FLUENT ENGLISH The H Reduction in American English Pronunciation Rachels English

How much do you know about reductions?

How much do you use them when speaking English?

Reductions are one of the best ways to
sound natural when speaking English,

and knowing them will also be one of the best ways to improve your listening comprehension.

In this video, we’re going to dive deep on
some of my favorite reductions

and you’ll get so many examples of these
reductions in real spoken English

that you will absolutely be able to start
identifying these in conversation better

and feel more confident using these reductions when speaking English.

Function words that begin with H like ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘her’, ‘have’ — they’re often pronounced WITHOUT the H sound.

I realized that I have lots of videos from real English conversations where we study these reductions,

but that in any one of these videos, you may hear a reduction just once or twice.

I thought, I’ve been making videos for 10 years now,

I have to make a compilation of all the examples from real life English that I have of these reductions.

When you hear many examples of a
reduction that you’re studying,

it almost guarantees that you’ll start to
identify it in other English —

conversation, movies, TV — to improve
your listening comprehension.

You’ll also have lots of examples to study with.

Watch the video once, then go back and watch the examples again and pause after each sentence.

Say it out loud.

Train your mind to think of this reduction.

First, let’s play the video where I go over how to make these reductions and how they’re used.

You’ve got to know that first.

Then we’ll jump into the examples.

Today we’re going to talk about the
situation with the letter H beginning a word.

Let’s look at the following sentence as an example:
I’ll tell her we’re leaving.

I’ll tell her we’re leaving.

Could you tell a difference in the two
different ways I pronounced this?

I’ll tell her … er … I didn’t pronounce the H in ‘her’.

I’ll tell her we’re leaving.

I reduced the word ‘her’ by leaving out the H.

Perhaps you’ve noticed this.

Native speakers do it quite a lot.

Now, if you drop the H, you have to be
certain that you link it to the word before.

Tell her, tell her, it’s almost like it becomes one word.

Teh-ler, tell her.

How do you think I’m going to pronounce this phrase?

I’m going to drop the H, reducing the word ‘he’.

And because I’m going to do that, I want
to make sure that I really link things.

So I’m actually going to almost think of
the Z sound as beginning a word ‘zi’.

Wuh-zi there?

Was he there?

Try saying that all very smooth and linked.

Was he there?

Before we go further, let’s talk quickly about punctuation.

A period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, a dash: these things will all signify a stop, a break, a pause.

So, we don’t want to link sounds over that
kind of punctuation.

Let’s take a look at an example sentence.

At first he never came; he now comes regularly.

Notice there was that pause there where
the semicolon is.

And because of that I didn’t link, and I
didn’t drop the H in ‘he’ the second time.

He now comes regularly.

At first he never came: I do drop that H,
reducing the word and linking.

At first he, at first he, at first he never
came; he now comes regularly.

So we’ve looked at ‘he’ and ‘her’, what are
some other possibilities?

If we’re going to reduce a word, it has to
be an unstressed word.

So let’s review what words will be
stressed and which ones will be unstressed.

Content words are stressed.

These are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs, in general.

Function words will be unstressed.

These are words that don’t have a
meaning on their own, like ‘with’ or ‘if’.

These are prepositions, conjunctions,
articles, and helping verbs.

So, common function words beginning
with H: has, have, had.

These are helping verbs.

Example: What have you done?

What have you done?

Notice that the H is dropped in ‘have’, and the vowel is actually reduced from AA to the schwa: uv, uv, uv.

That is how we’re pronouncing the word
‘have’ in the sentence.

What have, what have, what have you done?

And do note that it’s linked to everything around it.

What have you, what have you, what have you done?

Another example: my friend has seen it twice.

The word ‘has’ is pronounced without the H and again, the vowel sound is reduced to the schwa.

My friend has, has, has, my friend has seen it twice.

Also, again, it is linked to everything around it.

My friend has seen it twice.

How do you think I will pronounce ‘her’ here?

If you guessed ‘er’, you’re right.

I saw her sister in Chicago.

I saw -er sister.

Saw her sister, saw her sister.

I saw her sister in Chicago.

And here, how will I pronounce ‘his’?

Iz, iz, I will drop that H.

What was his name again?

What was, iz, name again?

What was his name again?

And how will I pronounce ‘him’?

I will drop that H.

‘Im, ‘Im.

I told him no.

I told — im — no.

I told him no.

How will I pronounce ‘his’?

I’m going to drop the H.

Do you remember John?

This is his sister.

This is — is — sister.

This is his sister.

This video was made at a Christmas party
I had with my housemates.

You’ll hear a ‘her’ reduction.

Jovan, that’s also some excellent handiwork.

Tell her about the dots.

Did you notice the dropped H?

It’s not uncommon to drop the beginning H in unaccented words like her, him, and his.

If you do this, always link it to the word before.

Tell her, tell her. Tell her about the dots.

Listen again.

Tell her about the dots.

Yes, this is actually Braille for cookie.

This video I shot at Coney Island with friends.

You’ll hear another ‘her’ reduction here.

We want funnel cake but we don’t know if
we can use our tickets!

Aaah! The frustration!

Why don’t you just ask her?

It’s common practice in english to drop
the h in words like her, his, him.

So her becomes er, er.

Make sure that you link this to the word before.

Ask her, ask her, just ask her.

This smooths out the language and
sounds more natural.

Why don’t you just ask her?

I made this video when I was baking with
my friend Laura.

Notice the dropped H in ‘have’.

So this needs to be 3 minutes…

Oh yeah, let that stand for 3 minutes and I took the clock out of the room because it was so freaking loud.

Okay.

Don’t you have a watch on?

Did you notice that Laura dropped the H in ‘have’?

This is a common reduction.

Dropping the H in function words like have, had, her, his.

You have a, you have a.

Don’t you have a watch on?

Here’s another video where I’m baking with my same friend Laura, only a few years later.

We’re still using dropped H reductions!

Here, it’s the dropped H in ‘him’.

And the baby’s up.

Okay, let me go get him.

Let me go get him.

A couple reductions here.

‘Let me’ becomes lemme.

And the H is dropped in ‘him’.

Dropping the H in this word is a really
common reduction.

When we do this, it sounds just like when
we dropped the TH in ‘them’.

‘Get him’ becomes get im, just like ‘put
them’ was put em.

The flap T links the words and the reduction of ‘them’ and ‘him’ are the exact same sounds schwa and m.

Get em.

Put em.

Okay, let me go get him.

Can you look right there?

Say Hi! I just had a nice nap.

Can you say: Hey everybody!

Here, we’re watching a tennis match
between members of my family.

You’ll hear a dropped H in ‘him’ and ‘her’.

Don’t go easy on him Ernie!

Easy on him.

What do you notice about the word ‘him’?

No H.

We pronounce ‘him’ this way a lot.

Just like ‘our’, when it’s reduced, think of adding an extra syllable to the end of the word before it.

On him, on him.

Easy on him.

Listen again.

Don’t go easy on him Ernie!

Let me go check on him.

Here’s another ‘him’ reduction.

Check on him.

On him, on him, on him.

Listen again.

Check on him.

Same vacation, no more tennis.

Another dropped H in ‘him’.

Is he messing up your coloring?

Is he messing you up?

Should we move him?

Move him.

Dropped H in ‘him’.

Move him.

Should we move him?

Yeah!

No. No.

Tell him no!

In this video, my family is meeting my first
son for the first time.

It’s another dropped H in ‘him’

How is it to hold him?

Oh, how is it?

Oh, I don’t know. It’s beyond description.

How is it to hold him?

What do you notice about the word him in this phrase?

How is it to hold him?

The h was dropped.

Hold him, hold him.

And the two words linked together with
no gap in between.

This is a very common conversational pronunciation of function words that begin with H like him,

her, his, have, has, and had.

How is it to hold him?

In this video, I’m at a nature reserve with my family.

A dropped H in ‘have’.

First, we chatted with a ranger.

Wait, we came, he’s never, some of these
people have never seen a gator before.

Here’s an example of a dropping the H reduction.

Instead of ‘people have’, i said: people uv–

dropping the h and reducing the ah vowel to the schwa.

Now ‘have’ just sounds like a third
unstressed syllable at the end of people.

People uv, people uv.

Try that with me.

People have, people have.

Listen again.

Wait, we came, he’s never, some of these people have never—

Some of these people have never—

Some of these people have never seen a gator before.

There you go, many examples from my past 10 years of making videos on these reductions.

He, him, her, have, had, has.

Dropping the H in these words is so
common in natural English.

Watch this video a few times, pause, and
say the examples out loud.

This will focus your brain on the reductions

and you’ll start to notice it more and more
as you hear them around you.

You look like you’re interested in a full
playlist of other reductions in American English.

You know I’ve got that covered for you.

Click here or in the description below.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English!

你对降价了解多少？

你在说英语时使用了多少？

减少是
在说英语时听起来自然的最佳方法之一

，了解它们也是提高听力理解的最佳方法之一。

在这个视频中，我们将深入
探讨我最喜欢的一些减少

，你会
在真实的英语口语中得到很多这些减少的例子

，你绝对能够开始
在对话中更好地识别这些，

并更有信心使用说英语时这些减少。

以 H 开头的虚词，例如“he”、“him”、“her”、“have”——它们通常在没有 H 音的情况下发音。

我意识到我有很多来自真实英语对话的视频，我们在其中研究这些减少，

但在这些视频中的任何一个中，你可能只听到一次或两次减少。

我想，我已经制作视频 10 年了，

我必须将我所拥有的所有关于这些缩减的现实生活英语示例进行汇编。

当你听到很多
你正在学习的减少的例子时，

它几乎可以保证你会开始
在其他英语中识别它——

对话、电影、电视——以提高
你的听力理解。

您还将有很多示例可供学习。

观看一次视频，然后返回并再次观看示例并在每个句子后暂停。

大声地说。

训练你的思维去思考这种减少。

首先，让我们播放视频，我将在其中介绍如何进行这些缩减以及如何使用它们。

你必须先知道这一点。

然后我们将进入示例。

今天我们来谈谈
以字母H开头的单词的情况。

让我们以下面的句子为例：
我会告诉她我们要走了。

我会告诉她我们要走了。

你能说出
我发音的两种不同方式的区别吗？

我会告诉她……呃……我没有在“她”中发音 H。

我会告诉她我们要走了。

我通过省略 H 来减少“她”这个词。

也许你已经注意到了。

母语人士经常这样做。

现在，如果你去掉 H，你必须
确定你将它链接到之前的单词。

告诉她，告诉她，这几乎就像它变成了一个词。

特勒，告诉她。

你觉得我会如何发音这个短语？

我要去掉 H，减少“他”这个词。

因为我要这样做，所以我
想确保我真的把事情联系起来。

所以我实际上几乎会把
Z 音想象成一个单词“zi”的开头。

五子在那里？

他在吗？

试着说这一切都很顺利和联系。

他在吗？

在我们进一步讨论之前，让我们快速谈谈标点符号。

句号、逗号、冒号、分号、破折号：这些东西都表示停止、休息、暂停。

所以，我们不想通过那种标点符号来连接声音
。

我们来看一个例句。

起初他没有来；他现在定期来。

请注意，分号所在的地方有停顿
。

正因为如此，我没有链接，
也没有第二次在“他”中删除 H。

他现在定期来。

起初他从来没有来过：我确实放弃了那个 H，
减少了这个词和链接。

一开始他，一开始他，一开始他
没来；他现在定期来。

所以我们已经看过“他”和“她”，还有哪些
其他可能性？

如果我们要减少一个词，它必须
是一个非重读词。

因此，让我们回顾一下哪些单词会被
重读，哪些单词不会被重读。

内容词被强调。一般来说

，这些是名词、动词、形容词和
副词。

虚词不重读。

这些词本身没有
意义，例如“with”或“if”。

这些是介词、连词、
冠词和助动词。

所以，以H开头的常用虚词
：has, have, had。

这些是帮助动词。

例：你做了什么？

你做了什么？

请注意，“have”中的 H 被删除，元音实际上从 AA 减少到 schwa：uv、uv、uv。

这就是我们
在句子中发音“有”这个词的方式。

有什么，有什么，你做了什么？

请注意，它与周围的一切有关。

你有什么，你有什么，你做了什么？

另一个例子：我的朋友已经看过两次了。

“has”这个词的发音没有 H 并且元音再次减少为 schwa。

我的朋友有，有，有，我的朋友已经看过两次了。

此外，它再次与周围的一切联系在一起。

我的朋友已经看过两次了。

你认为我会在这里如何发音“她”？

如果您猜到了“呃”，那么您是对的。

我在芝加哥见过她姐姐。

我看见了——呃姐姐。

看到了姐姐，看到了姐姐。

我在芝加哥见过她姐姐。

在这里，我将如何发音“他的”？

伊兹，伊兹，我会放弃那个H。

他又叫什么名字？

又是什么名字？

他又叫什么名字？

我将如何发音“他”？

我会放弃那个H。

‘我，‘我。

我告诉他没有。

我告诉——我——不。

我告诉他没有。

我将如何发音“他的”？

我要放弃 H。

你还记得约翰吗？

这是他的妹妹。

这是——是——姐姐。

这是他的妹妹。

这段视频是在我和室友的圣诞派对上制作的
。

你会听到“她”的减少。

Jovan，这也是一些出色的手艺。

告诉她这些点。

你注意到 H 掉线了吗？

用像她、他和他这样的无重音词去掉开头的 H 并不少见。

如果您这样做，请始终将其链接到之前的单词。

告诉她，告诉她。告诉她这些点。

再听一遍。

告诉她这些点。

是的，这实际上是饼干的盲文。

这段视频是我和朋友在康尼岛拍摄的。

你会在这里听到另一个“她”的减少。

我们想要漏斗蛋糕，但我们不知道
我们是否可以使用我们的门票！

啊啊！挫败感！

你为什么不问问她？

英语中的常见做法是在
她、他、他等词中去掉 h。

所以她变得呃呃呃。

确保将其链接到之前的单词。

问她，问她，就问她。

这使语言变得平滑，
听起来更自然。

你为什么不问问她？

当我和我的朋友劳拉一起烘焙时，我制作了这个视频
。

注意’have’中删除的H。

所以这需要 3 分钟……

哦，是的，让它保持 3 分钟，然后我把时钟从房间里拿出来，因为它太吵了。

好的。

你没有手表吗？

你注意到 Laura 在“have”中去掉了 H 吗？

这是一种常见的减少。

删除功能词中的 H，例如 have、had、her、his。

你有一个，你有一个。

你没有手表吗？

这是我和我的同一个朋友劳拉一起烘焙的另一个视频，就在几年后。

我们仍在使用丢弃的 H 减少！

在这里，它是“他”中删除的 H。

宝宝起来了。

好吧，让我去接他。

让我去接他。

这里有一些减少。

“让我”变成了 lemme。

并且 H 被丢弃在“他”中。

去掉这个词中的 H 是一种非常
常见的减少方式。

当我们这样做时，听起来就像
我们在“他们”中删除了 TH。

‘Get him’ 变成 get im，就像’put them’ 变成了
em。

襟翼 T 连接单词，“他们”和“他”的减少是完全相同的声音 schwa 和 m。

抓住他们。

把它们。

好吧，让我去接他。

你能在那里看吗？

打招呼！我刚刚睡了个好觉。

你能说：大家好！

在这里，我们正在观看
我家人之间的网球比赛。

你会在“他”和“她”中听到一个下降的 H。

厄尼，别对他好！

对他放心。

你对“他”这个词有什么注意？

不，H。

我们经常这样发音“他”。

就像’our’一样，当它被减少时，考虑在它之前的单词末尾添加一个额外的音节。

在他身上，在他身上。

对他放心。

再听一遍。

厄尼，别对他好！

让我去看看他。

这是另一个“他”减少。

检查他。

在他身上，在他身上，在他身上。

再听一遍。

检查他。

同样的假期，没有更多的网球。

另一个在“他”中删除了H。

他是不是弄乱了你的颜色？

他是不是惹你了？

我们应该搬走他吗？

动他。

将 H 放入“他”中。

动他。

我们应该搬走他吗？

是的！

不，不，

告诉他不！

在这段视频中，我的家人第一次见到我的第一个
儿子。

在“他”中又是一个掉线的H

抱他怎么样？

哦，怎么样？

哦，我不知道。这是无法描述的。

抱他怎么样？

你在这句话中注意到他这个词的什么地方？

抱他怎么样？

h 被删除了。

抱住他，抱住他。

而这两个词连在一起，中间
没有空隙。

这是以 H 开头的功能词的非常常见的会话发音，例如 him、

her、his、have、has 和 had。

抱他怎么样？

在这段视频中，我和家人在一个自然保护区。

“have”中的 H 下降。

首先，我们和一名护林员聊天。

等等，我们来了，他从来没有，其中一些
人以前从未见过鳄鱼。

这是一个减少 H 减少的示例。

我没有说“people have”，而是说：people uv——去掉

h 并将 ah 元音减少到 schwa。

现在“have”听起来就像是
人尾的第三个非重读音节。

人紫外线，人紫外线。

跟我一起试试。

人有，人有。

再听一遍。

等等，我们来了，他从来没有，其中

一些人从来没有——其中一些人从来没有——其中一些人以前从未见过鳄鱼。

你去吧，我过去 10 年制作关于这些减少的视频的许多例子。

他，他，她，有，有，有。

在这些词中去掉 H
在自然英语中很常见。

观看此视频几次，暂停，然后
大声说出示例。

这将使您的大脑专注于减少

，当您听到周围的声音时，您会开始越来越多地注意到它
。

您似乎
对其他美式英语减少的完整播放列表感兴趣。

你知道我已经为你准备好了。

单击此处或在下面的说明中。

就是这样，非常感谢您使用 Rachel 的英语！