Boost Your CONVERSATION Skills Learn English with Friends TV
Today is the fourth video where we’re using
the Friends new year’s episode from season
one to study English. They made a pact.
They broke the pact and now, we get to
see them at the stroke of midnight. We’re going
to study this scene and everything we can about
American English pronunciation to figure out
what makes American English sound American.
I make new videos every Tuesday to help you
speak faster and more natural English. You’ll
even be watching TV without subtitles. If you
like this video, or you learned something new,
please give it a thumbs up and subscribe
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First, our scene.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
Happy New Year!
You know, I, uh, just thought I’d throw
this out here, I’m no math whiz but I do believe
there are three girls and three guys right here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No. You can’t kiss
Ross, that’s your brother.
Oh perfect, perfect. So now
everybody’s getting kissed but me?
Alright, somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight!
And now, the analysis. In twenty seconds, it’ll
be midnight. So the first voice that we hear is
Dick Clark on the television. He’s doing
the countdown party from Times Square.
And it’s part of the tradition of the New
Year that you kiss somebody on the stroke of
midnight. Is it the same way in your country?
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
So he puts a break here, breaking up this sentence
into two thought groups, and I’m going to go ahead
and write out the word twenty.
In twenty seconds–
In twenty seconds, in twenty seconds.
We have stress on the first syllable of twenty,
and also on the first syllable of seconds. Um
in twenty, I would say here it dips down and up.
In twenty seconds, and then on seconds, it does
the scoop up and then down. Now we have a couple
interesting pronunciation things happening here.
The word twenty, it’s really common to drop the T.
That’s because it comes after an N. And when the T
comes after an N, that’s a case where it might get
dropped. And in the word twenty, I would say it’s
dropped more than half the time.
In twenty seconds–
You can definitely say it with a true T. Twenty.
But that’s way less common than just dropping the
T completely, twenty. Now on the word seconds,
we have the EH as in bed vowel in our
stressed syllable. We have the schwa
in our second syllable. Seconds, seconds,
seconds, and do you notice that D is dropped?
Why? Well the D comes after an N, so when D
comes after an N, and before another consonant,
here it’s the weak ending Z sound, that’s another
case where we’ll probably drop the consonant,
in this case, the D, so the N before T and D
can mean they’re dropped. Almost always we’ll
drop the D between N and another consonant.
Seconds. Ndz, ndz, ndz, right from N into Z.
Seconds–
In twenty seconds, smoothly linked together,
change in pitch happens without jumps. In
twenty seconds, try to do it that smoothly.
In twenty seconds,
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
It’ll be midnight. It’ll be mid– going up to
that peak of stress on mid, midnight. And then
the pitch comes back down. It’ll be, ‘it will’
becomes it’ll, so it’s the IH as in sit vowel,
the apostrophe L, I would write that
schwa L, and the letter T is a flap
between two vowel sounds. So here, it’s between
two vowel sounds so that’s a flap. In IPA,
I write that with the D sound between vowels
but just know, it’s a flap. It’ll be midnight.
It’ll be midnight.
Again smoothly connected, and the pitch
changes without abrupt stops or skips,
uhhhh– it’ll be midnight. Midnight and we
have a stop T at the end of that thought group,
which is a common pronunciation at the end of
a thought group, or when the next word begins
with a consonant. Let’s talk really quickly about
the D sound, it’s not fully pronounced, it’s not
mid, midnight, dd– but it’s midnight, so
we put the tongue in position for the D,
we vibrate the vocal chords, but then
we don’t release dd– an escape of air,
we just go right into the next sound of the
N consonant. Midnight, midnight.
Midnight–
And the moment of joy is upon us.
So Chandler, always the jokester, and the
moment of joy, sort of skips his pronunciation
a little bit, but even though we have these big
changes, and the– it’s not and the, and the–
The voice still carries. And the moment of–
And the moment of–
And the– Do you notice the D is dropped? Look
at that. After an N, before another consonant,
it’s really common to drop the D in the word and.
even though he’s making it stress. And,
he’s making it longer, he still drops the D.
It’s the AA vowel plus N. Now when we have that
sequence. When you look it up in a dictionary,
this is what it will say: aa, an, an, an, but
that’s not how we actually pronounce it. The back
of the tongue relaxes, so whenever AA is followed
by N or M, it’s not pure. Aauhh– We have an
UH vowel, you can think of it as the schwa, or
the UH as in butter. Aauhh– Aauhh– and, and,
so it’s not pure, an– back of the tongue relaxes.
And the– now he takes the word the, and he puts
the EE vowel. That’s not usual, the rule is when
the next word begins with a consonant sound,
you make it the schwa. You would make it EE if
the next word began with a vowel or diphthong,
but in this case, he doesn’t do it
that way. He pronounces it ‘the’.
And the–
moment of joy is upon us.
Moment of joy is upon us.
So we have a peak on moment,
moment of joy is upon us. As well as another
peak on the stressed syllable of ‘upon’.
Moment of joy is upon us.
Moment of– hold on, moment of, moment of, what?
That T is dropped. Look guys, it comes after an N.
Just like in twenty. Moment of, moment of, the
next word, the word of, begins with a vowel
sound. So the T between two consonants we drop
that a lot. But with N, T, vowel or diphthong,
we also might drop that. Like in the word
internet, center, twenty, or when we’re linking
into a word. Moment of. Lots of different
cases where we change our T pronunciations.
And we’re going to have some videos where
we study that in February and March of 2021.
So keep your eyes out for those, lots
of good videos coming early next year.
Moment of–
joy
In the stressed syllable of moment,
mo– it’s the OH diphthong you do need a little
bit of lip rounding for that. Moment of joy, joy,
that’s the OY diphthong, need a little lip
rounding for that too. Everything links together
really smoothly. There are no skips or breaks.
Moment of joy–
is upon us.
Oy is– joy is– these two words linked together,
joy is– IH smoothly right into IH, joy is, the
S in ‘is’ is a weak Z sound, but it links into
upon, uh, uh, uh, uh, the first vowel there, the
schwa, is a, is a, is a, is a, is upon us. Upon
us. Stressed syllable of pon– you can think
of that as AH as in father or AW as in law.
Joy is upon us.
Upon us. And the ending N of upon, links
right into the vowel of us.
Upon us.
Everything’s smoothly connected.
Joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
So Joey makes a comment about the ‘no date pact
thing’. If you’ll remember in the first video
we studied in this series, they made a pact,
no dates for new year’s eve. Then in the next
two videos, we saw how that pact fell apart.
People started inviting dates. And now in this
last video of the series, we see none of those
plans worked out. Here it is midnight, and the
six of them are there together, no dates.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
Looks like that, Looks like that, looks like that
His first three words, unstressed,
less clear, flatter in pitch, said quickly.
looks like that–
Looks like that, looks like that,
looks like that, looks like that.
I think you can even think of this K as dropped,
looks like that, looks like that, like that,
Like that, like that, because that’s what it
sounds like to me. It sounds like he’s doing
L unstressed I into the TH, like that, like
that, like that, like that. AA vowel and then
a stop T because the next word begins with
a consonant. So it’s not looks like that.
Definitely not that clear it. Looks like that.
Looks like that–
no date pact–
You know, now that I’m listening to the whole
phrase, I’m not even sure there’s a stop T.
Looks like that, that, that, that, that
no, that no, that no– I almost feel like
I’m just hearing AH right into N. That
no, that no, looks like that no date pact
Looks like that no date pact–
thing worked out.
No date pact thing– So definite stress on
the word date, I feel that it’s scooping up,
no date pact thing, pact thing, a little
bit more length here as well. Pact thing.
No date pact thing–
Let’s look at our consonants here. Date. We
definitely don’t hear that released, right?
We definitely don’t hear tt– date. But we hear
date pact, it’s not day, but date, date, ttt– I
do a stop in the throat and the vocal cords. That
signifies the stop T. Date pact. Now here we have
consonant T, consonant, how is this T pronounced?
Pact thing–
Pact thing, pact thing, pact thing. It’s
totally dropped. Not surprising. Ending
CT clusters or ST clusters followed by a
consonant, very common to drop that T.
Pact thing–
worked out.
Thing worked out. Thing worked out. Then we have stress on part of our phrasal verb, to work out. Thing worked out.
Thing worked out.
I want to do a quick note on the
word thing, it’s an unvoiced TH,
tongue tip has to come through the teeth,
then it’s the IH as sit vowel followed by NG.
So here we studied when AA is followed by M, it’s
not a pure AA. That’s true here, too. When IH
is followed by NG, it’s not a pure IH. That
would be thih– thih– thing, thing, that’s
not how it’s pronounced. It’s pronounced thing,
thing. So the NG consonant changes that IH vowel,
it’s more of an EE vowel. Thing, thing, thing.
Thing–
worked out.
Let’s look at our word ‘worked’. W consonant, the
R vowel R combination, wor– wor– then we have K,
our ED ending here is pronounced as a
T, that’s because the sound before was
unvoiced, the K consonant. Worked.
Worked out.
I really don’t hear the T though. Worked
out. Worked out. Ttt– normally because the
next word begins with the vowel or diphthong,
I would expect to hear a light T release there,
but I’m not really hearing that.
Worked out.
Worked out. Worked out. Worked out.
I don’t know, I feel like it’s dropped.
Even though that’s not what most people would do,
I think most people would do a light T release.
Definitely, we would drop it if the
next word began with a consonant,
but here, it’s the OW diphthong, I would
expect to hear a light T release. You know,
there’s background noise, he’s not talking very
loudly, maybe that’s why we’re not hearing it.
Worked out.
One, happy new year!
So they’re counting down.
They get to the last one,
one. So when you’re counting like this for
something like a holiday countdown, ten, nine,
eight, each word would be stressed with that
up down shape of stress. One, happy new year!
One, happy new year!
Happy has stress, happy
new year. So most stress on ha– and
new, and of course, I wrote it like that,
but it all links together smoothly, doesn’t
it? Happy new year! Actually, you know, the P,
it’s a stop consonant, and I think part of the
celebratory tone and the stress they give, they
kind of exaggerate that stop. Happy new year!
Happy new year!
But it does still link together smoothly. The
EE vowel right into the N consonant. Happy new year.
Ppy new year– ppy new, ppy new, ppy new,
ppy new, ppy new, ppy new, ppy new. Smooth links.
Happy new year!
Year, this word can be tricky. How is year
different than ear? Well I have a video on that.
So if you’re not clear on the differences between
year and ear, just look it up on youtube, ‘year
ear Rachel’s English’ and you’ll find that video.
And everyone kisses, hugs,
celebrating the change of the year.
Happy new year!
know, I, uh–
You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh–
All linked together really smoothly. The
word you, not you, ye– said so quickly,
you barely even notice it. You know–
You know, I,
uh– You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh–
You know, I, uh– very smooth. The OH diphthong,
right into the AI diphthong. You know I– when
you’re doing a link like that, with the OH
diphthong into another vowel or diphthong, it can
help to think of saying the W consonant to link.
You know I– And of course the K in this word is
silent. You know, you know, You know, I, uh–
You know, I, uh–
just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw this out here. Just thought
I’d throw this out here. So we have a couple
stressed words here. Just thought i’d, thought
i’d, a little bit there, just thought I’d throw,
a little bit there, this out here. Throw out,
our phrasal verb, we have more of the stress
on the word out, but everything in this phrase
links together really smoothly, doesn’t it?
Just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought, the word just, you know what?
I’m really just hearing that as the S.
So we already know when we have an ending
ST cluster, and the next word begins with
a consonant, as it does here, that that T will
probably be dropped, definitely. Just thought,
just thought, just thought. But I feel that
he’s reducing it even further. I don’t even
hear the beginning consonant or the vowel. I just
hear S. Just thought, just thought, just thought
And you know what? That’s not that surprising
to me. That seems like a natural reduction of
the word ‘just’ to me. We can reduce
it to: just, just, just, just, just,
but we can also reduce it to sss– st thought, st
thought. And even though out of all four sounds,
we’re only saying one sound, any native
speaker would know that word as ‘just’.
Just thought i’d–
Just thought i’d– just thought
i’d– just thought i’d–
So a quick S before the word thought. Thought, the
tongue tip does have to come through for the TH
here. I know some of my students have
a hard time transitioning between S
and TH. St thought, st thought.
So let’s just talk through that very,
quickly teeth are together for the S, tongue tip
is just inside the mouth, for me, they’re just
behind the bottom front teeth. Sss– thought–
st thought. So to transition into TH, I just
lift the tongue tip, peek it through the teeth,
just a bit, the teeth part, stt– sstt– stt–
It’s not a very big movement. These
two positions are not very far apart.
You might just want to practice them with a break
stt– and then stt– Slowly together, really
thinking about the change in tongue position.
The rest of the mouth is completely relaxed.
Just thought i’d–
Thought with the AW as in law
vowel, then the letter T, but wait,
the next word is the AI diphthong, I’d– so that
T becomes a flap T. Thought I’d, thought I’d,
linking the two words together.
Just thought i’d–
The D in i’d– not released because the next word
begins with a consonant. Again, it’s the unvoiced
TH, so it’s not I’d throw, but it’s I’d throw. Vocal
chords vibrate for the D, with no release, go
right into the next consonant. Smooth transitions.
Just thought i’d– Just thought i’d–
Just thought i’d–
throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw– THR
consonant, this can be another tricky transition,
so the tongue is just through the teeth, th–
no stop or hold, the air flows freely, it’s a
relaxed sound, and then the tongue tip pulls back
into the mouth and just away from the front of the
mouth, so it’s just backing up slightly, thrr–
to make that R sound. Thr– it
shouldn’t touch the roof of the mouth,
we definitely don’t want it flapping.
Thrr– throw– OH diphthong.
Now we have the word this, this word
begins with a TH, but this time it’s
voiced. It’s not unvoiced like thought or throw.
When there’s an unstressed word like this,
this, that, these, the, and
it begins with the voiced TH,
that’s a case where we might not bring the
tongue tip all the way through the teeth.
The teeth can be slightly parted and the tongue
just touches behind them, you might see it peeking
through the teeth but you don’t need to bring
it quite as far forward: this, this, this, this,
helps us say those unstressed words more quickly.
Thought I’d throw this, thought I’d throw this–
Thought I’d throw this–
out here.
And the ending S links right into
the OW diphthong. Ss out– ss
out– ss out– ss out here– throw this out here.
Stop T because the next word
begins with a consonant.
Throw this out here.
The word ‘here’ when you look it up,
you’ll see IH as in sit, schwa R ending. IH
followed by schwa R, this is another case where
it’s not pure. Just like when it’s followed by NG,
with thing, it gets turned into more of an
EE vowel, same with schwa R. It’s not hih–
here, here, but it’s here, e
e e, much more of an EE sound
even though that’s not what you’ll see
in the dictionary. That’s what we do.
here.
Can you believe how much we’ve studied about
pronunciation already? Not only are we seeing how
many sounds change, but we’re studying why, and so
much about the smoothness and linking that happens
in American English. the up down shape of stress.
here. here. here. I’m no math whiz.
here.
I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz. Four words,
all going up to the peak of stress on Math or
falling from that peak of
stress. I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz.
linking together very smoothly, again another
unvoiced TH. you’re really gonna get your work
here with that. I’m no math whiz, whiz, whiz,
whiz, smoothly connecting consonants together.
M to N, TH to W. now the word whiz, we
have a WH here, but he’s pronouncing that
with without any extra escape of air. whiz,
whiz, just a clean W sound. I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz–
but I do believe there are three girls–
but I do believe there are three girls. Do, three,
our peaks of stress there. but I do believe,
but I, but I, but I. do you hear how those
two words are linking together with a flap T?
and they’re flat, they’re
unstressed. but I, but I, but I do.
but I do,
believe there–
But I do believe they’re– believe, believe
they’re– V consonant right into that
voiced TH, but it’s unstressed, so it’s not
there’s not thh– it’s not that much energy
in it. there, there, there, there,
there, there, do believe there–
do believe there–
do believe there–
The word ‘there’ ends with
an R and it’s linking into
the reduction of the word ‘are’. let’s
listen to just these two words together.
There are–
The word ‘are’ I would write that schwa R,
and the word there, it’s reduced as well,
it’s not there, but it’s there there there.
I would also write that with schwa
R. so we have two schwa R sounds in
a row. there’s just a very subtle restart
of it. There are– There are– There are–
There are– There are– There are– There
are– There are– There are three girls.
There are three girls.
Very smoothly connected. now three, we again
have that unvoiced THR constant just like in
the word throw. like I said, you’re really gonna
get your workout for these unvoiced TH’s here.
three–
girls–
three girls– and the word ‘girls’ just comes
down in pitch after that peak of stress.
girls, girls, girls, girls, girls. don’t try to
make more of a vowel than that. it’s just that
R vowel consonant combination gg– urr– uhls–
Then we have the dark L, the tongue tip doesn’t
need to lift for that. just make a dark sound
with the back of the tongue. guhrrrlll.
To make that sound, my tongue tip is lightly
touching the backs of the bottom front teeth.
not the top, but the bottom.
girls. and then a weak ending Z.
Girls–
and three guys.
and three guys. and three guys. so he stresses
and, and but he still drops the D. and three guys.
and three guys–
actually, all of those have a little bit of
that stressed feeling. and three guys. da-da-da.
All linked together. and three guys.
and three guys–
right here.
Right here. right here. more stress on here, stop
T because the next word begins with a consonant.
right here.
here. Again, remember it’s a case where the IH
vowel is more like EE because it’s followed by R.
here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
So Phoebe’s very sad she had to break up with her
boyfriend tonight because he got a grant to go do
research abroad. And she didn’t want to hold him
back. So she’s depressed. Her volume is very low.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
oh, I– a little bit of stress there. Oh,
I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
and then the peak of stress on anyone.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
But it all links together very smoothly.
No skips or breaks. Let’s look at our
NT contraction. You probably
learned this word is pronounced
Don’t, but that’s very rare that
the T is pronounced like that.
Oh, I don’t feel–
I don’t feel– I don’t feel– I don’t feel– The
T is dropped. N, T consonant, pretty common to
drop it. with N apostrophe T contractions, that
could also be a stop sound. I don’t feel. but
in this case, she drops it completely. I don’t
feel, don’t feel– Right from N and to the F.
Oh, I don’t feel–
feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Feel like– you can link those with a single L
sound. you do want some dark after the EE vowel,
but then you do lift your tongue tip for the
light L. Feel like, feel like, feel like. so
it’s not feel, feel, but feel, get that dark
sound in there. Feel like, feel like, feel like.
Feel like–
kissing anyone tonight.
like kissing, like kissing, like kissing–
you can link those words with a single K sound.
like kissing, like kissing, like
kissing– like kissing anyone–
then the NG sound links really smoothly
into our EH as in bed vowel. Kissing anyone.
like kissing anyone–
tonight.
The word ‘tonight’. a lot of my students say
tonight, but that’s not the pronunciation. if
you look it up in the dictionary, you’ll
see it’s T, schwa, in our first syllable,
that’s unstressed, to, to, to. So there are
no cases where it should be pronounced to, to,
to, but always: to, to, to, tonight, tonight,
tonight, and a stop T at the end of the word.
tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
Poor Rachel. She’s had a run-in with
somebody about a cab at the airport.
You know, when there are a lot of people and not
very many cabs, it can get it can get tough in
New York trying to get one. So she got in a fight
with somebody, her face is a little bruised up.
I can’t kiss anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone. She says that
without really moving her mouth very much.
And that’s why this word is a little less clear
because we don’t have any lip rounding for the W
of one. Anyone, anyone. she’s not really
able to make that W sound. anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone.
I can’t, I can’t, up down shape of stress
there. and that is a stop T. she does make
that a stop T pronunciation for
the N apostrophe T contraction.
I can’t kiss anyone. Links together
smoothly, S into EH vowel. ss anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
So I’m kissing everyone? So I’m– stress on I’m,
so I’m kissing everyone? Also stress on ev– but
it goes down and then back up because our pitch
is heading up, because it’s a yes no question.
everything links together really smoothly.
OH diphthong into AI diphthong. so I’m
kissing– M right into K, no breaks.
and then again, the NG consonant linking
into the EH vowel. kissing eh– ng everyone?
So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. N consonant, OH diphthong,
Right back into an N constant OH diphthong, very
smooth. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. The N,
the tongue for the N just going up so quickly
to the roof of the mouth and back down.
No. No. No.
You can’t kiss
Ross, that’s your brother.
You can’t kiss Ross, you can’t kiss, you
can’t kiss. do you notice he does do the
stop T pronunciation for that?
You can’t kiss Ross. Actually,
all three of those words have some
shape. da da da. You can’t kiss Ross.
You can’t kiss Ross–
that’s your brother.
That’s your brother. That’s your
brother. Very smooth. that’s your
brother. That’s your brother. The
word ‘your’ not pronounced your.
reduced, unstressed, that’s your–
that’s your– that’s your brother.
That’s your brother.
Brother. that’s the voiced TH. brother, brother,
brother. if it seems tricky to bring your tongue
tip through the teeth here, think of this. think
of the tongue flapping up to touch the bottom of
the top front teeth. broth– brother, brother,
brother. I think sometimes thinking of the light
point of contact between the tongue and the upper
teeth can make it feel more simple. Brother.
Brother–
Oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Two-syllable word. Oh perfect, perfect.
Now we have an ending cluster here, CT.
Oh perfect, perfect.
I hear the T dropped. oh perfect, per– So we
have, the next word begins with a consonant. I’m
not surprised he drops it here. very common to
drop that T between consonants. but even here,
I don’t think it’s pronounced. even
though it’s the end of a thought group,
and it wouldn’t sound that strange to say it.
perfect. But I hear: perfect, perfect. Perfect,
perfect. Stop of air, these are both stop
consonants. the K consonant and the T consonant
both stops. so he stops the air,
doesn’t release. oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
In that stressed syllable, per– it’s that,
UR, R vowel combination just like
in work. per, per, perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect,
So now everybody’s getting kissed but me.
So now, so now, so now. he ever so slightly
separates that from everyone. that helps
stress everyone more. So now, so now,
so now, they link together smoothly,
they’re flat. So now, so now, so now,
so, so. I think I’m going to write that S
schwa. it’s not so, so, so, but suh suh suh so
now, so now, so now. Linking together smoothly.
So now–
everybody’s getting kissed but me.
I just noticed I wrote that wrong
it’s not everyone’s, it’s everybody’s.
Everybody’s getting kissed but me.
everybody’s getting kissed– Everybody. Stress
on ev– everybody’s getting kissed but me.
And then a lot of stress on me. he’s
feeling kind of bad about himself.
Everybody’s getting kissed but me.
Everybody. so it’s only the first syllable that’s
stressed there, and it’s not every, but ev-ry.
everybody’s, everybody’s, everybody’s.
everybody’s, –
getting kissed but me.
Everybody’s getting kissed, getting, getting,
getting. Do you notice that? flap T. T between two
vowels, rarararara, flaps against the roof of the
mouth. and the last three syllables of everybody,
and the two syllables of getting, are
flatter, said more quickly. Ev-rybody’s
getting, rybody’s getting, rybody’s getting,
rybody’s getting, not a lot of up down there.
Everybody’s getting,
kissed but me.
Kissed. The ED ending there makes
the T sound because the sound before,
the S is unvoiced. so this word would
be K, IH as in sit, S, T. kissed but me.
He goes right into the B sound, therefore
the T is dropped, T between two consonants,
fairly common to drop that. so we don’t hear the
ED ending at all, even though we know it’s there.
kissed but me.
but me. but me. Do you hear the difference in
those two words? they’re each one syllable long.
one is clearly unstressed, but, but,
but, and the second clearly stressed: me,
me. So we really hear the difference here.
Unstressed word, shorter and flatter in pitch.
but, but. There’s a stop T there because
the next word begins with a consonant.
but, but. and then me, is not me, me, me,
me, that would be an unstressed feel. Flat,
lower in pitch, said quickly. but instead,
it’s me, me, me, uh, uh, uh. that change
in pitch, uuuhh– is what signals stressed
syllable, it’s also a little bit longer, but me.
but me.
Alright, somebody kiss me.
Alright. drops the L, that’s common.
Alright, Alright, Alright, Alright.
Really quick AH as in father, or AW
as in law vowel before the R. Alright,
Alright, Alright, Alright. he does a stop T.
Alright. Alright, somebody kiss me.
Alright,
Somebody kiss me.
Alright, somebody kiss me. Alright, somebody kiss
me. So he’s stressing some. Doesn’t matter who,
anybody, somebody, Somebody kiss me. UH as in
butter vowel there. the peak of stress on some,
The word alright goes up to it, and ‘body
kiss me’ comes away from it. Alright,
somebody kiss me. Linking
together really smoothly.
Alright, somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, Somebody kiss me, some– is
the only syllable there that’s really longer.
The rest are said more quickly. Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, then he says it again, this
time he stresses kiss m– Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
It’s midnight. Okay, he’s really he’s
really getting upset here, isn’t it?
It’s midnight. It’s midnight. the stressed
syllable of mid– gets our peak of stress there.
It’s midnight– and everything links
together smoothly, the D isn’t released,
we make the sound on the vocal chords,
but then just go right on to the M.
Midnight. stop T, doesn’t release it,
it’s the end of his thought group.
it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me it’s midnight.
And then he just repeats over
and over. Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Well, Chandler wanted a kiss
at midnight, and he got one.
Let’s watch this whole conversation one more time.
And isn’t it incredible how much there is
to study about how Americans speak English
that’s probably different from
what you learned in school?
Whenever you take native speakers and you analyze
it like this. You really start to see the give and
take in American English, stressed and unstressed,
and all of the sounds that may change.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out?
Happy New Year!
You know, I, uh, just thought I’d throw this
out here, I’m no math whiz but I do believe
there are three girls and three guys right here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No. You can’t kiss
Ross, that’s your brother.
Oh perfect, perfect. So now
everybody’s getting kissed but me?
Alright, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me,
it’s midnight! Somebody kiss me! It’s midnight!
I had so much fun putting together this four-part
series for you. If you haven’t seen the other
scenes from this episode, check them out in this
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