How to Pronounce PROBABLY American English
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over the pronunciation of
the word ‘probably’.
This week’s Word of the Week is ‘probably’.
‘Probably’ is a three-syllable word, but some
people will reduce it to two syllables. The
first syllable is stressed. We begin with
the PR consonant cluster, pr-, pr-. So the
lips are together for the P, but the tongue
can already be in position for the R. Pr-,
pr-, pro-. The first vowel is the AH as in
FATHER sound. The jaw does need to drop for
that: pro-, pro-. The second syllable, unstressed,
proba-, -ba-, is the B consonant, where the
lips come together, and the schwa sound. Proba-,
proba-. And the last syllable, the B consonant,
and then the LY ending. Proba-bly, -bly. So
the lips come together for the B, and the
tongue tip comes up here for the L, -bl-,
-bl-. And then we have the EE as in SHE vowel.
Probably, probably.
As I said, some people will reduce this to
two syllables, so you might here pro-bly,
-bly, without the middle syllable. Prob-ly,
prob-ly. And sometimes you’ll hear it without
the B at all: ‘prolly’, ‘prolly’, ‘prolly’.
Both of these reductions are used a lot.
For example: prob-ly: I’ll probably be there.
Prob-ly, prob-ly.
Or, ‘prolly’, ‘prolly’. I’ll probably forget.
‘Prolly’, ‘prolly’.
That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it
out yourself. Make up a sentence with the
word, record it, and post it as a video response
to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to
watch it.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.