TSUP its whats thats as TS American English Pronunciation
In a recent video, I said, “I like that phrase,
ts’a good one.” I reduced the word “it’s” to
simply the TS sound, ts, ts. There are two
other words that can reduce to this sound.
In this video, you’ll learn all about it.
First, let’s watch the clip I mentioned in
the intro.
I like that phrase. Ts’a good one.
It’s a good one, it’s a good one. You’ve probably
noticed that native speakers will contract
“it is” and say “it’s”. So, that’s the IH
vowel and the TS cluster. But of course, as
I’ve just pointed out, we may also drop the
vowel altogether, and leave it to just ts,
ts. “It is” becomes “it’s” becomes “ts”. Let’s
listen again.
Ts’a good one. [3x]
Other examples: it’s alright, it’s ok. What
do you notice? It’s alright, it’s ok. The
TS sound links directly to the next word,
there is no break, and that must happen if
we’re going to reduce “it is” to “it’s” or
even “ts”. Ts’okay. So, it’s like the TS cluster
begins the next word. Or should I say, ts’like.
Ts’like the TS cluster begins the next word.
Try it: ts’alright. ts’okay. ts’funny.
What else can be reduced to simply TS? “What
is” becomes “what’s”, can become “ts”. Take
for example the sentence, What’s his name
again? Ts’is name again? Notice how I’m dropping
the H in the word ‘his’. This is a pretty
common reduction. I’ve made a video on dropping
the H. So, this leaves us with ‘iz’ - the
IH sound and the Z sound for the word ‘his’.
Notice that the TS connects right up into
that. Tsiz, tsiz, ts’is name again, ts’is
name again? Other examples: what’s going on?
ts’going, ts’going, ts’going on? Or, ts’up?
ts’up? I’m guessing you’ve heard that one
before.
I said there were three words that could reduce
to this. So what’s the third? “That is” becomes
“that’s”, can become “ts”. So, you might hear
“That’s nice” reduce to “ts’nice”, ts’nice.
So if all three of these words can reduce
to ‘ts’, how do you know which word it is?
Well, we’re talking about function words here,
they don’t affect the meaning of a sentence,
so you don’t need to worry about it.
Unless you have a very minimal accent, it’s
probably best to pronounce the contraction:
that’s, it’s, what’s. However, it’s good to
know what’s going on when you hear it. Or,
should I say, ts’good to know, ts’good to
know what’s going on.
Normally, I would say, “That’s it, and thanks
so much for using Rachel’s English”. But do
you know what I’m going to say today?
Ts’it! And thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.
Don’t stop there. Have fun with my real-life
English videos. Or get more comfortable with
the IPA in this play list. Learn about the
online courses I offer, or check out my latest
video.