Speak FAST English in 30 Minutes Advanced Pronunciation Lesson
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Let’s speak fast English. Let’s talk about it.
Let’s imagine the scene. You have had a
long, hard day at work. So you come home,
sit down on the couch. You’re ready to relax
and watch the new English TV show or movie
that you’ve been waiting to watch. You
turn on the TV, and oh my goodness…
They’re talking so fast. Can other people actually
understand this? Is there some kind of secret? Do
they know something that you don’t know? Well,
today you are going to learn what makes American
English fast so that you can understand fast
English and speak like an American yourself.
To help you never forget what you’ve learned,
I’ve created a free PDF worksheet that you can
download for today’s lesson. You will find all
of the pronunciation points, sample sentences,
and you can answer Vanessa’s Challenge Question at
the end of the worksheet. Make sure you click on
the link in the description to download it now.
In today’s lesson, you will see my most popular
videos about how to speak fast English so
that you can speak fast too. Let’s watch.
After you watch this lesson, what are your plans?
Hmm, for me, I could say, after this lesson,
I am going to take a walk. When we talk about
the future in English, we have two options.
We can use will. I will take a walk. Or I am
going to take a walk. But is that the fastest
way to say this sentence? I am going to take a
walk. No. First, let’s make a contraction out of
the first two words. I am becomes I’m. I’m. And
then the next two words is our first reduction.
We can say, I’m gonna take a walk. What happened
to the word to here? I’m gonna take a walk.
The word to simply changed into a. I’m gonna
take a walk. Make sure that when you use
this reduction, you do not say, I’m gonna to
take a walk because we’ve already used the to
when we change it into a. I’m gonna take a walk.
Now I have a couple sentences that I’d like you to
say out loud with me. Can you repeat these
out loud with me? I’m gonna take a walk.
He’s gonna make a presentation. They’re gonna
bake a cake. Let’s make those sentences negative.
I’m not gonna take a walk. He’s not gonna give
a presentation. They’re not gonna bake a cake.
For reduction number two, I have a question. Where
is your dream location to visit? There are a lot
of wonderful places in the world, but for me, I’m
gonna say that I want to visit Norway. Is this the
fastest way to say this sentence, I want to visit
Norway? No. Let’s make a lovely reduction and say,
I wanna visit Norway. What happened to the word to
here? Does this look familiar? The word to changed
to a. I wanna visit Norway. The same as before,
make sure that you do not say I wanna to visit
Norway. No, we’ve already changed the to into
a. So you can simply say, I wanna visit Norway.
You probably know that in English we need
the subject and the verb to agree. So that
means we can say, I want, she wants.
There needs to be an S at the end. So
can we use this reduction when we change the
subject? Can we say she wanna visit Norway?
No, because of that S, we need to include it.
She wants to visit Norway. We need to add that S.
Now I have a few sentences that I
want you to say out loud with me.
Are you ready? I wanna visit Norway. They wanna
come over today. If you’d like to know some other
ways to use the word come, check out my video
up here so that you can use that naturally.
Let’s make these sentences negative. I don’t
wanna visit Norway. I don’t know who would say
that because that’s kind of crazy. Who
doesn’t want to visit Norway? But let’s
say that negatively. I don’t wanna to visit
Norway. They don’t wanna come over to my house.
For reduction number three, I have a question.
What do you need to do to improve your English
skills? What do you need to do? There’s a lot
of things you could do, but if you wanna improve
your English skills, you might say, I have to
study every day. Is this the fastest way to
say this sentence? I have to study every day?
No. Let’s make a reduction with the words have
and to. I hafta study every day. You might notice
that when I wrote this out, the V changes to an F,
but this is just because that’s what it
sounds like. When we use these reductions,
they’re always in spoken English or in really
informal writing, like a text message. So
the way that you write it isn’t so important.
This isn’t for formal papers or formal exams.
So I wrote that F just to remind you that it does
sound like an F. I hafta study English every day.
What happened to that little word to? Can you
guess? I bet you can. You are an expert in this
now. The word to becomes a. I hafta study English
every day. What about if we change the subject. I
hafta study. She hasta study. The word she needs
to agree with the verb has. She has, he has. Can
we make this reduction, she hasta study? Yeah,
that’s great. That’s no problem. You can say,
I hafta study. She hasta study. We hafta study.
Now I have a few sentences that I’d like you to
say with me. I hafta study English every day.
You hafta take the test. She hasta call her
mom. Let’s make them negative. I don’t hafta
study every day. You don’t hafta take the test.
She doesn’t hafta call her mom. What’s happening
here with the verb conjugation? Do you see that
the word have is conjugated the same way for each
of these? That’s because we have the word do. The
verb do has been added to these sentences. And
that means that we conjugate the first verb.
I don’t, you don’t, she doesn’t. This
makes it beautifully grammatically correct.
For reduction number four, I have a question.
Before you cook a meal, what do you need to do?
Before you cook a meal, what do you need to
do? Well, before I cook a meal, I have got
to go to the grocery store. I have got to buy
some groceries. Groceries are food that you get
at the store. But is this the fastest way to say
this sentence? I have got to buy some groceries.
No. Let’s say, I gotta buy some groceries. I gotta
buy some groceries. The full verb phrase, I have
got to, is extremely strong in English. We rarely
use this because it’s so strong. You might use
this for life or death situations. You have got
to wear a seatbelt. You have got to look both ways
when you cross the street. But for daily life, for
buying groceries, we don’t need to use that strong
expression. So we can reduce this to say, I gotta
buy groceries. And it makes it much less strong,
but it still shows something that you need to do.
What in the world is happening with these verbs?
I have got to buy some groceries.
I gotta buy some groceries. Well,
let’s review some of the things that we’ve talked
about. Often, the word to becomes a. I gotta.
So we have the word to changing to that a sound.
But what’s happening with have? It’s gone.
Completely gone. But here it is implied. The word
implied means that we know it’s there, we need it
to be grammatically correct, but we don’t say it.
This is something that’s implied or understood.
When something’s implied, for example,
maybe you tell your boyfriend,
“I want you to tell me I love
you more often.” And he says,
“Oh, well, I spend time with you. I help to cook
meals with you. Of course I love you. I’m doing
these things with you. My love is implied. My love
is understood. I don’t need to say it because you
already know it.” Maybe that’s not okay with you.
You still want him to say it. But that’s the idea
of implied. It’s understood. You know it’s there
but you don’t necessarily see it or hear it.
So you can naturally say, I gotta buy groceries.
But what about if you change the subject?
We’ve talked about the subject and the verb
agreeing. Could you say, he gotta wake up early?
No. Because we have the full verb phrase, he
has got to wake up early, we need to include
that S. This is similar to what we talked
about with wants. Here we need to say, he’s
gotta wake up early. So when we use gotta, the
have part or the has is not implied, it’s added.
He’s gotta wake up early. You can still use gotta
but you need that S. He’s gotta wake up early.
Let’s say a few sentences together so that you
can practice gotta. I gotta buy some groceries.
What’s happening with this pronunciation? In the
middle of the word, there are two Ts. These Ts are
going to change to a D sound in American English.
This is a typical concept in American English,
that when you have a T and a vowel on both
sides, the T’s going to sound like a D. I gotta
buy some groceries. This is the same for the word
wad-er, swead-er, bed-er. If you’d like to know
some other concepts about how to use an American
accent, you can click on this video up here. We go
into depth into five specific things that you can
do to sound more like an American English speaker.
So let’s say that sentence together. I gotta
buy some groceries. You gotta chew with your
mouth closed. It’s considered polite. He’s
gotta wake up early. He’s gotta. Let’s see
if we can make these sentences negative. Can
you say, I don’t gotta buy some groceries?
Some people say this, but it’s not considered
proper English, so I don’t recommend using this.
Instead, when you want to use gotta in the
negative form, we need to use, need to use,
the word need. I don’t need to buy some groceries.
You don’t need to chew with your mouth closed.
Maybe because there’s no one else in the room so
they don’t care. He doesn’t need to wake up early.
Let’s go on to one final bonus reduction. My
question for you is what are you doing right now?
What are you doing right now as you’re watching
this lesson? You might say, I’m trying to
improve my pronunciation. I’m trying to improve
my pronunciation. Is this the fastest way to
say this sentence? No, no, nope. You can
say, I’m tryna improve my pronunciation.
I’m tryna improve my pronunciation.
Let’s review some of those concepts we
talked about to figure out what is happening with
this reduction. The word to is going to change to
a. Tryna, a. But why is there an N added here? You
might notice that with gonna and want to, we’ve
added an N and it just sounds and feels a
little bit more natural to link those together.
I’m tryna improve my pronunciation. You can’t
say I’m trya, I’m trya. It doesn’t feel and
sound as smooth. So we need to say, I’m tryna
improve my pronunciation. This is definitely
for fast English. So if you’re speaking slowly
or kind of thinking about what you’re saying,
it’s best to use the full expression,
I’m trying to improve my pronunciation.
In fact, that’s the same for all of these
reductions. If you need to speak slowly or you’re
not sure what you’re going to say, you’re taking
your time, make sure to use the full expression.
You don’t want to say, I’m gonna. It’s best to
say, I’m going to. It feels more natural if you’re
speaking slowly to not use the reduction, because
the purpose of these reductions is to speak fast.
So let’s practice with tryna. Can you say
these sentences with me? I’m tryna improve
my pronunciation. She’s tryna take a nap. Do you
see how all of those words are linked together?
Tryna take, tryna take a nap. She’s tryna take a
nap. They’re tryna find their dog. They’re tryna
find their dog. When you use these reductions,
it’s great to link the words together quickly.
Let’s make these sentences negative.
I’m not tryna improve my pronunciation.
Okay. She’s not tryna take a nap. They’re not
tryna find their dog because he’s right there.
All right, did you get some pronunciation practice
during this lesson? I hope so. Let’s do a quick
review. And I’d like you to say these sentences
out loud to practice your pronunciation and
practice these natural reductions. I’m gonna study
English every day. I wanna improve my speaking
skills. I hafta practice with Vanessa. I gotta
remember these tips. I’m tryna use them right now.
My first tip for speaking fast English is
to use contractions. What are contractions?
They’re when you put two words together. I’d
like to go is I would like to go. He’s busy.
He is busy. What’re you doing? What are you doing?
If you’d like some tips about how to pronounce
81 contractions, I made a video about
that up here to help your pronunciation.
But this first tip is the most simple. We’ll
talk about some more difficult tips later.
And it’s an easy way to speak quickly.
I’d like to go. I would like to go. Do
you see how we can speak quicker because we’re
cutting off all of the sounds in the word would,
except for that final D. I’d like to go.
Great. Let’s go onto the second tip. My second
tip for speaking fast English is to reduce these
four common verbs. Gonna, wanna, gotta, hafta.
I’m gonna study English means I’m going to study
English. That word to simply becomes a. I’m gonna
study English. Or you might say, I wanna
study English. Here, we’re changing
want to, to wanna. Again, the word to changes to
a. I wanna study English. Or maybe you would say,
I gotta study English. Here, we have a
longer verb. I have got to study English
becomes I gotta. I gotta study English. And
then you might say, I hafta study English.
Have to. Here again, to changes to a. I
hafta study English. Can you say these
with me? I’m gonna study English. I wanna
study English. I gotta study English. I haf.
Ta study English. Beautiful
sentences and it’s so fast.
My third tip for speaking fast English is
to reduce the word you when you’re asking a
question. We’re going to talk about three common
question words. And unfortunately, the word you
reduces in a different way for each question.
So listen carefully and let’s check it out. The
first question word is what. How can we reduce the
question, what are you doing? What are you doing?
We could reduce this to say whatcha doing?
Whatcha. Whatcha. It sounds like a C-H sound here.
And actually, we’ve cut out completely the word
are. And the word you just becomes cha. Whatcha
doing?. You might notice too, extra tip, at the
end of the word doing, that G also gets cut out.
Whatcha doin'? Whatcha doin'?. So I end that word
with an N. Whatcha doin'? Whatcha doin'? Oh, I’m
teaching an English lesson. Oh, I’m studying
English. I’m going to sleep. Whatcha doin'?
Whatcha doin'? Whatcha, whatcha doin'?
Let’s talk about the second W-H question.
Where are you going? Whereya goin? Do you
notice the same thing happening here with that
ING at the end? Whereya goin'? It
ends with an N. What is happening with
the word you? Whereya? We just changed it to ya.
Ya. Not you, but Y-A. Whereya goin'?. And again,
we cut out R. Where are you going? Whereya
goin'? Whereya goin'? Whereya goin'?
What about if you wanted to ask a polite question?
Would you help me? Maybe you need some help in
the office. You might ask this lovely question,
would you help me? But if you want to say it fast,
you could say, wouldja you help me? Wouldja
help me? Wouldja help me? Wouldja. Ja.
Instead of a ch sound like we talked
about before, whatcha doing, here instead
we are going to say ja. Wouldja help
me? Can you say that with me? Wouldja.
Wouldja help me? Would you help me becomes
wouldja. Wouldja help me? Wouldja help me, please?
Tips number four, five, and six include cutting
off sounds. These are a little bit more tricky
so let’s pay attention carefully. Tip number
four for speaking fast English is to cut off
the T at the end of words. Ooh, what about this
sentence? I go out every night. I go ou' every
nigh'. Do you hear I go out every night? No.
Instead, your tongue is at the top of your mouth.
You’re about to make the T sound, but no air
goes through. So it’s just stopped at the top of
your mouth. I go ou' every nigh'. I go ou' every
nigh'. If you would like to know some more common
sentences in English that use this, we use this
all the time, but you can check out this video
I made up here about how to pronounce the most
common sentences in English. I go ou' every nigh'.
Can you say that with me? I go ou' every nigh'.
Tip number five for fast English is to cut off the
letter D at the end of words. Let’s check out this
sample sentence. I found a blue and white card.
I foun' a blue an' white car'. I foun' a blue an'
white car'. Hmm. Maybe you foun' a blue an' white
car' on the street and it was a birthday card that
someone just threw out their window. I foun' a
blue an' white car'. I foun'. The word ends in the
letter N. I foun' a blue an' white. Here the word
and is being reduced. Just cut off that final
D sound. I foun' a blue an' white car'. Car'.
This is a little bit different than the word car.
I drive a car. Because your mouth is making the
shape of that D sound, but it’s not making the
vibrations happening. You’re not actually making
a D sound, but your mouth is making that shape.
Car'. Car'. My tongue is flat against the roof of
my mouth to make the D, but it’s not coming out.
Car', car'. Can you say that sentence with me?
I foun' a blue an' white car'. I foun' a blue
an' white car'. I foun' a blue an' white car'.
My sixth tip for speaking fast English is quite
advanced. It is to cut off the first sounds with
a few pronouns. Him, his, her, and them. Let’s
look at a couple sample sentences. I think he’s
right. I think ‘e’s right. I think ‘e’s right.
There’s no H happening here. I think ‘e, think ‘e.
Kind of sounds like you’re saying thinky. I
think ‘e’s right. Do you notice too at the end
of the word right, there’s no T sound. I think
‘e’s righ’. I think ‘e’s righ’. I think ‘e’s
righ’. We do this all the time.
Let’s go on to another pronoun. It’s ‘is turn.
It’s ‘er turn. It’s his turn. It’s her turn. This
one’s a little bit weird, isn’t it? The H at the
beginning of his and her is cut off. We don’t do
this all the time, but it does happen often enough
that you want to make sure you can understand when
native English speakers are using it, and also so
that you can use it yourself. It’s ‘er turn. It’s
‘er turn. It’s ‘is turn. ‘Is turn. It’s ‘is turn.
It’s ‘is turn. We’re not saying it’s his turn.
It’s ‘is turn. It’s ‘is turn. It’s ‘er turn.
It’s ‘er turn. It’s ‘er turn. Great.
What about the word them? I listen to
‘em. I listen to ‘em. ‘Em. The word them has
the T-H cut out. And instead you’re saying
‘em. ‘Em. I listen to ‘em. Maybe if someone asks
about some music that you like, you might say,
“Oh yeah, I listen to ‘em.” I listen to ‘em.
‘Em. I listen to ‘em. This is quite casual
and we use it a lot in daily conversation.
I listen to ‘em. Can you say that with me?
I listen to ‘em. ‘Em. So we need to reduce some
pronouns as we’re speaking. Him, his, her, them.
My seventh tip for speaking fast English
is specific to American English. It is to
change a T sound to a D sound. You might have
noticed that we’ve done a lot with Ts and Ds,
cutting them off at the end of words. And here
we’re changing them for each other. So when we
say a word, like the word bed-er, wad-er, do
you hear better, water? No. In American English,
a T that’s between two vowel sounds, it doesn’t
always have to be a vowel, but between two vowel
sounds is going to change to a D. Bed-er. Wad-er.
Let’s look at a sample sentence.
The swead-er is better. I like wad-er. Swead-er.
Notice that T, it’s between two vowels. Is bed-er.
It’s between two vowel sounds. I like wad-er. It’s
also between two vowels. But what if we take it up
a notch? These Ts in the next sample sentence are
also between vowel sounds, but it’s not so clear.
Put it in the desk. Pud id in the desk. We
have a lot of D sounds. Pud id in. Pud id
in. What’s happening with that T at the end of
the word put? Well, it’s a T between two vowels,
even though there’s two separate words. Pud
id in. And the word it is between two vowels,
even though it’s two separate words. So
I know this can be a little bit tricky,
but you’re going to hear native speakers use this
all the time. So make sure you can do it too.
Can you say it with me? Pud id in. Pud id in. Pud
id in the desk. Pud id in the desk. Pud id in the
desk. Pud id in the desk. Do you see how
that makes it much faster? Because instead
of spending the time to let the air come out of
your mouth, your tongue is just tapping the top
of your mouth to make a D. Pud id in. Pud id in.
Instead of put it in. It makes it a lot faster.
Are you ready for a final challenge sentence?
It’s going to combine so many of these seven tips,
and it’s going to challenge your mind and
your pronunciation muscles. Our sentence is,
I’m gonna eat his food and it’ll taste great.
Whew. Pretty fast. Let’s break it down. I’m gonna.
I’m gonna. Remember those reductions we talked
about at the beginning of this lesson? We have
a contraction, I am. And then we’re reducing going
to, to become gonna. I’m gonna, I’m gonna ead his.
Here, the final T is changing to a D.
But why is it changing to a D if the
next word doesn’t start with a vowel? Well,
do you remember that we need to cut off the H
for the word his? So instead, it sounds like a
vowel. ‘Is. Ead ‘is. So let’s change that T to
a D and make sure that you cut off the H. Ead ‘is.
Can you say that with me, Ead ‘is. Ead ‘is foo’.
Foo’. What happens to that final D? We just
cut it off. Foo’. And we’re cutting off the
next D. An’ id’ll taste great. Id’ll.
What is happening with this contraction?
Well, when we say the contraction, it will, we
kind of add a little U sound before the L. It
kind of sounds like U-L-L. Id’ll. So here we have
two vowel sounds, even though we don’t see them,
similar to before, ead ‘is.
So here we have id’ll. Id’ll tas’e.
Here we’re cutting off the T. Grea’. And
we’re cutting off the T again. Id’ll tas’e
grea’. Can we go back and say this full challenge
sentence together? Let’s give it a try. I’m gonna
ead ‘is foo’ an’ id’ll tas’e grea’. So much going
on here. Let’s try to say it fast. I’m gonna ead
‘is foo’ and id’ll tas’e grea’. I’m gonna ead
‘is foo’ an’ id’ll tas’e grea’. I’m gonna ead ‘is
foo’ an’ id’ll tas’e grea’. Whew. Great. I hope
you can say the sentence by yourself. Use those
pronunciation muscles and challenge yourself.
Congratulations on speaking real English with
fast, natural, reduced pronunciation. Don’t
forget to click on the link in the description
to download the free PDF worksheet for today’s
lesson. Never forget what you’ve learned.
Well, thank you so much for learning English with
me. I will see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
The next step is to download the free
PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this
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and never forget what you have learned.
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