was a little break in the sound before
‘think’, I don’t think so, the sign
of a Stop T. But in ‘I don’t know’,
there was no stop, no T at all. This is a
common pronunciation of this phrase. I don’t
know. I don’t know. Listen again.
I don’t know [3x].
The Atlantic?
I don’t think so. He’s been on this
kick for a while, so.
Oh, okay.
I like how you just used the idiom ‘to
be on a kick’.
The idiom to be on a kick means to be enthusiastic
about something for a period of time. “I’m
on a yoga kick” means, I don’t typically
do a lot of yoga, but recently I’ve
done it a lot and enjoy it. Or you could say,
I’m on a salad kick. I’ve been eating
a lot of salad lately. Here, Mark is on a
trans fat kick. He’s careful not to eat
trans fats. Listen again.
He’s been on this kick for a while, so.
[3x]
Oh, okay.
Oh, whoops.
Before, I said ‘crap’ when I messed up.
Here, I said ‘whoops’ , which, just like
‘oops’, is an exclamation for recognizing
a mistake. This term is not offensive in any
way, and can be used in any context. Oh, whoops,
with the same vowel as ‘book’ or ‘could’.
Whoops, whoops. Listen again.
Oh, whoops. [3x]
How’s it going, Laur?
It’s going. Last half.
Nice.
And we’re done. Look at those beauties.
So Laura, you’re working on the sauce?
Another ‘you are’ yer reduction. I dropped
the NG sound and made an N sound on the end
of ‘working’.
So Laura, you’re working on the sauce?
[3x]
Workin, working. Native speakers do this quite
a bit, especially with the most common ING
verbs, but I do caution my students against
overuse. Pronounce ING words with the NG sound
most of the time.
So Laura, you’re working on the sauce?
Yeah. It’s a syrup for the top of the
dumplings.
Syrup.
A little butter in there. A lot of sugar.
So I’m rolling the pastry. And then we’ll
put an apple inside.
Another reduction of a contraction, we well.
We’ll. Pronounce this as ‘wul’ in a
sentence. It’s faster than ‘we’ll’.
And we want an unstressed word like this to
be very fast, wul. Repeat that with me, wul,
wul.
And then we’ll put an apple [3x] inside.
I’m … they’re not as pretty as they’re
supposed to be. But, I think the flavor will
be just as good.
As you listen to the next section, listen
for all the reductions ‘and’ to ‘nn’
or ‘an’. No D sound. This is how we usually
say this word in a sentence.
Cinnamon and sugar. Then an apple half.
And then more cinnamon and sugar. And then
fold it up. It’s a little sticky.
It’s been a half hour.
‘It has’ reduces to ‘it’s’. How
was it pronounced in that sentence?
It’s been a half hour. [3x]
Simply the TS cluster. Ts been, ts been. Repeat
that with me. Ts been. Ts been a half hour.
It’s, that’s, and what’s, all reduce
to the TS cluster. Check out the video I made
on this topic by clicking here or in the description
below.
It’s been a half hour. Oh wow!
Bubbling.
Oh my god. Those look good! I’ve never
made this before. Wow. Yummy.
For real.
Sure smells good. Mm. It tastes just like
apple pie.
Mm-hmm.
Really good. Thanks guys. Alright, Laura!
Thank you so much for helping me make this
video.
You’re welcome.
And, until next year, with Laura, at our
baking weekend, that’s it guys, and thanks
so much for using Rachel’s English.