Lesson summary
Video transcript
When you’re speaking English, do you sometimes feel like it’s hard to say words and phrases? Like your mouth isn’t working properly?
Well, this is a very common problem that many English learners have. And it’s normally caused by students not understanding how to use connected speech.
Many students learning English love to say every single sound. But this is not how native speakers speak.
Native speakers like to speak quickly and to do that, they often change sounds, add sounds and sometimes even remove sounds.
So in today’s video, you are going to learn how to pronounce five common phrases like a native speaker. Are you ready? Let’s go!
Phrase #1
The first phrase for today is ‘I would like to … I would like to …’
This is a phrase that we use when we want to request something. It’s a formal phrase and not normally used between friends.
When a native speaker says it really quickly, it sounds like this. I’d like tuh … I’d like tuh … I’d like tuh … We don’t say ‘I would’.
We join them together and we say ‘I’d, I’d.’ Now, note here how we do not say ‘I’D, I’D.’
We stop the air from coming out and we say ‘I’d, I’d.’
And we don’t say ‘to’. We say ‘tuh, tuh, tuh.’
So the whole phrase sounds like this. I’d like tuh … I’d like tuh … I’d like tuh …
And an example sentence could be ‘I’d like tuh make an appointment for next Friday please.’
So which do you think is easier to say? ‘I would like to …’ or ‘I’d like tuh …’? The second one, right?
So now you try. I’d like tuh … I’d like tuh …
Phrase #2
The second phrase is ‘How is it going? How is it going?’ This is a phrase that we can use to start a conversation.
It’s a bit of a funny phrase because how is what going? What does ‘it’ mean, right?
But this phrase just means ‘How are you?’
And when a native speaker says it really quickly, it normally sounds like this. Howzit goin’? Howzit goin’? Howzit goin’?
We don’t say ‘How is’. We join them together and we say ‘howz, howz.’
And that last sound should be like a Z sound. Your throat should vibrate. ‘Howz.’ And then we don’t say ‘howz it’.
We join them together as well and we say ‘howzit, howzit, howzit.’
And with that final T sound, we stop the air again. We say ‘howzit.’ We don’t say ‘howziT.’ Nope. Howzit.
And a lot of the time, native speakers don’t say ‘going, going’ with that ING sound. They get rid of the G and they just say ‘goin’, goin’.’
So when the native speaker says the whole phrase, it sounds like this. Howzit goin’? Howzit goin’? Howzit goin’?
So which one do you think is easier? ‘How is it going’ or ‘Howzit goin’? The second one, right?
Now you try. Howzit goin’?
Phrase #3
The third phrase is ‘What do you think? What do you think?’ This is a very common phrase that we use to ask someone’s opinion about something.
And when a speaker says it really quickly, it sounds like this. Woddayuh think? Woddayuh think? Woddayuh think?
We don’t say ‘what do you’. We join those three words together and we say ‘woddayuh, woddayuh, woddayuh.’
And this is the same with most phrases that start with ‘what do you.’ You can pronounce it like this. Woddayuh. Woddayuh.
For example, ‘Woddayuh do? Woddayuh eat? Woddayuh like?’
So what do you think is easier? ‘What do you think’ or ‘Woddayuh think’? The second one, right?
So now you try. Woddayuh think? Woddayuh think?
Phrase #4
The fourth phrase is ‘Could you repeat that please? Could you repeat that please?’ This is a very polite way to ask someone ‘What did you say?’
It’s a formal phrase and it’s not normally used between friends.
And when a native speaker says this really quickly, it sounds like this. Cudjuh repeat that please? Cudjuh repeat that please? Cudjuh repeat that please?
We don’t say ‘could you’. We join those together and we say ‘cudjuh, cudjuh, cudjuh.’
And we don’t say ‘repeaT, T’. No. We stop the air with that final T sound. We say ‘repeat, repeat.’ And this is the same with the next word ‘that.’ We don’t say ‘thaT.’ We stop the air from coming out and we say ‘that, that.’
So when you put that all together, it sounds like this. Cudjuh repeat that please? Cudjuh repeat that please? Cudjuh repeat that please?
So which do you think is easier? ‘Could you repeat that please’ or ‘Cudjuh repeat that please’? The second one, right?
So now you try. Cudjuh repeat that please?
Phrase #5
The fifth and final phrase is ‘Do you want to … Do you want to …’ This is a very informal way to invite someone to do something.
For example, ‘Do you want to go to the beach today?’
When a native speaker says this really quickly, it sounds like this. Juh wanna … Juh wanna … Juh wanna …
We don’t say ‘do you.’ We put those together and we just say one sound. Juh, juh, juh. And we don’t say ‘want to.’
We also join them together and we say ‘wanna, wanna, wanna.’ So the whole phrase sounds like this.
Juh wanna … Juh wanna … Juh wanna … Which do you think is easier?
‘Do you want to …’ or ‘Juh wanna …’? The second one, right?
Now you try. Juh wanna … Juh wanna …
Conclusion
That is the end of the lesson today. Now you know how to say five phrases in English like a native speaker.
When you first start practising this, it might seem a little bit hard but if you practise again and again and again, it will become really easy for you and then you will start to sound like a native speaker.
If you’re interested in more pronunciation lessons, check out this playlist right here. If you liked the video, hit like. If you haven’t subscribed already, subscribe right now.
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