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  • Hi.

  • I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

  • Are you ready to imitate the most important sentences in English?

  • Let's talk about it.

  • Today, we're going to talk about the 10 most important sentences in English, at least according

  • to me.

  • Because you use these sentences a lot, all the time in daily conversation, it's a great

  • opportunity to practice using them naturally and pronouncing them correctly.

  • If you say them three or four times each day, you want to make sure that you're pronouncing

  • them correctly, and that's what we're going to do today.

  • Your challenge today is to try to imitate and repeat exactly what I say.

  • I don't care if you're on the train, if you're at work and your boss is looking at you.

  • I don't care where you are.

  • It's your job to speak out loud.

  • Because if I say them, it's okay, but I already know how to say them.

  • It's your job to practice and to use those pronunciation muscles to the fullest.

  • All right.

  • Let's start with the first sentence.

  • Hey!

  • How's it going?”

  • Pretty good.”

  • This is our first sentence today, “Hey!

  • How's it going?” and the most common response, which is, “Pretty good.”

  • Let's break down this expression.

  • Hey.”

  • Pretty clear.

  • Can you repeat that with me?

  • Hey.”

  • Then the next part, “How's it going?”

  • Here in the middle, it sounds like a Z sound.

  • Howzit ... howzit goin'?

  • With the wordgoing,” we're going to cut off the G at the end, so make sure you

  • sayGoin'.”

  • Can you say this all together with me?

  • Try to imitate with me.

  • Ready?

  • Hey.

  • How's it going?

  • Hey.

  • How's it going?”

  • I'm going to pause in just a moment, after we practice the reply.

  • The reply isPretty good.

  • Pretty good.”

  • Now, if you want to sound like an American, the wordpretty”, even though it has

  • T's, it's going to sound like a D sound.

  • So try to say it with me.

  • Priddy.

  • Priddy.

  • Priddy.”

  • And then that final word, “Good.

  • Good.”

  • Make sure that your lips are kind of out a little bit.

  • Good.

  • Good.”

  • Can we put it all together?

  • Pretty good.

  • Pretty good.”

  • Okay.

  • Let's try to imitate this full sentence together and the reply, and then I'm going to pause

  • so that you can say it yourself out loud, no matter where you are.

  • All right.

  • Let's say it together.

  • Hey!

  • How's it going?”

  • Pretty good.”

  • Hey!

  • How's it going?”

  • Pretty good.”

  • All right.

  • I'm going to pause, and it's your turn.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work!

  • Let's go on to the second sentence.

  • The second sentence isDo you want to go?

  • Do you want to go?”

  • You might say this when you want to invite someone to an event, or maybe to your house,

  • or if you want to tell them to go to a restaurant with you.

  • It's a great expression for someone who you just met if you want to continue spending

  • time with them.

  • Let's break down the pronunciation for this common question.

  • Do you wanna go?

  • Do you wanna go?”

  • Why does the first two words sound likeJooo ...” “Do youbecomesJooo,” kind

  • of a “zhe, zhesound.

  • Joo.”

  • And then what aboutWanna go?

  • Wanna go?”

  • Want to goare all of the words, but you're gonna combinewantandto

  • to becomewanna, wanna”.

  • This is really common in conversational English, so let's try to say this full question together.

  • Do you want to go?

  • Do you want to go?

  • Do you want to go?

  • Do you want to go?”

  • All right.

  • Try to imitate this with me.

  • Are you ready?

  • Do you want to go?

  • Do you want to go?

  • Do you want to go to the park?

  • Do you want to go to the restaurant?”

  • Okay, I'm going to pause, and then I want you to say this by yourself.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the third sentence.

  • The third and fourth sentences are, “I'm not sure,” and “I don't know.”

  • These both mean the same thing, but the first one, “I'm not sure,” is a little more

  • casual, and you might use this more in daily conversation.

  • So if you say it quickly it sounds like, “I'm no shur.

  • I'm no shur.

  • I'm no shur.”

  • Let's break this down.

  • Listen carefully, especially to that second word, “not”.

  • “I'm not sure.

  • I'm not sure.”

  • Do you hear “t”, the T sound?

  • “I'm not sure.”

  • Not really.

  • Often in daily conversation in fast English, the T at the end of words is cut off, so your

  • tongue is gonna be at the top of your mouth, almost going to make the “t” sound, but

  • there's no air that comes out.

  • So let's practice saying this, especially with that T stopped at the top of your mouth.

  • Can you do it with me?

  • “I'm not sure.

  • I'm not sure.

  • I'm not, not, not.”

  • All right, let's focus on that last word, “sure, sure, sure”.

  • Do you see my lips here, can you say it with me?

  • Sure, sure.”

  • Can we say this all together?

  • “I'm not sure.

  • I'm not sure.

  • I'm not sure.”

  • Okay, I'm gonna pause and now it's your turn.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the fourth sentence.

  • The fourth sentence, as I just mentioned is, “I don't know, I don't know.”

  • And there are a lot of different ways you can pronounce this, so let's start with maybe

  • the most clear and then working down to the least clear.

  • Let's start with “I don' know, I don' know.”

  • Do you notice that that “t” in the contractiondon't” is similar tonotin the

  • previous sentence?

  • That T, your tongue is at the top of your mouth, but you're not letting the air come

  • out to finish “t”, that “t” sound.

  • So it's gonna sound like, “I don', don' know.”

  • If you can see inside my mouth at the moment, you'll see that my tongue is stopped up there,

  • don', don'” but I'm not sayingdon't.

  • I don't know.”

  • Usually that T in negative contractions is cut out.

  • If you'd like to see the natural pronunciation for 81 contractions, I made a video, you can

  • watch it up here.

  • I hope that will be useful to you.

  • But let's say this in the most clear way, “I don't know.”

  • Can you imitate that with me?

  • “I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.”

  • Okay, let's go to the next one which is a little less clear.

  • You could say, “I dunno.

  • I dunno.

  • I dunno.”

  • It kind of sounds like D-U-N-N-O, dunno.

  • “I dunno, I dunno.”

  • And you would use this in familiar situations, I don't recommend using this to your boss

  • or maybe in a work situation, just because it's really relaxed so you need to be in a

  • really relaxed environment.

  • But you could say, “I dunno.”

  • Do you know how many people are in your city?”

  • “I dunno.

  • I dunno.

  • I dunno.”

  • All right, there is a couple more ways that you can pronounce this, so let's go to another

  • one that is even less clear.

  • Let's take that same pronunciation and cut out the D sound.

  • “I 'unno, I 'unno, I 'unno.”

  • Can you say that slowly with me?

  • “I 'unno.”

  • It sounds weird when you're saying it slowly, but don't worry, when you say it quickly it's

  • perfectly natural.

  • “I 'unno, I 'unno, I 'unno.”

  • There's no D sound here, “I dunno”, like the previous two.

  • Instead, you're just cutting that out.

  • “I 'unno.”

  • Okay, let's go on to the last one, and it is the least clear, but native speakers will

  • definitely understand what you're saying.

  • In this final way to pronounce “I don't knowyou're really gonna be cutting out

  • all of the words, and you're just gonna be leaving some sounds and some intonation.

  • So you're gonna say, “Uh uh uh, uh uh uh.”

  • It seems really strange to just say this by itself, but trust me, native speakers say

  • this a lot.

  • So I'm gonna say it slowly, and I want you to try to imitate my intonation, imagine that

  • you're kind of riding this wave of intonation, and you're gonna say it exactly with me, and

  • then I'm gonna pause and we're gonna practice these clear and unclear pronunciations together.

  • All right, are you ready, can you imitate with me?

  • Uh uh uh, uh uh uh, uh uh uh.”

  • Let's say someone asks you, “How long has Vanessa been teaching online?”

  • And if you respond with, “Uh uh uh,” it means that maybe you don't really care about

  • the answer.

  • It's not something that's important to you.

  • If you said, “I don't know,” it really just means you don't have that information.

  • But if you said, “Uh uh uhit's so relaxed that it means, “I don't really care.”

  • So you could use this in another situation that maybe isn't rude, make sure that you're

  • in a really casual, comfortable situation.

  • If someone asked you, “I'm trying to make this dish, do you know how many eggs I should

  • put in?”

  • You could say, “Uh uh uh, maybe look it up?

  • Uh uh uh, uh uh uh, look it up!”

  • Because you're with your family or your friends, and it's something that's not so important.

  • But if someone asks you something really important, maybe something emotional or sentimental,

  • or especially something for your work, that's really important, don't say, “Uh uh uh

  • because it's too relaxed.

  • So this is for really casual situations, and I'm certain that you're gonna hear this in

  • TV shows and movies.

  • So let's take a moment to try to pronounce “I don't knowin these casual, comfortable

  • ways.

  • I want you to choose which one you'd like to say.

  • “I don' know, I dunno, I 'unno, or uh uh uh.”

  • You can choose which one you'd like to imitate, I'm gonna pause and give you a moment to say

  • it yourself.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the next one.

  • Our fifth sentence is about the weather because it's really common, in almost every country

  • and every culture, to have small talk about the weather, and it's really true in the U.S.

  • We have small talk about the weather all the time.

  • When I was taking a walk the other day, my neighbor was sitting on his front porch and

  • he said, “It's a hot one today, huh?”

  • And I said, “Yep, sure is.”

  • So let's practice this sentence together to talk about the weather.

  • You can change the word forhotforcold”, “rainy”, “snowy”, whatever

  • you'd like.

  • But let's practice withhotandcoldbecause those are the most common.

  • So let's say this sentence together: “It's a hot one today.

  • It's a hot one today.

  • It's a hot one today.”

  • Or, “It's a cold one today, it's a cold one today.”

  • What doesonemean, why are we sayingonehere?

  • Well, it just meansday”.

  • It's a hot day today.”

  • But we use this in daily conversation a lot, so I wanted to make sure that you were familiar

  • with this sentence.

  • And you can use this when you're talking about the weather to sound more like a native speaker.

  • So let's slow it down and practice that pronunciation word by word.

  • It's a hot one today.”

  • Did you notice something about the wordhot”?

  • What happened to that final letter?

  • Well, we have a theme here, it's gone.

  • Your tongue is at the top of your mouth, you're going to sayhot”, but instead of letting

  • the air through your tongue just sticks there.

  • So let's say it together and make sure that you say the wordhotcorrectly.

  • It's a hot one today.

  • T'day, t'day.”

  • Do you notice what's happening with this final word?

  • It's T-O-D-A-Y, but do you heartoday, today”?

  • You might hear this in maybe an audio that goes with your textbook, “Today is a lovely

  • day.”

  • But in daily conversation we hardly ever pronounce this full word, instead you're gonna cut out

  • that O sound and just say “t'day, t'day”.

  • Just make that T sound, “t'day, t'day, t'day, t'day.”

  • Can you say that final word with me?

  • “T'day, t'day, t'day.”

  • Okay, let's say this full sentence together, and I hope that you can use it in your daily

  • conversations when you're having some small talk about the weather.

  • It's a hot one today.

  • It's a hot one today.

  • It's a hot one today.”

  • All right, you turn.

  • Go ahead, I want you to say it yourself out loud.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the next one.

  • The sixth most important or most-used sentence in English, according to me, isYou gotta

  • try it!

  • You gotta try it!”

  • This is something that is commonly used when someone is suggesting something, or maybe

  • they're telling you about a new restaurant, or a new drink, or some experience that they've

  • had and they want you to also do it.

  • They might say, “Oh, you gotta try it, you gotta try it.”

  • And this wordgottais really common in daily conversation, but it's a reduction

  • of a couple other verbs.

  • So the full sentence could be, “You have got to try it.”

  • Buthave got tois reduced togotta”, in fact I have a full pronunciation lesson

  • for this word, “gotta, have to, wanna,” all of these kind of reductions, you can check

  • out the link up here to get some more detailed pronunciation for that word, and also how

  • to use it.

  • But let's talk about this sentenceYou gotta try it.”

  • You godda, godda,” do you notice that the middle of this word doesn't sound like

  • gotta, gotta,” with a T?

  • Instead, it sounds like a D.

  • This is gonna be similar to the word we talked about earlier, “priddy, priddy good”.

  • Do you remember that from number one?

  • Priddy good, priddy good.”

  • Here it's gonna sound likegodda, godda, godda”, just add a D in the middle, especially

  • if you wanna sound like an American English speaker.

  • That's what we do, we add D's in the middle of words all the time.

  • So try to say those first two words with me.

  • You godda, you godda, you godda.”

  • All right, let's say this full sentence.

  • You gotta try it, you gotta try it.”

  • Do you hearitwith that T pronounced at the end?

  • Well, now you are an expert at T's at the end of sentences, and you know that that T

  • is cut short.

  • So let's try to say that together.

  • Gotta try i', i'.”

  • You can see my tongue at the top of my mouth is just stopped there, there's no air coming

  • out.

  • So let's say that whole sentence together, and remember to saygoddaand “i',

  • i', i'”.

  • Are you ready?

  • You gotta try it.

  • You gotta try it.

  • You gotta try it.”

  • All right, it's your turn, go ahead.

  • Excellent work, let's go on to the next one.

  • The seventh most common, most important, most useful expression, according to me, isThanks!

  • I appreciate it.

  • Thanks!

  • I appreciate it.”

  • There's a couple different ways to pronounce this, whether it's clear or a little bit less

  • clear, but let's start with the first word.

  • Thanks, thanks.”

  • Make sure that when you say the TH your tongue is between your teeth, and you're also feeling

  • a little stream of air coming out.

  • Thanks, thanks, thanks.”

  • We use this word all the time, and you can use it by itself, but if you wanna really

  • show your appreciation you can add another sentence, “Thanks!

  • I appreciate it.

  • I appreciate it.”

  • Let's focus on that second part quickly.

  • “I appreciate, a-prish-e-a'e.”

  • Can you say that word with me?

  • “A-prish-e-a'e, appreciate.”

  • Am I sayingappreciate”?

  • Nope, here the T's cut out again.

  • “I appreciate i', i'.”

  • Oh another T is gone, all those T's are gone having a vacation, having a good time together,

  • they're not in this sentence.

  • So make sure that there's not air coming out of your mouth finishing that T sound.

  • “I a-prish-e-a'e i'.

  • I appreciate it.”

  • This is the most clear way, “I appreciate it,” because you're saying the first part

  • of that word, “a-preciate it, appreciate it.”

  • Can we say this full part together clearly before we go on to the relaxed one?

  • Thanks!

  • I appreciate it.

  • Thanks!

  • I appreciate it.”

  • I hope you can repeat with me, really quick, “Thanks!

  • I appreciate it.”

  • All right, let's go on to the relaxed version.

  • Let's imagine that someone does something pretty simple, like open the door for you.

  • You're carrying a lot of groceries and someone in front of you decides to be kind and holds

  • the door open for you.

  • You can say, “Thanks!

  • 'Preciate it.

  • 'Prish-e-a'e it.”

  • What happened to “I a-ppreciate it”?

  • Well, those parts of the sentence are just gone, so you're gonna just start with the

  • P sound.

  • Prish-e-a'e, prish-e-a'e it.”

  • So you can say this altogether, try to imitate it with me.

  • Thanks!

  • 'Preciate it.

  • Prish-e-a'e i'.”

  • Let's say it together.

  • Thanks!

  • 'Preciate it.

  • Thanks!

  • 'Preciate it.”

  • All right, I wanna pause and I wanna let you try to say this all together.

  • Try to say it in that relaxed way, “Thanks!

  • 'Preciate it.”

  • Go ahead.

  • Excellent work, let's go on to the next one.

  • The eighth sentence is a response toThanks!

  • I appreciate it.”

  • If you are the one holding the door for someone else, and someone says to you, “Oh thanks,

  • appreciate it.”

  • What can you say in return?

  • You don't wanna just stand there and goMmmmm”, it's a little bit awkward.

  • So one of the most common sentences that you could say isNo problem, no problem, no

  • problem.”

  • You could sayYou're welcome”, but it's a little bit strong maybe for this simple

  • act of kindness.

  • If you dropped your groceries and someone helped you to pick them up, you could say

  • Oh thanks so much, I appreciate it.”

  • You're welcome.”

  • That's fine because it's a little bit more effort.

  • But one of the most common things to say isNo problem, no problem.”

  • So let's break this down.

  • No problem, problem, problem.”

  • Let's focus on the middle of that word, “problem, problem”.

  • Here your lips are just kind of smacking together a little bit, “blem, blem, blem”.

  • That B and L together is the focus of this word, you wanna make sure that you're pronouncing

  • it correctly.

  • So let's practice the wordproblem, blem, blem”.

  • It looks a little bit funny, but don't worry about it, I hope that you're on the train

  • right now and everyone around you is thinking, “Why is that guy saying 'problem, problem,

  • problem'?”

  • You are improving your English, so who cares what they think?

  • Let's say this together.

  • No problem, blem, blem, no problem, no problem, no problem.”

  • All right, I'm gonna pause and I want you to say it by yourself.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the next one.

  • The ninth and the 10th expression are common ways to say goodbye.

  • At the beginning of this lesson we started with number one, some common introductions,

  • some common ways to say hello, and then some common expressions used in conversation, and

  • now we're finishing up the conversation, so you might saySee you later!

  • See you later!”

  • This is the clearest way to say it, “See you later, see you later.”

  • Let's practice this slowly and go word by word.

  • See.

  • You, you, lader, lader.”

  • Here we have another T that's changed to a D. You don't saylater, see you later.”

  • Americans would never say that.

  • So let's practice changing the T to a D. “See you lader, see you lader, see you lader, see

  • you lader, lader, lader.”

  • I hope you can pronounce that with me.

  • Now let's go on to a little more relaxed and maybe a more common version, especially because

  • see you lateris just a casual way to say goodbye, so you're most likely already

  • gonna be in a familiar situation.

  • Let's changeyoutoya”.

  • See ya later, see ya later.”

  • That final word is the same, “lader”, but the middle word, “youwhich is clearly

  • pronounced, changes toya”.

  • See ya later, see ya later.”

  • Can you say that with me?

  • See ya later, see ya later, see ya later, see ya later, see ya later.”

  • Okay, I'm gonna pause and I want you to say this yourself.

  • Go ahead.

  • Great work, let's go on to the final expression.

  • The 10th most common, most useful, most important expression isLet's go!

  • Let's go!

  • Let's go!”

  • Maybe someone asks youDo you wanna go?

  • Do you wanna go?”

  • One of our earlier sentences, and then you talk a little bit and you say, “Hey, let's

  • go!

  • I wanna eat, let's go to that restaurant you mentioned.

  • Let's go to the movies, let's go, let's go.”

  • So let's say this slowly together, I want you to imitate my voice, try to say it slowly

  • and clearly with me, and then we'll speed it up.

  • Let's go.

  • Let's go.”

  • When you say the T in the middle of the wordlet's”, your tongue is just tapping the

  • top of your mouth.

  • Let's, let's” it's stopping up there and then going to the S sound.

  • Let's go, let's go.”

  • Can you say that with me?

  • Let's go, let's go, let's go.”

  • All right, I'm gonna pause and I want you to say it by yourself.

  • Go ahead.

  • Excellent work, you used those pronunciation muscles, you imitated 10 valuable, important,

  • common sentences in English.

  • I hope that you'll use these sentences again and again so that you can really sound like

  • a native speaker and also pronounce them like a native speaker.

  • So now I have a question for you.

  • In the comments below, let me know what's the weather like in your city today.

  • You might say “I don't know”, or maybe you sayIt's a cold one today.

  • It's a rainy one unfortunately, I have to wear a rain jacket and an umbrella and I'm

  • still getting wet.”

  • Let me know what the weather's like in your city today, and I'll see you again next Friday

  • for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

  • Bye.

  • The next step is to download my free e-book, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English

  • Speaker.

  • You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lesson.

  • Thanks so much, bye.

Hi.

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