The Flap T American English Pronunciation
That tree is so pretty.
It’s a beautiful spring day here in New York,
and we’re going to talk a little bit about
the flap T.
Pretty. The T’s here are a flap T
because it comes between two vowels, and
the T is not starting a stressed syllable.
Pretty, pretty. So, you may want to pronounce
it as a true T, tttt, pretty, pretty, but
most Americans will make this a flap T, it
smooths out the line. And Americans are always
going for a smoother line. Pretty, pretty.
Ben, can you think of any other words with
a flap T?
City.
City! That’s a good one. City. So again, the
T here, coming between two vowels, not starting
a stressed syllable, so it’s a flap. City,
city. It’s such a pretty day in the city.
Ben, can you think of another word with a
flap T?
No.
No. That’s ok. It doesn’t matter. Matter!
There’s another word with a flap T. So again,
the T sound is coming between two vowels,
not starting a stressed syllable, flap. Ddddd,
matter, matter.
I just thought of another.
What is it?
And you just did another one too! Thought
of, thought of, thought of. So here — that
was a loud pigeon — So here the T comes
at the end of a word, but the next word begins
with a vowel, so still the T is coming between
two vowels. And still, it is not starting
a stressed syllable, so we can flap that.
Thought of, duv, duv, duv, thought of. And
Ben said, ‘What is it?’ Again, the T ends
what, but the next word begins with a vowel,
so the T is coming between two vowels, not
starting a stressed syllable, so we can flap
that. Diz, diz, what is, what is it?
Ben, aren’t those tulips pretty?
Oh, they’re so pretty!
Rachel, look at this tree! Isn’t it so
pretty?
Wow, this tree is really pretty.
Such a pretty tree.
This tree, also really pretty. Don’t forget
to flap your T’s!
That’s it, and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.
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English videos. Or get more comfortable with
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