Want to Speak English Confidently?...FRIENDS can help you! - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

Subtitles section Play video

Do you wait until the last minute to buy gifts? Joey and Chandler do. Today we're
taking a scene from Friends and we're doing a full pronunciation
analysis. What are the characteristics of American English? You're going to improve
your listening comprehension and your English pronunciation too. Here's the scene we'll study.
Hi.
Hey, anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
No, nothing.
I hope she's okay.
Yeah. I know exactly what she's going through.
How do you know exactly what she's going through?
She told us.
So what you got there Monica?
Just some stuff for the party.
Hey, what are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be Christmas shopping?
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet?
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, what are you going to do?
Don't you have to be Claymation to say stuff like that?
And now let's do the full analysis.
Be sure to download my Sounds of American English Cheat Sheet,
it's free. It's an illustrated reference guide for you for all the American English
sounds including the phonetic symbols you need to know. Link here and in the video description.
Hi.
Hey, anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
So, two common American greetings. Hey is more common and I talked
about that in the video that we did two weeks ago,
another scene from this Friends episode. Hi, hi, up down shape of stress. Hi.
Hi.
Hey.
Hey, hey. And then hey, a more common greeting, hey, also up down shape of stress.
Hey
Hey, anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
So, this is a yes no question. So out pitch is going up towards the end. That's common
for yes no questions. So, we have a couple stressed syllables, let's listen for them.
Anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
Anyone hear from. So, we start higher and we come low. Anyone. A little bit of up down on here from.
So, anyone and here. Anyone, three syllable word with first syllable stress.
Anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
Phoebe yet? So, then we backed up. So, Phoebe, also stressed but rather than going up down,
the stress here goes down up. Phoebe yet? Because we're heading up,
because of it being a yes no question. Phoebe yet?
Phoebe yet?
Phoebe yet? And we have a stop T there, he doesn't release that air stop T yet just an abrupt stop.
That is the most the most common pronunciation of an ending T at the end of a thought group.
Let's look at our linking and things that are happening with the pronunciation in this phrase.
Anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
I want to pop in to give a huge thanks to my supporters here on Youtube via the
channel membership. When you join, you get badges to make your comments pop,
you get access to emoji and the top level also gets free audio
lessons every month. Thank you so much for your support. Click join to learn more.
Anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
Anyone hear from. Anyone hear from. So, do you hear how I'm saying this. I'm not saying from.
I'm saying from, from. That's exactly how Ross said it so this word reduces. We change from
the uh as in butter vowel. From, to the schwa. From, from, from. The schwa gets
absorbed by that M so you can think of there being no vowel there. From, from, hear from.
Anyone hear from--
The word 'hear', if you look this up in a dictionary, you'll see it's got the ih as
in sit vowel, but when that vowel is followed by schwa R like it is here,
it changes, it becomes a vowel more like the E vowel. So it's not e but he-ee, hear, hear.
Anyone hear from--
Anyone hear from, anyone hear from, anyone hear from.
See if you can copy that smoothness. Anyone hear from.
Anyone hear from--
Phoebe yet?
Phoebe yet? So, the ph makes the F sound, Phoebe. And both the stressed
and the unstressed syllables in this name have the same vowel, that is the E vowel.
Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe yet?
Phoebe yet?
No, nothing.
No, nothing. Uhuuhuh. If we slow that down, you would really hear that shape of stress,
no, nothing. So two up down shapes of stress, we have the oh diphthong,
she makes a little bit relaxed, it's not no but more like no, no, no, no, nothing.
No, nothing.
Now here, the O, the letter O makes the uh as in butter vowel. So, even though it looks like n-o,
n-o, the pronunciation would be the same, that is not true. No, nothing. Now, t-h-i-n-g,
she does not make that an NG ending, she doesn't say nothing, she says nothing,
nothing. So, making the NG ending just an N ending, ih as in sit n and nothing.
Nothing.
I hope she's okay.
Okay, so Monica's response. Four words, two of them as stressed. Which do you
think are longer and up down shape of stress or a down up shape of stress?
I hope she's okay.
I hope she's. Uhuhuh. Definitely hear that pitch change. I hope she's. And then we have okay. Also
an up down shape of stress there. So, we have hope and K. Now, the word I, that's the I diphthong.
It's unstressed here, I don't really hear her pronouncing both of those sounds, I.
I hope she's.
It's more like a, a, I hope, I hope, I hope she's okay.
So, ,aybe more like the ah as in father said very, very quickly. I hope, I hope she's okay.
I hope she's okay.
Hope she's. So, let's talk about our p. This is a stop consonant,
hope. A stop consonant is a stop of air and a release. But it's really common in stop
consonants not to make the release when the next sound is a consonant. Here the
next sound is the sh consonant. So it's not hope she's. But it's just hope she's, hope,
my lips come together for the P but I skip the release rather than that escape of air,
we go right into the sh consonant, hope she's. But there is that little tiny lift break, that's
the stop of the stop consonant as my lips come together. Hope she's. I hope she's, I hope she's.
I hope she's --
I hope she's okay.
Okay, okay. This is a word that can have first syllable stress,
okay. Or second syllable stress, okay. She's doing second.
she's okay.
Yeah, I know exactly what she's going through.
Yeah, yeah. Up down shape of stress
Yeah, --
I know exactly what she's going through.
Yeah, I know exactly. So, more stress on our verb. I know exactly on our adverb.
I know exactly --
I know exactly what she's going through.
Going through, what she's going through, then one more stressed syllable on the verb going.
So everything links together smoothly even the word yeah,
links right into the I, he doesn't do a break there, yeah, yeah I know.
Yeah, I know exactly what she's going through.
Maybe you noticed this, maybe you already know it but this word is
pronounced the exact same way as this word. N consonant, O diphthong. Know. Yeah I know.
Yeah, I know --
exactly what she's going through.
Exactly. Now this is an interesting word. We have the letter X. That always makes two
sounds. In this case egz, G and Z, exactly. Then we have a K, the letter C makes K, t-l-y. So,
when t comes between two consonants, it's really common in American Englsih to drop it and that's
what he does, he does not say exactly. You will find very few people pronouncing it that
way. Exactly, exactly with no T is a much more common pronunciation. Exactly, I know exactly.
I know exactly.
I know exactly what she's going through.
Exactly what she's, what she's, what she's, what she's.
Do you notice I'm not saying what she's? It's a very quick stop. It's an unstressed word
said very quickly. What she's, what she's, what she's, what, what. I'm debating, do I
want to write that with a schwa, what, what or uh as in butter, what, what. Let's listen again.
I know exactly what she's --
I think I'm going to write it with the schwa, I think it's just, there's not much
of a vowel there but what, what, what, what she's, what she's. What she's, what she's.
what she's --
going through.
Going through, going through. So one peak of stress and the rest of the
sentence just comes as the intonation drops off. Now, Rachel up here took an IG ending,
ing ending and made it an IN ending. He's doing that too, rather than saying going,
he's saying goin', goin'. Unstressed syllable as it as in sit and going through, going, going,
going through. Through, this word can be tricky, we have an unvoiced th with an R. now the tongue
does have to come through, the teeth here. But it's just the very tip. Make sure there's not
tension so the air can just flow really freely. Going through, going through, th, th, th, through.
going through.
And all of these letters o-u-g-h just make the ooh vowel. Going through.
going through.
How do you know --
How do you know. She's stressing you, we see that with a hand gesture,
how do, how do you know. A little bit of stress on our question word. That's
really typical to have the question word be stressed. How do you know?
How do you know --
How do you know, how do you know. So do and more said a little bit more
quickly but all of this really links together smoothly. How do you know, how do you know.
How do you know --
Exactly what she's going through?
Know exactly. So, we have the oh diphthong,
the ih as in sit vowel. Know exactly. It can help you think a w glide consonant between the two to
help you link those smoothly. Know exactly. Now, wait. Is she saying the T in exactly?
Exactly --
Exactly, exactly, no, she doesn't. Like I said, that's really uncommon. I only
know one person our of everybody I know who says that T. Exactly.
Exactly --
What she's going through.
Exactly what she's going through? Exactly.
Stress on the middle syllable there. How do you know exactly what she's going through?
How do you know exactly what she's going through?
Exactly what she's going through. So, what she's again unstressed said quickly stop T,
what she's, what she's, what she's, what she's going through.
exactly what she's going through?
Now, Monica does not make this goin',
she makes it going with an ng consonant. So, when we have an ng consonant, ih as
in sit ng. This NG sound actually changes the vowel sound. So, it actually sounds more like
e, going, going, rather than e, e. So if we change the NG to an N,
then the vowel stays ih as in sit, it doesn't change goin. But if we don't, then the vowel
does change even though the dictionary won't say this. The American habit is to make ih as in sit
vowel NG actually becomes E vowel NG going going, going, going through, going through.
Going through --
Again, through, tricky word, unvoiced th, bring the tongue tip lightly through,
r consonant, ooh vowel, going through.
Going through --
She told us.
Okay, his response, three words, one of them is stressed, which is it?
She told us.
She told us. Pretty clear there, dadada. It's like what you want to make a gesture
on. Dadada. She told us. She told us. Higher pitch, change in pitch a little longer. She
told us. Now this word does start with a true T. The rule is a t is a true T if it starts a
stressed syllable. So here it does. Told us. Let's look at the word told in IPA. We have T consonant,
O diphthong L-D. Now, this is a dark L because it comes after a dipthong And this L does change
the diphthong, it's to, told but it's told. It's almost like one sound. You can maybe think of it
as an awe as in law, that's just a little bit darker so the tongue shifts back a little bit,
it lifts a little bit, lips round a little bit, uhl, uhl, uhl, told. She
told us.And the D links into the u as in butter vowel, told us [flap], told us.
Told us.
Told us, told us. And a little bit a stronger T and a stronger D because he's stressing this
word. She told us. So, usually when we say I know exactly what she's going through. That's
because we have also gone through that. We have experienced that or experienced something
similar. So, gone through means to experience something. And Joey has not experienced what Phoebe
is experiencing. In this Episode, Phoebe is maybe going to meet her father for the first time. This
has not happened to Joey. So, when Joey says I know exactly what she's going through, it makes it
sound like the same thing happened to him. Monica calls him out on that. Of course, he doesn't know
that but then he says, well I know that because she told us that. It's not how we would normally
use exactly what she's going through.which is why it's a joke and everyone laughs.
She told us.
So what have you got there, Monica?
Okay, Chandler comes in, he's speaking fast, it's a little unclear.
So what have you got there. So we have some stress on what.
In a question, the question word is usually going to be stressed just like here with how. So what do
you got there, Monica? So, Monica tagged on at the end, it is stressed but because he's making
his intonation go up, the stress goes down up instead of up down like it normally does.
So what have you got there, Monica?
Okay, this is so unclear. So the word so is not pronounced so with the O diphthong so
but it's su. It's just the S sound, so what, so what. Maybe you would write that S schwa.
The w consonant for what but then really not the rest of that word,
so-ya, so-whya. Is more like what I'm hearing
So what have you got --
So what have you becomes to my ears so-wuh and maybe uh? Let's listen again.
So what have you got --
Yeah, So-ya, so, so-ya-su, so-ya. So I'm going to write that with the Y consonant and the schwa.
So-ya, so-ya, so-ya. So what have you got there. So what have you got there. So what have you
becomes so-ya, so-ya. The word have dropped totally and the vowel in all of these three
words reduced to the schwa, so-ya, so-ya, so what have you got there, so what have you got there.
So what have you got there --
All leading up to the longer word, the more clear word, got. But that's a stop T,
it's not fully pronounced. Got there, got there. That stop of air. That is the T there.
The letter O, ah as in father, got, got, got there, got there.
So what have you got there --
So what have you got there, Monica?
So what have you got there, Monica? There begins with a voiced th, it's not stressed. You can get
by with not bringing your tongue tip through. You can just touch the backs of the teeth [flap] with
your tongue rather than taking the time to bring that through. [flap] there, there,
there, there. You'll see it in IPA. Unvoiced th, eh as in bed schwa R but the schwa R
does affect this vowel just like the dark L affects to oh diphthong, the R or the schwa
R affects to eh vowel, not as much jaw drop not the but the eh, there, eh, eh, eh, there.
So what have you got there, Monica?
This is one where you'll really have to ignore what you see,
what the black and white text is and just go with what you hear and just try to
imitate that and have to simplify your mouth movements so much to match his reductions,
to get through this sentence with the same pacing, the same rhythm as Chandler
So what have you got there, Monica?
Just some stuff for the party.
Just some stuff for the party. Just some. Stress on our first word. Just some stuff
for the party. She's making her stress go up, we have three stressed syllables.
Now, even though the word just is stressed, the T is dropped. That's
really common between two consonants even in the stressed word like, exactly where
we drop that T because it comes between two consonants. Just some, just some, just some.
Just some
Just some stuff for the party.
Also notice, it's not some, it's not stressed. Some but it's some, some, I would write that
with a schwa, I'm going to say that quickly, also by the way, there's not two S sounds here. Just
think of one S sound to link, just some, just some, just some. Just some becomes just some.
Just some --
Just some stuff for the party.
Just some stuff for the. Now here again, just like just some, when we drop the T,
we had two S's. We have stuff for, two F's, we're going to link that with a single F.
Stuff for, stuff for, stuff for. So we have the uh as in butter in stuff and in the word for,
that reduces to schwa R so it's not for but it's for, for. For the. These two words become for the,
for the, for the. And remember, this is a voiced th so you don't need to bring your tongue tip
through because it's unstressed. For the, for the, for the. Stuff for the, stuff for the.
Stuff for the --
Stuff for the party.
Party, party. Do you hear a true T in that word? Party. I don't.
That's because the T after an R before a vowel or diphthong is a flap T and that sounds like
the American D between two vowels in English. Party [flap], flap of the tongue. Party. Party.
Party.
So, everything links together really smoothly, we have some reductions, we have a flap T.
Just some stuff for the party.
Hey, what are you guys doing here?
Hey, what are you guys doing here? Two stress words are question words. What and do. The
other word said really, really quickly. Instead of hey, it's more like hey, hey.
Hey, what do you guys --
You almost don't even hear it. Hey, hey, hey. I do hear it. I wrote it when I was
sriting out the transcript but it's so subtle, so fast. Hey, hey, hey, hey. What are you guys
Hey, what are you guys --
Hey, what are you guys. So we have the word R, this is going to reduce to schwa r
and the T comes between two vowels so that becomes a flap T. What are, what are. The
word you said really quickly attached to the word are, attached to the word guys. What are you guys.
What are you guys --
What are you guys. what are you guys, what are you guys. Can you do that that
quickly? It's like you throw your arm up and on what and then you just let
the rest of the words fly out quickly. What are you guys, what are you guys.
What are you guys --
None of those are stressed. We do not want to say what are you guys, uh, uh. We don't
want that up down shape of the voice, we don't want to length. It's fast. What are you guys.
What are you guys --
Doing here?
Doing here. Doing here. Now again, we an ING ending he does not change it. So think of it
as ending in eng, doing, doing, doing here. Doing here. Alright this is interesting. Now
we have the word here also with the ih as in sit this time followed by schwa R
so this was ih as in sit followed by ng changes to the E. That happens in this combination too.
Ih as in sit followed by schwa R becomes more like an e vowel. Doing here, doing here.
Doing here?
Aren't you supposed to be Christmas shopping?
Aren't you supposed to be Christmas shopping? So, the word aren't, I basically don't hear that,
it's so mumbled. You can just think that tiny little throat sound. Aren't you supposed to be.
Aren't you supposed to be --
Supposed to be. So we have the word supposed feels like two syllables with second
syllable stress. Supposed. But actually, we drop the first vowel so it becomes just one
syllable beginning with an SP cluster. Spo, spo and it is stressed. Now, supposed to.
There is a shortcut we do with this, let's write out what the all the sounds would be. Supposed to.
Because the word to is pretty much always going to reduce. Supposed to. But that's not what he says.
You supposed to --
Supposed to. He says supposed to not spouzd to. So, what happens?
Basically, supposed to, we drop the ZD, we make it instead an S.
Supposed to, supposed to. And that's how we pronounce supposed to, supposed to, supposed to
You supposed to --
Er,er ,er. Are you, are you spo. Are you supposed to, are you supposed to.
Aren't you supposed to be. So we have two really quick unstressed syllables
then one stressed syllable, supposed then two more unstressed. To be, to be.
Aren't you supposed to be. Aren't you supposed to be. Aren't you supposed to be.
Aren't you supposed to be.
Christmas shopping?
It's a yes no question so he's making his intonation go up so now it's changing so
that our stressed syllables are going down and up. Christmas shopping?
And those are our stressed syllables. Christmas, Christ-mas. Do you notice we dropped that T?
That's because it comes between two consonants. Christmas shopping?
Christmas shopping?
So, we're linking an S to an SH. I think you could get away with dropping this
but I think he does do it very lightly and very quickly. Christmas shopping?
Christmas shopping?
Shopping? Shopping? I'm hearing in instead of ing. That means
he dropped the NG sound and turned it into an n sound. Shoppin, shoppin'?
Shopping?
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet?
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet? I can't hardly make my voice that high right now?
A higher pitch shows more energy,
a little bit of tension, she cannot believe that they haven't done Christmas shopping yet.
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet?
So again, this is a yes no question and her intonation is going up at the end.
You guys, you guys haven't gotten, a little bit on gotten, your presents yet and then
it's going up so most of our stress is on the word presents. Pre, presents yet?
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet?
And she does do a really light release of that t.
Your presents yet?
So we have a s, ending s followed by y just like in the word this, I'm sorry, in the phrase this
year which was in the scene we studied two weeks ago here. This year, linked with sort of an sh
sound this year. I'm hearing presents yet linking with a little bit of an sh or maybe even a CH
sound which is written with the T and then the sh sound which makes sense because we got a t here.
So, a little bit of a sound change happening on that link
Your presents yet?
You guys haven't gotten. Okay, so we have a couple stops here, haven't
gotten, got'n. So when we have t schwa n like we do at the end of this word.
Even though the sound before is a vowel and a t between two vowels is usually a flap T,
there is an exception. When we have T schwa N, that T is a stop T. So, it's not gotten,
it's not gotten but it's gotten, gotten, gotten. That's going to be the most common pronunciation.
Haven't gotten, haven't gotten.
Haven't gotten --
Your presents yet?
Haven't gotten your, haven't gotten your, your, your, your. The word your becomes your reduces
said quickly, you don't need to try to make a vowel there at all, just Y sound R sound, your .
Haven't gotten your --
presents yet?
Also notice in the word presents, this letter s makes a z sound. Pres, pres,
presents. And it might help you to think of this as being an I, I'm not sure, it's a schwa.
So, don't do ents but ents, ents, presents. Presents yet?
Presents yet?
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Three stressed syllables there. Tomorrow is Christmas
Eve. All with that up down shape of stress, more length. Notice this word is not tomorrow
but it's to. Always make that a schwa. To, to, tomorrow. Tomorrow is Christmas. Dropped T,
Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve. Everything linked together.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.
What are you going to do?
What are you going to do? Okay, so again like I said, the question word
is stressed. What are you going to do? And then our verb is stressed. The other words
said quickly, it is not what are you going to do. Oh my goodness,
no, that is all syllables, all words stressed but it's what are you gonna.
What are you going to --
What are you going to. These words are all lower in pitch,
they're just coming down from the what, leading up to the do,
the word are reduces, what are, what are, what are. And that's a flap T linking. Water, water
What are you going to --
What are you going to. So the word you said really quickly, she doesn't reduce the vowel,
it could be ya. What are ya but she says what are you, what are you, what are you. Going to, gonna.
What are you gonna. What are you gonna do?
What are you going to do?
Don't you have to be Claymation to say stuff like that?
So, her pitch is high, she's panicked about Christmas Eve. Chandler makes a joke about
Claymation. What is Claymation? It's this way of making video that uses stop motion. You have
a figurine, you move it slightly, you take a picture of it, you move it slightly again,
you take another picture of it. And we have some very famous popular Christmas specials, you're
probably seen some of them that use Claymation and in the Christmas special, there's always
something intense happening, we have to save the day and so that's why he is making fun of her,
don't you have to be Claymation to say stuff llike that, her panic about Christmas Eve.
Don't you have to be Claymation to say stuff like that?
Don't you have to be. Don't you have to be. So we have stress on don't
and no more stress until Claymation. So you have to be. We don't really have longer syllables,
we don't really have it up down or down up but all feeling unstressed
Don't you have to be --
Don't you. It's pretty common for an ending T to mix with a beginning Y to make a CH sound
and that's what's happening here. Don't you, don't you, don't you.
Don't you have to be --
Except he's not saying you, is he? He's saying yu. He does reduce the
vowel to the schwa. Don't you, don't you, don't you.
Don't you have to be --
Don't you have. Don't you have. We're dropping the H. Don't you have to be, don't you have to.
Pretty confusing but we go right from the schwa into the ah smooth transition
and then we have the V consonant. Don't you have. Don't you have to.
Don't you --
Then the word to reduces. It's T schwa, Don't you have to be. Now, V followed by T have to,
often becomes haf-to. So you can make that an f. Don't you have to be. Don't you have to be.
Don't you have to be --
Claymation.
Claymation. Clay. Up down, clay-mation. So he
sort of stressing clay. Clay. Even though the most stressed syllable is
may, mation. Claymation. And he's making this one go up because it's a rhetorical
yes no question. He doesn't actually expect her to answer it but it is a yes no question.
Claymation --
to say stuff like that.
Claymation, claymation to say stuff like that. Say. Again,
stress but it's more of a down up because of it being a yes no question
Claymation to say stuff like that.
Claymation to say, claymation to say.
To, hmm, no it's not to. It's more of a d schwa claymation to, mation to, claymation to say.
Claymation to say --
The t-I-o-n ending here ma-tion is sh schwa n. Claymation.
Claymation --
Claymation to say stuff like that.
To say stuff like that. To say stuff like that. And again,
a little bit of stress on that but it's more of a down up.
to say stuff like that.
And maybe a super light release of a true T there. That, that.
That --
Let's listen to the whole conversation one more time
Hi.
Hey, anyone hear from Phoebe yet?
No, nothing.
I hope she's okay.
Yeah. I know exactly what she's going through.
How do you know exactly what she's going through?
She told us.
So what you got there Monica?
Just some stuff for the party.
Hey, what are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be Christmas shopping?
You guys haven't gotten your presents yet? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve,
what are you going to do?
Don't you have to be Claymation to say stuff like that?
Thank you so much for studying with me. Be sure to subscribe with notifications on so
you know about each new lesson and keep your learning now with this video. I love
being your English teacher, that's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.