How to Pronounce the MOST Common English Words Say Them NATURALLY
Well hey there I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!
Today I’ve got twenty of the most common English words
to share with you. I’m going to show you
how to pronounce them correctly but even better
how to actually pronounce these words naturally.
This will help you to understand fast-talking native speakers but
also help you to sound more relaxed
as you begin to speak English more fluently.
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The most common words in English are grammatical words,
they’re articles, they’re prepositions, they’re pronouns
and even some really simple verbs that we use every day.
And because they’re so common and they get used so often,
native English speakers will use them really quickly and efficiently
as we speak which means that the pronunciation of the word
that you learn in a dictionary or from your teacher at school
may not be what it truly sounds like
when a native English speaker actually speaks it.
So today we’ll talk about stressed and unstressed forms,
linking and contractions. These are all really important aspects
of English pronunciation that you need to understand
if you want to use English fluently.
I’m going to share them in no particular order,
mostly because it’s really difficult to know which one of these
words is actually the most common. They are all extremely
common and they probably jostle around
for the number one position.
Of course, I will be sharing all of these words in my accent,
my Australian English accent.
There are some slight variations in the way that these words are
pronounced across English accents,
though lots of similarities as well.
Starting at number twenty. Sometimes you’ll hear this word
stressed as at with that strong vowel sound.
You need to be here at three o’clock.
So when we’re stressing at, we’re emphasising and making
the meaning stronger.
You need to be here exactly at three o’clock.
Not before, not after, at three.
But most of the time when you hear this word it’s not stressed
and the vowel sound reduces down to become that reduced
vowel sound, the schwa.
I’ll meet you at the car.
I’ll pick you up at eight.
Your turn.
Now we have the verb do. Now of course, it conjugates doesn’t it?
It can be do or does depending on the subject
so what you need to remember is that when do is the main verb
in a sentence, it’s usually stressed and it has that vowel sound.
I do it often.
But as an auxiliary verb, if it’s helping the main verb in a sentence
then it usually reduces down so do becomes
Do you want to come?
Your turn.
Does she need to see it?
Try it.
So as a pronoun, you can be stressed especially when you need to
clarify who you’re talking to or who you’re talking about.
I didn’t ask you, I asked her.
So that’s when we hear it really strong
But most of the time when you hear this word, you just hear
Do you know who did it?
I’ll meet you there.
Your turn.
As can be stressed. I guess it didn’t take as long as last time
but usually, it’s an unstressed word and it sounds a little more like
Again we’re using that schwa sound
for the unstressed vowel sound.
It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
One pronunciation pattern to look for but more importantly
to listen for is the way that words that start with a vowel sound
often link to the last sound of the word before it when spoken
naturally. Now as starts with a vowel sound so this is the perfect
time to mention it and to show you how it works.
It wasn’t as hard as I thought.
Now pronouns, grammatical words that start with the letter H
like he, him, her. We can even include have and has.
They’re often pronounced without the H sound
when we’re speaking quickly.
Does he want to come?
Try it.
I’ll ask him if you want.
But you’ve got to remember, if you’re using this reduced form
and you’re not pronouncing the H
you must be linking this word to the one before it okay? You can’t
drop the H sound when it’s the first word in a sentence and say
really liked the party.
You have to pronounce that H.
He really liked the party.
But you can drop it in the middle of a sentence.
I want to buy her a car.
Try it.
Now we have the verb have which is another very popular
English verb so like do, we conjugate have
depending on the subject.
So sometimes it’s has, in the past it’s had.
And in all of those examples, we’re using the strong vowel sound.
Now when have is the main verb in a sentence, it’s stressed.
Though sometimes just like with those pronouns,
native speakers will drop that H sound
when we’re speaking quickly.
She has three dogs.
I have two.
You probably know that have is an auxillary verb in all of the
perfect tenses which is why it’s one of the most common
English verbs, we see it a lot.
And when it’s spoken naturally, we often use contractions,
so instead of saying I have, I’ve,
we have, we’ve,
he has, he’s.
But even as an auxiliary verb, it can be stressed especially
if we want to emphasise that something is true
so I can easily say
I’ve been to India.
So it’s unstressed there but what if someone said
no you haven’t.
I have, I have been to India twice.
Grammatically, but is used in several different ways.
It can be stressed and you’ll hear that strong vowel sound.
I’ll help you but I need a favour from you first.
More often than not, but is unstressed and then
the pronunciation changes.
But I don’t want to.
They ate it, but they didn’t like it.
Try it.
Now this is an unusual one to include in this list because
usually we stress negative forms in English.
I’m not hungry.
But the adverb not is usually almost always linked
to the verb in spoken English. We say
I don’t like it.
We can’t believe it.
So most of the time, not is not pronounced as not.
It’s contracted and it sounds like
can’t, won’t
haven’t,
hasn’t,
For.
It is quite unusual to hear this word pronounced as for
in spoken English so when you hear for, we’re usually referring
to the noun, the number four.
For is usually unstressed and again,
that vowel sound reduces down to the schwa. We hear
Nothing right?
I bought this apple for you.
Can you get one for me?
Try.
Ninety-nine per cent of the time you hear it being used in English,
it’s unstressed
so when I said it just then, I stressed it so that you knew
which word I was talking about but usually it sounds a lot more like
It’s that schwa sound again and we usually use a stop T
at the end as well so no air is released.
Instead of saying it, the air is caught by our tongue.
It’s caught there so that we can move on to the next word
really quickly.
I want it now.
Get it out of the car.
Try it.
Goodness there are actually lots of reduced forms in that one
aren’t there? Get it out of the car.
Now I’ve created a whole learning playlist that explains
the different ways that we link words together in spoken English
so if you haven’t seen it yet, absolutely watch all of the videos
up in this playlist and even if you have, it’s the type of practice
that you need to review, you need to come back to
so it might be a good time to go back to those lessons and
remind yourself about those familiar ways that we link
sounds together in English.
That can be stressed or unstressed, we say that
when it’s stressed with that
vowel sound so when it’s used as a determiner to explain
which specific thing we’re talking about
you’ll hear it stressed because it needs to be clear.
We’ll say: not this one, that one.
And as an adverb it will probably also be stressed too. We’ll say
I’m not that hungry.
But when that is used as a conjunction and it’s connecting two
clauses together, it’s unstressed, it reduces down to
It’s that schwa sound again, the vowel sound reducing down
from that to
I told her that I’d be there.
Your turn.
On. Here’s another example of a grammatical word that starts with
a vowel sound so when it’s said naturally, it’s often linked
to the word that comes before it.
It’s on my computer.
We’ll go on Sunday.
Try it.
The same rules apply for in, when we use it naturally
we need to focus on linking it to the sound that comes before it.
I’ll meet you in there.
Try it.
That extra linking sound between two vowels there
is a bit of a pronunciation trick. Watch this lesson up here
if you want to learn a little bit more about this type of linking.
Let’s talk about the articles a and an because they are unstressed
most of the time so usually when we want to stress and clarify
to say that it’s just one of something that we want, we say one.
So we don’t say I’ll have a carrot.
We say I’ll have one carrot please.
So most of the time, these articles are unstressed. We don’t hear
a and an, we just hear that reduced sound.
Can you take a break?
It was an excellent event.
Your turn.
Now of course and must make our list of most commonly used
words right? When it’s stressed, we say
and but it becomes and unstressed.
And often we drop that D sound at the end
and compare these with me. When we’re stressing I would say
You and me are going.
And unstressed, you and me are going.
You and me are going.
Come and visit me.
Try it.
How could we forget of? It’s almost always unstressed as well.
So instead of saying
we just need to relax our mouth, relax that vowel sound down to
Would you like a cup of tea?
Notice that link between of and the consonant before it, cup of tea.
Now to, when it’s spelt like this
is not usually stressed. It’s usually unstressed
so we reduce it down from to to
I want to go to the beach.
Try it.
Be is the most commonly used verb in English
but it does have several different forms, doesn’t it?
Depending on the subject and the tense so just like do and have,
the be verb can be used as a main verb in a sentence.
I’ll be home soon.
So instead of really stressing that verb be,
it’s just a shorter version.
I’ll be home soon.
You will definitely hear the unstressed forms of be when it’s used
as an auxiliary verb in the continuous tense, in the passive voice.
You’re going to hear
I am as I’m going.
We are as we’re waiting.
Or it is as it’s raining.
Right? It’s really common to hear these contractions
when the be verb is the auxiliary verb.
When it’s used in the past tense the be verb is usually reduced
as well. Again we see that schwa sound. Was becomes
I was upstairs earlier.
Try it.
They were really hungry.
Your turn.
Last but definitely not the least is the.
You won’t hear it pronounced like the very often, maybe
just in your English class, you’ll definitely hear a shorter version.
And you’ll also hear the, that’s our favourite schwa sound
making another appearance.
So with the word the, we have two unstressed forms
because the pronunciation changes depending on the word that
follows it. If the word the is followed by a word that starts
with a consonant sound,
then that’s when we hear that lazy schwa sound again.
You left it in the car.
Try it.
If the word the is followed by a vowel sound then it’s pronounced
Can you hear the difference?
How do we get to the airport?
Try it.
You made it all the way through! Awesome work!
Make sure you bookmark this video
save it to a playlist because you’ll need to come back to it
and review it and practise several times with me.
It’s not the kind of thing that you’ll just instantly know,
you’ve got to put in the practice and you’ll be able to practise
using all of these words naturally and in context
in any of my imitation lessons.
Remember if you want to learn a little more about linking
and naturally spoken English, then definitely check out this playlist
up here, you will absolutely love it.
And I’ll see you in there!