How to Pronounce Negative Contractions

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

I don't, I didn't.

Let's talk about it.

One of the worst listening mistakes you can have is when you think someone said I have,

when really they said I haven't.

When you think they said yes, but really they said no, you could find yourself in a really

tough situation.

Or to use a lovely idiom, you could find yourself in a jam.

You might be surprised, but this happens a lot.

Today I want to help you pronounce accurately negative contractions.

A contraction is when we put two words together and put an apostrophe in the middle.

Usually it's a subject in a verb like these: I am becomes I'm, we have becomes we've, and

what is becomes what's.

Most positive contractions like these are pretty easy to hear, but negative contractions

are a little bit trickier.

Let's look at this sentence.

We weren't ready for the party.

What letter do you not hear?

We weren't ready.

Weren't ready.

It's that final T. If I said it clearly we weren't ready, it would be pretty simple to

understand this because that T helps you to realize, "Oh, this is a negative contraction."

But I have some bad news.

In fast English, usually that final T is stopped short.

We call this a stop T. Listen carefully again.

We weren't ready.

My tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth.

It's trying to make the T sound, but no air comes out.

We weren't ready.

As we go through these contractions, I want to help you understand negative contractions

more clearly.

But do you know what?

Sometimes native speakers ask for clarification, too.

So for me, I might ask another native speaker, "Wait, did you say you were ready or you weren't

ready?"

Emphasizing that T. So if you need to ask for clarification in the middle of a conversation,

it is essential to know if someone is using a positive or negative sentence, so feel free

to ask them for clarification.

There are specifically two pronunciation rules that we're going to be talking about for negative

contractions, but I find it easiest to talk about the rules when we are already talking

about some examples.

So let's get started with the first negative contraction: is, isn't.

Is, isn't.

You could say isn't with a clear T, but in fast conversations, we're often going to cut

off that T and make it a stop t.

Let's look at these sentences.

My cat is playing.

My cat isn't playing.

Listen carefully for the difference here.

You're not going to hear a T sound, but there is a difference.

My cat is playing.

My cat isn't playing.

Did you hear a little vowel sound that was added in that second negative contraction,

isn't, isn't.

There's a little sound added between the S and the N.

This is called a schwa sounds, and it shows up a lot, all over English.

Isn't.

This is the first rule dealing with negative contractions.

A lot of words that have two consonants side-by-side, S and an N in this word, are going to have

a little added schwa sound, isn't, isn't, so you're going to have to train your ears

to listen carefully for that little added schwa sound.

Let's go to the next negative contraction, where you'll meet the second rule that will

help you to pronounce these negative contractions naturally: are, aren't, are, aren't.

Let's look at this sentence.

My cats are playing.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats are playing.

My cats aren't playing.

You could say my cats aren't playing with a clear T, but like I said, in fast conversation,

you're not going to hear that, so I want you to be able to train your ears to hear the

correct positive or negative word.

When I say that full negative sentence, listen for a quick pause or stop after the contraction.

My cats aren't playing.

That's because the word aren't with the clear T, that T is going to be a stop T. There's

no added schwa sound like in the first rule, but instead there's going to be a stop happening,

a slight pause before saying the next word.

Listen carefully.

My cats aren't playing.

There's a pause because my tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth.

My cats aren't playing.

Now that we've mentioned these two rules for dealing with negative contractions, let's

go on to all of the negative contractions that you might encounter.

You'll be able to hear if it's the first role, which uses that added schwa sound, isn't,

isn't, or if it's simply a stop T with a little pause afterwards aren't, aren't.

Let's go to the list of negative contractions.

Was, wasn't, was wasn't.

My cat was playing.

My cat wasn't playing.

Can you guess which rule this contraction uses?

Wasn't.

Do you hear a little schwa sound added?

Wasn't.

In my throat, here.

Wasn't.

It's using that first rule because we're adding that slight schwa sound.

What I want you to do during lesson is I want you to try to say these sentences with me.

Try to say the positive sentence.

Try to say that negative sentence.

It's going to challenge your pronunciation muscles, but it will also help you to remember

how these are accurately pronounced because you're practicing it right now.

All right, let's go to the next one.

Were, weren't, were, weren't.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

Which rule is this negative contraction using?

Weren't, weren't.

It's using that second rule.

Just a stop T at the end.

If we used the first rule and we added a schwa sound, it would sound like my cats weren't

playing, and that is not natural.

We don't want to add a schwa sound if there shouldn't be one.

So this is a good chance for your mind to be immersed in all of these contractions and

remember the correct ones.

Say these sentences with me.

My cats were playing.

My cats weren't playing.

Have, haven't.

My cats have played, my cats haven't played.

Can you guess which rule this contraction uses?

It's the first one.

We added a little schwa sound.

Haven't.

Say that sentence with me.

My cats haven't played.

Has, hasn't, has, hasn't.

My cat has played.

My cat hasn't played.

My cat has played.

My cat hasn't played.

Which rule is this one using?

Hasn't.

Do you hear that little schwa sound added?

It's the first rule.

My cat hasn't played.

Say that with me.

My cat hasn't played.

Had, hadn't.

My cat had played, my cat hadn't played.

My cat hadn't played.

Which rule is this?

It's that first one.

There's a little schwa sound added.

Listen carefully.

My cat hadn't.

My cat hadn't played.

Say it with me.

My cat hadn't played.

Do, don't.

My cats do play.

My cats don't play.

Listen carefully.

My cats do play.

My cats don't play.

The difference is very slight.

Which role do you think is being used here?

Don't.

Do you hear any added schwa sounds?

No.

This is going to be the second rule, which uses just the stop T. Don't.

My tongue is stopped at top of my mouth.

If we use that first rule, it would sound like don't or something that's not very natural.

So make sure that you just use the stop T. My cats don't play.

If you're curious about the grammar of that first positive sentence, my cats do play.

Why are there two verbs side by side?

One of them is do, one of them is play.

Is this correct grammar?

Yes, it is.

We often use do for emphasis, and if you'd like to see how you can use that in other

situations, I made a video about this.

Native speakers use it all the time.

You can check out that grammar lesson up here.

Does, doesn't, does, doesn't.

My cat does play often.

My cat doesn't play often.

Which rule is being used here?

My cat doesn't play often.

Do you hear that added schwa sound in my throat?

Doesn't.

It's rule number one.

We're adding that little schwa sound.

Say it with me.

My cat doesn't play often.

And if you're curious, is it pronounced often or often?

I'm going to leave it a mystery.

You can check out this video I made up here, talking about which one of these is correct.

All right, let's go to the next contraction.

Did, didn't, did, didn't.

My cat did play.

My cat didn't play.

What is happening here?

My cat didn't play.

Which rule is being used here first?

Let's get that taken care of.

My cat didn't.

Do you hear my throat making that little schwa sound?

Didn't.

It's going to be rule number one.

Didn't.

But there's something else that's happening here.

That second D is going to be stopped short.

So it sounds like dih and then unh.

It seems quite strange when we slow it down like that, but it's completely natural to

say.

My cat didn't play.

Can, can't, can, can't.

My cats can play.

My cats can't play.

My cats can play.

My cats can't play.

Which role is being used here?

Do you hear any added schwa sounds?

Can't.

Nope.

Instead, it's just that stop T at the end.

It's rule number two.

Can't.

Say it with me.

My cats can't play.

If you tried to add a schwa sound can, it just sounds unnatural.

So make sure you say, my cats can't play.

Will, won't, will won't.

My cats will play.

My cats won't play.

This is the most simple because there's actually two different spellings, two different vowel

sounds that are happening here.

Listen for the vows.

My cats will play, that short I.

My cats will play.

Or in the negative contraction, my cats won't play.

There's still a stop T happening, so it's still using that second rule.

Won't.

We're not hearing that T. But because the vowel sound is different, it's a little bit

easier to understand that someone's using a negative word compared to a positive word.

Say it with me.

My cats won't play.

Could, couldn't, could, couldn't.

My cats could play.

My cats couldn't play.

Which rule is this?

We're adding a little schwa sound, rule number one.

Couldn't.

Say it with me.

My cats couldn't play.

Would, wouldn't.

My cats would play.

My cats wouldn't play.

My cats would play.

My cats wouldn't play.

When we slow it down, it's a little bit awkward.

That's why we use this only for fast English, when we cut off the T at the end.

Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't play.

Which role is being used here?

Well, we're adding a little schwa sound.

Wouldn't.

You hear that?

Wouldn't.

My cats wouldn't play.

Should, shouldn't, should, shouldn't.

My cats should play.

My cats shouldn't play.

Shouldn't.

Which rule is this?

It's rule number one.

We're adding a little schwa sounds.

Say that negative sentence with me.

My cats shouldn't play.

I don't know why they shouldn't play.

Maybe they had some surgery and need to recover.

My cats shouldn't play.

Whew.

That was a lot of contractions to practice.

Now let's review them together.

I've combined all of the negative contractions that use rule one together so your mouth gets

used to using that rule one.

And then I've combined all of the contractions that use rule two together.

What I'd like you to do is, I'm going to say each sentence twice, I want you to listen

the first time.

The second time, speak out loud with me.

Repeat.

Use your beautiful speaking muscles.

Let's do it.

My cat isn't playing.

My cat wasn't playing.

My cats haven't played.

My cat hasn't played.

My cats hadn't played.

My cat doesn't play often.

My cats didn't play.

My cats couldn't play.

My cats wouldn't play.

My cats shouldn't play.

My cats aren't playing.

My cats weren't playing, my cats weren't playing.

My cats don't play.

My cats can't play.

My cats won't play.

Great work.

We talked about my cats playing a lot today.

If you would like to continue practicing negative contractions, especially in real life conversations,

I invite you to check out the 30 day English listening challenge.

In this course, I will send you a short lesson every day for 30 days.

It should take you five to 10 minutes to complete, and you'll be able to hear natural negative

contractions and other vocabulary expressions that we use in daily life.

Hundreds of other English learners have already finished this course and loved it.

So I hope that you will, as well.

Click up here for some more information about how to become my student.

Now I have a question for you.

Let me know in the comments.

Can you make a sentence using one of these negative contractions?

Make sure that you read it out loud and exercise your pronunciation muscles.

Thank you so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for

a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to join the 30 Day English Listening Challenge.

You'll be on the right path to increasing your listening skills and understanding fast

English speakers.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

Thanks so much.

Bye.

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嗨，我是来自 SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com 的 Vanessa。

我没有，我没有。

让我们来谈谈它。

你可能犯的最严重的听力错误之一是当你认为有人说我有，

而实际上他们说我没有。

当您认为他们说是，但实际上他们说不时，您会发现自己处于非常

艰难的境地。

或者使用一个可爱的成语，你可能会发现自己陷入困境。

您可能会感到惊讶，但这种情况经常发生。

今天我想帮助你准确地发音负收缩。

收缩是我们将两个词放在一起并在中间放一个撇号。

通常它是这样的动词中的主语： I am 变成 I'm，we have 变成 we've，

what is 变成 what's。

大多数像这样的积极宫缩很容易听到，但消极

宫缩有点棘手。

我们来看看这句话。

我们还没准备好参加聚会。

什么信你没听到？

我们还没准备好。

还没准备好。

就是最后一个 T。如果我清楚地说我们还没有准备好，理解这一点会很简单，

因为 T 可以帮助你意识到，“哦，这是一个负收缩。”

但我有一些坏消息。

在快速英语中，通常最后的 T 会停止。

我们称之为停止T。再仔细听一遍。

我们还没准备好。

我的舌头停在嘴巴的顶部。

它试图发出 T 音，但没有空气出来。

我们还没准备好。

当我们经历这些宫缩时，我想帮助你

更清楚地理解负宫缩。

但是你知道吗？

有时母语人士也会要求澄清。

所以对我来说，我可能会问另一个说母语的人， “等等，你是说你准备好了还是还没

准备好？”

强调那个T。因此，如果您需要在对话过程中要求澄清，

则必须知道某人使用的是肯定句还是否定句，因此请

随时要求他们澄清。

我们将专门讨论两个用于否定

收缩的发音规则，但是当我们已经在讨论一些示例时，我发现最容易讨论这些规则

。

所以让我们从第一个负收缩开始：是，不是。

是，不是。

你可以说 is 没有明确的 T，但在快速对话中，我们经常会

切断那个 T 并使它成为一个停止 t。

让我们看看这些句子。

我的猫在玩。

我的猫不玩了。

仔细听这里的区别。

你不会听到 T 音，但有区别。

我的猫在玩。

我的猫不玩了。

你有没有听到在第二个负收缩中添加的小元音，

不是，不是。

在 S 和 N 之间添加了一点声音。

这被称为 schwa 声音，它在英语中出现了很多。

不是。

这是处理负收缩的第一条规则。

很多有两个辅音并排的单词，这个词中的 S 和一个 N，

会有一点额外的 schwa 音，不是，不是，所以你将不得不训练你的耳朵

仔细聆听那一点添加的 schwa 声音。

让我们转到下一个否定收缩，在这里您将遇到第二条规则，该规则将

帮助您自然地发音这些否定收缩：是，不是，是，不是。

我们来看看这句话。

我的猫在玩。

我的猫不玩。

我的猫在玩。

我的猫不玩。

你可以说我的猫没有用清晰的 T 演奏，但就像我说的，在快速对话中，

你不会听到那个，所以我希望你能够训练你的耳朵来听到

正确的正面或负面单词。

当我说那个完整的否定句时，在收缩后听一个快速的停顿或停止。

我的猫不玩。

那是因为这个词没有带有清晰的 T，那 T 将是一个停止 T。

没有像第一条规则中那样添加 schwa 声音，而是会有一个停止发生，

在说下一个之前稍微停顿一下单词。

仔细听。

我的猫不玩。

停顿了一下，因为我的舌头停在了嘴巴的顶部。

我的猫不玩。

既然我们已经提到了处理负面收缩的这两个规则，让我们

继续讨论您可能遇到的所有负面收缩。

您将能够听到它是否是第一个角色，它使用了添加的 schwa 声音，不是，

不是，或者它只是一个停止 T，然后有一点停顿，不是，不是。

让我们来看看负收缩列表。

是，不是，不是。

我的猫在玩。

我的猫没有玩。

你能猜出这个收缩使用哪个规则吗？

不是。

你听到添加了一点 schwa 声音吗？

不是。

在我的喉咙里，在这里。

不是。

它使用第一条规则，因为我们添加了轻微的 schwa 声音。

我想让你在课上做的是我想让你试着和我一起说这些句子。

试着说积极的句子。

试着说那个否定句。

它会挑战你的发音肌肉，但它也会帮助你记住

这些是如何准确发音的，因为你现在正在练习它。

好吧，我们进入下一个。

是，不是，是，不是。

我的猫在玩耍。

我的猫不玩。

我的猫在玩耍。

我的猫不玩。

这个负收缩使用了哪个规则？

不是，不是。

它正在使用第二条规则。

最后只是一个停止T。

如果我们使用第一条规则并添加 schwa 声音，听起来我的猫没有

在玩，这是不自然的。

如果不应该有，我们不想添加 schwa 声音。

因此，这是一个让您的思想沉浸在所有这些宫缩中并

记住正确宫缩的好机会。

跟我说这些句子。

我的猫在玩耍。

我的猫不玩。

有，没有。

我的猫玩过，我的猫没玩过。

你能猜出这个收缩使用哪个规则吗？

这是第一个。

我们添加了一点 schwa 声音。

没有。

跟我说那句话。

我家猫没玩过。

有，没有，有，没有。

我家猫玩过。

我的猫没玩过。

我家猫玩过。

我的猫没玩过。

这是使用哪个规则？

没有。

你听到添加的小 schwa 声音了吗？

这是第一条规则。

我的猫没玩过。

跟我说吧。

我的猫没玩过。

有，没有。

我的猫玩过，我的猫没玩过。

我的猫没玩过。

这是哪条规定？

这是第一个。

添加了一点 schwa 声音。

仔细听。

我的猫没有。

我的猫没玩过。

跟我说吧。

我的猫没玩过。

做，不要。

我的猫会玩。

我家猫不玩。

仔细听。

我的猫会玩。

我家猫不玩。

差别非常小。

您认为这里使用了哪个角色？

别。

你听到任何添加的 schwa 声音吗？

不，

这将是第二条规则，它只使用停止 T。不要。

我的舌头停在了我的嘴巴上方。

如果我们使用第一条规则，听起来像是不要或不太自然的东西。

所以请确保您只使用停止 T。我的猫不玩。

如果您对第一个肯定句的语法感到好奇，我的猫确实会玩。

为什么有两个动词并排？

其中之一是做，其中之一是玩。

这是正确的语法吗？

是的。

我们经常使用 do 来强调，如果您想看看如何在其他情况下使用它

，我制作了一个关于此的视频。

母语人士一直使用它。

你可以在这里查看语法课。

会，不会，会，不会。

我家猫经常玩。

我的猫不经常玩。

这里使用的是哪个规则？

我的猫不经常玩。

你有没有听到我喉咙里那种额外的 schwa 声音？

没有。

这是第一条规则。

我们正在添加那个小小的 schwa 声音。

跟我说吧。

我的猫不经常玩。

如果你很好奇，它是经常发音还是经常发音？

我会留下一个谜。

你可以看看我在这里制作的这个视频，讨论其中哪一个是正确的。

好吧，让我们进入下一个宫缩。

做了，没有，做了，没有。

我的猫确实玩过。

我家猫不玩。

这里发生了什么？

我家猫不玩。

这里首先使用哪个规则？

让我们解决这个问题。

我的猫没有。

你听到我的喉咙发出那小小的 schwa 声音了吗？

没有。

这将是第一条规则。

没有。

但这里还有其他事情正在发生。

第二个 D 将很快停止。

所以这听起来像 dih 然后是 unh。

当我们这样放慢速度时，这似乎很奇怪，但这是完全自然的

。

我家猫不玩。

能，不能，能，不能。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不会玩。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不会玩。

这里使用的是哪个角色？

你听到任何添加的 schwa 声音吗？

不能。

不。

相反，它只是在最后停止 T。

这是第二条规则。

不能。

跟我说吧。

我的猫不会玩。

如果您尝试添加 schwa 声音罐，它听起来不自然。

所以一定要说，我的猫不能玩。

会，不会，不会。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不会玩。

这是最简单的，因为这里实际上发生了两种不同的拼写，两种不同的

元音。

聆听誓言。

我的猫会玩，那么短的我。

我的猫会玩。

或者在负收缩时，我的猫不会玩。

仍然有一个停止 T 发生，所以它仍然使用第二条规则。

惯于。

我们没有听到那个 T。但由于元音不同，与肯定词相比

，某人使用否定词更容易理解。

跟我说吧。

我的猫不会玩。

可以，不能，可以，不能。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不能玩。

这是哪条规定？

我们正在添加一点 schwa 声音，第一条规则。

不能。

跟我说吧。

我的猫不能玩。

会，不会。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不会玩。

我的猫会玩。

我的猫不会玩。

当我们放慢速度时，它有点尴尬。

这就是为什么我们只在快速英语中使用它，当我们在末尾切断 T 时。

不会，不会，不会玩。

这里使用的是哪个角色？

好吧，我们正在添加一点 schwa 声音。

不会。

你听到了吗？

不会。

我的猫不会玩。

应该，不应该，应该，不应该。

我的猫应该玩。

我的猫不应该玩。

不应该。

这是哪条规定？

这是第一条规则。

我们正在添加一些 schwa 声音。

跟我说那个否定句。

我的猫不应该玩。

我不知道他们为什么不应该玩。

也许他们做了一些手术，需要恢复。

我的猫不应该玩。

唷。

要练习很多宫缩。

现在让我们一起回顾一下。

我将所有使用规则一的负面收缩结合在一起，这样你的嘴就会

习惯使用规则一。

然后我将所有使用规则二的收缩组合在一起。

我想让你做的是，我要每句话说两次，我希望你

第一次听。

第二次，跟我大声说话。

重复。

使用你美丽的说话肌肉。

我们开始做吧。

我的猫不玩了。

我的猫没有玩。

我家猫没玩过。

我的猫没玩过。

我的猫不经常玩。

我的猫不玩。

我的猫不能玩。

我的猫不会玩。

我的猫不应该玩。

我的猫不玩。

我的猫不玩，我的猫不玩。

我家猫不玩。

我的猫不会玩。

做得好。

我们谈到我的猫今天玩了很多。

如果您想继续练习负收缩，尤其是在现实生活中的对话中，

我邀请您查看 30 天英语听力挑战。

在这门课程中，我会每天给你上一堂简短的课，为期 30 天。

它应该需要你 5 到 10 分钟才能完成，你将能够听到我们在日常生活中使用的自然负

收缩和其他词汇表达。

数百名其他英语学习者已经完成了这门课程并喜欢它。

所以我希望你也一样。

单击此处了解有关如何成为我的学生的更多信息。

现在我有一个问题要问你。

在评论中告诉我。

你能用这些否定收缩之一造句吗？

确保你大声朗读并锻炼你的发音肌肉。

非常感谢你和我一起学习英语，下周五我会

在我的 YouTube 频道上再次见到你，上一堂新课。

再见。

下一步是加入 30 天英语听力挑战。

您将走在正确的道路上，以提高您的听力技巧和理解快速

英语的人。

不要忘记订阅我的 YouTube 频道以获得更多免费课程。

非常感谢。

再见。

yReaders

英语演讲, 学习英语。

How to Pronounce Negative Contractions

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