Hello and welcome back to Easy English with James, my name is
James and today we're gonna have a look at the most important sound
in all of the English language, its also the most
common sound, so that's a great thing. What is it? it is the
Schwa /ə/ sound. The schwa sound. If you can
master this sound, your pronunciation in English will
improve more than anything else. Ok. So
stick with me, let's learn all about the Schwa /ə/ sound!
So! What is it? Well...
First of all, there are about 44 or 45
sounds in English in total, but...
one of them is probably the most important of all!
It's name is the Schwa. Ok. The schwa
looks like this (ə). Sort of an, upside down
'e'. Ok. We pronounce it like this 'ə'
'ə', 'ə'
'ə'. It's super relaxed, it's the
most relaxed sound. In fact as you will learn later on in the
video, we only use the Schwa sound when we are
relaxed, when we are unstressed. That means when we're not putting
any emphasis or stress on (parts of) words. Ok. It's
one of the first sounds that babies learn in English.
In fact, most babies learn this sound before anything else.
When you watch a clip or you see a baby look for
something and they can't use words, they normally just
use the Schwa sound. They just go 'ə' 'ə' 'ə'. Ok because
it's so easy to make. Relax your mouth, open
relax again and then just 'ə' 'ə'
'ə' 'ə' 'ə'. Ok think about the word
'about' 'about' Ok. That first sound
'ə' 'ə' is not stressed. We don't say A!bout
we say /ə/bout. /ə/bout. Ok
/ə/bout. The stress is on 'bout'. '/ə/bout'. Ok.
So that's why we use 'ə' 'ə' at the beginning.
Ok. Ok, so one really really important thing
to remember is that in English we have 5 vowel
letters. A E I O and U.
but because English is a bit crazy, any of
them 5 letters can be pronounced as a
Schwa sound. As a schwa. Ok. When you see
the word 'balloon' you'll notice that bA
the second letter is A but it's not Bah!loon...
It is a schwa, it's b/ə/ /ə/ b/ə/lloon.
B/ə/lloon. Same with Banana.
banana has 2 schwa sound. B/ə/na
n/ə/. Ok. Two schwa sounds, both
the letter A. The same can happen in words
with E. With the letter E. ProblEm. In the word problem
the 'E' is a schwa. We don't say
problEm, we say probl/ə/m. And that bl/ə/ /ə/
/ə/ probl/ə/m. Ok. Probl/ə/m. So E
can be a schwa. Again with the letter
I. In the word family.
Family. We don't say fameely. We say, fam/ə/, fam/ə/ly.
Fam/ə/ly. Fam/ə/ly. Again with
The 'u' in the word 'Support'
Support. S/ə/. s/ə/.
S/ə/pport. /ə/. Support.
Even in another "vowel" letter
That some people might contend is not actually a vowel but it
is often pronounced as a vowel sound in English. That is the letter 'Y'.
Ok. The letter 'Y'. In the word "Analysis"
Analysis. We pronounce that Y in the middle
as a Schwa. Anal/ə/ (lə/) Anal/ə/sis.
Analysis. Analysis. Ok.
So as you can see. A E I O U and sometimes Y
can be all be pronounced as a Schwa. Remember
that. Ok. It's very very important. Let's move on to the next thing that's pretty
important too. Ok Before we move on to the next thing, I
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Now then! Let's move on to something that is super important. Articles.
What are articles? Articles are little words that
come before nouns. Things like 'a' or 'an'
or 'the'. Ok. You'll notice something suspicious.
Suspicious means...."oooh weird" Ok.
You'll notice that, "A" "an" and "The" all
have that Schwa sound. All of them. Ok. There are
very very rare exceptions when we say "A" (aay)
and The (Thee). Ok. Very very rare exceptions
but 99% of the time whenever you
see any of these words, and they are in nearly every English
sentence. A, an, the.
A, an, the. Ok. Repeat with me. A
an, the. A, an,
the. A, an, the. Ok remember
A, an, and ,the. A,
an, the. For a really good example sentence with this
let's check out, "a man an(d) a woman". "An' here is
actually short for 'and'. Sometimes when we're speaking we get rid of that
'd' we don't use the 'd' because it allows us to speak faster and that's
what you guys want to learn! A man an(d) a woman.
Listen to how fast we can say that, and how fast I would say
that if speaking to one of my English friends. A-man-an-a-woman.
A-man-an-a-woman. A-man-an-a-woman-at-the-shop. A-man-an-a-woman-in
the-house. A man an woman in the car. A man an a woman.
Why...does that sentence sound so fast? It is because
of that Schwa sound. A man an.....
A man an a woman. A man an a woman. A man an a
woman. Ok. We're able to say that so fast because
of the Schwa sound. A man and a woman. A man an a woman.
Ok. practice with me. A man
an a woman. A man an a woman. A man an a woman.
A man an
a woman. A man an a woman. Now try and say it super fast.
A-man-an-a-woman. Ok, remember, all times when you
see them articles, we use the Schwa! So, 'a'
'an' and 'the'. If you start doing that you'll be able to speak
so much faster in English and I promise you, people are gonna say,
"wow! Your pronunciation is amazing!" Ok
Talking of amazing, you'll notice that at the beginning of that word we use a
Schwa! /ə/mazing, not /æ/-mazing.
Amazing. Ok. Let's move on to the next really important thing
that's gonna help you with pronouncing this sound...The Schwa
sound is used in UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES.
Unstressed syllables......now.......what does that mean?
Unstressed syllables, simply means, parts of the word
that you don't want to emphasize. Look at the word
amazing. We don't say Amazing, we don't say
amazING. We actually stress the middle,
aMAzing. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.
That was aMAzing. And you can hear the stress in the middle.
Because of that, that A at the beginning
of the word, is not stressed. In non-stressed or unstressed
syllables, that's where you use the Schwa. Any time
you see that unstressed syllable, you're like, "ooh, that's a vowel
and it's at the beginning of a word and it's not stressed,
that is where you are going to use the Schwa sound.
Ok. Think of words like About, or
Amazing or Agree or
Ago. Ok all of them have that sound at the
beginning. The letter A but it's not stressed. So.....we
use the Schwa sound. /ə/. /ə/mazing. /ə/bout.
/ə/go. /ə/gree. We never say
/æ/. /æ/gree. /æ/mazing. OK and this is a mistake
that many learners of English make. They'll say
æmazing. and it's not, it's the Schwa /ə/mazing.
/ə/mazing. /ə/gree. /ə/go. Ok.
You'll also see this with words that begin with 'O'. In words
like, Obtain (/ə/btain). Or even the time O'clock.
10 O'clock. 11 O'clock. It's not 11 OHHclock.
It's /ə/. It's that schwa sound again. 10 /ə/'clock. 11 /ə/'clock.
12 /ə/'clock. 1 /ə/clock. 1 ə clock.
1 ə clock. You might find it in words like...
Original. Original. Or....Unoriginal.
Unoriginal. Or even words like
occasionally. Occasionally means when you do something not too
often, just once in a while. Ok I go
to the shops occasionally. /ə/ccasionally. There's that schwa sound
/ə/. /ə/ccasionally. Ok. Ok. You might
also find the Schwa sound in the middle of words
words like Internet. Int/ə/net.
Ok. In British English that middle syllable
TER is pronounced (t)/ə/ as a schwa sound.
In some accents, especially some North American accents they'll pronounce it
intER, with the R in there. Ok. In British
English we don't ER, OR or AR. we
always just say the Schwa sound. Take any word
ending in ER. Better, bigger, stronger,
faster, longer, shorter. In English
it ends in a Schwa sound. In American English not so much, ok
in British English. Schwa sound! Better. Bett/ə/.
Bigger. Stronger.
Faster, longer, shorter,
fatter, thinner, over, under
ok! Always a shwa sound. Er.
Even words that end in OR like Doctor. Doct/ə/.
Doctor has an OR, it ends in just /ə/, /ə/.
All family members, brother, mother, sister, father
all end in a Schwa sound. Ok. Fath/ə/.
Moth/ə/. Broth/ə/. Sist/ə/. Ok
Father. Mother. Brother. Sister.
Remember all family members end in Schwa sound! ok. Now!
Take the articles that we learned earlier. /ə/ and /ən/
and th/ə/ and add that to the family members and it will give
you a good way to practice this Schwa sound, so let's try!
A father. A Mother. A Sister.
A Brother. The Father.
The Mother. The Sister. The Brother. You'll
notice, how much easier it is when we use the Schwa sound there.
We can speak so fast. The Mother. The Father. The Brother. The
Sister. Ok. When you get the Schwa sound right it allows you to speak
so much faster in English. Ok, and this is why if you want
your pronunciation to be perfect, this is the sound you should practice more than
any other sound. Ok. Also, in words that just end in
A in English. Things like Data, or, Sofa.
Ok. Words that just end in A, Schwa sound. OK, because it's
not stressed again, you notice that? SOfa.
DAta. We don't say
daTA or soFA. Ok we don't stress that
final syllable. So we see the vowel and then we don't stress it....
what is it? It's a Schwa sound. Dat/ə/. Sof/ə/.
Sof/ə/. Ok. Ok in the final part of this lesson we're gonna have
some practice sentences so that you can see how fast you can speak
using the Schwa sound. Ok! The first one is....
The woman has a carrot an a banana. The woman
has a carrot an(d) a banana. The woman has a carrot
an(d) a banana. The woman has a carrot an(d) a banana.
The woman has a carrot an(d) a
banana. How many Schwa sounds do you think are in that
sentence? Let's have a look. The woman
has a carrot an(d)
a banana. 8
Schwa sounds in one sentence! Ok. Let's try again!
The woman has a carrot an(d) a banana. The woman has a carrot an(d) a banana.
The woman has a carrot an(d) a
banana. Ok. Practice that one again and again and again.
It's really gonna help! The next one is.....A man was sitting
at home alone on the sofa. A man was
sitting at home alone on the sofa. A man
was sitting at home alone on the sofa. How many have we got there? Let's have
a look. A man was (not was)
w/ə/ w/ə/s. A man was
sitting at home alone
Schwa Schwa. A man was sitting at home alone on a sofa. Ok!
Practice slowly. A man was
sitting at home alone on a
sofa. ok. A man was sitting at home alone on a
sofa. Ok. Ok. We're gonna try one final
super super hard sentence with lots and lots of Schwa sounds and this
one is gonna make you perfect, ok! The mother, the brother, the
father and the sister were all together in a shopping centre. The
The mother, the brother, the father and the sister were all
together in a shopping centre. The mother, the brother, the father and the sister
were all together in a shopping centre. Ok. I'm gonna
let YOU count HOW MANY SCHWA's are in that sentence and
I want you to write the answer in the comments and I'll tell you if you've got it
correct! Ok. Listen again. The Mother, The
Brother, the father and the sister, were all together
in the shopping centre. The Mother, the brother, the father
and the sister were all together in the shopping centre.
Ok. How many schwa sounds are in that sentence?
Write it in the COMMENTS below! Ok! Thank you
very much for watching this, I am going to make a PART 2 to this
video where go into even more detail about the Schwa
sound, so stick around for that! So make sure if you like this video, hit that
LIKE button and SUBSCRIBE to my channel so you can see all of my future videos!
Ok! If there are any videos that you want me to make or that you want to learn,
write it in the comments and as soon as I have free time I will try my best
to make them for you. Ok. Thank you very much! Have a great day! And I'll see you again
round here for another lesson very soon! Ok. Bye Bye!