How to pronounce CAN American English
I can get that for you. Do you notice how
the word ‘can’ is pronounced in that sentence?
I can get that for you. In this video, we’ll
go over how to pronounce the word ‘can’ in
everyday speech.
The word ‘can’ can be a noun,
as in, “It’s a trash can,” or, “The beans
are from a can, they’re not fresh.” In this
case, ‘can’ is pronounced with the ‘aa’ as
in ‘bat’ vowel. So it begins with the K consonant
sound, then the AA vowel, ca-, ca-, and finally
the N consonant sound. Can, can. You may notice,
the AA vowel does change somewhat in the word
‘can’. This is because it’s followed by an
N, and anytime this AA vowel is followed by
a nasal consonant, that would be N, M, or
NG, it, ca–, uh, uh, has an uh vowel that
sort of takes over the AA vowel before the N, even
though this uh sound is not written in IPA.
So, can, can. So, the word ‘can’ as a noun
is a content word. Therefore, it is generally
not reduced in a sentence. But the word ‘can’
as a verb is generally an auxiliary verb,
or, a helping verb. And these are function
words, and they will reduce. So when is the
verb ‘can’ a helping verb? Let’s look at two
examples, answering the question, “Who can
do this?” If I simply say, “I can,” can is
the only verb, so it won’t reduce: can, with
the AA sound. I can. But if I want to say
“I can do it,” the word ‘can’ now becomes
kn, kn. I can do it. And that’s because it’s
an auxiliary verb to the main verb “do”. I
can, I can do it. Can, kn, kn. When it reduces,
the word ‘can’ is pronounced with the schwa
sound. It is very fast, it is lower in pitch,
kn, kn, kn, kn. The K consonant sound, schwa,
N. Kn, kn. I can do it. When you reduce the
word ‘can,’ you want to make sure that it
links to the words around it. You don’t want
gaps before or after ‘can’ when it’s pronounced
kn. I – kn – do it. We don’t want that.
I can do it. I can do it. We want it very
linked to the words around it. Let’s look
at a few more examples. I can bring food.
I can, I can, I can. Linked up to the word
“I”. I can bring food. We can stay the whole
time. We can stay, we can stay. All linked
together. We can stay the whole time. They
can have it, kn, kn, they can. They can have
it. She can come with us. She kn, she kn,
she can come with us. You can have my ticket.
Kn, kn, you can, you can, you can have my
ticket. Mary can do it herself. Kn, kn, Mary
can, Mary can, Mary can do it herself. Put
it in the garbage can. Do you notice, the
word ‘can’ doesn’t reduce here. I snuck in
a case where the ‘can’ is a noun. So it’s
a content word, it won’t reduce. Put it in
the garbage can. John can, John can, John
can pick us up. ‘Can’ is often an auxiliary
verb within a sentence. In these cases, make
sure it does reduce. That’s it, and thanks
so much for using Rachel’s English.