Hi, students.
Hope you're well.
In this lesson, we're going to look at four common words which
are among the most frequently used words in English,
and I am going to teach you to pronounce them
in their weak form, which is the natural way
that native speakers use these words.
So even when my students know this on an intellectual level,
I find that they're not applying it.
So even if you know this, I want you to practice this again
with me in this lesson.
And I also want to set you an exercise, which
is this week when you're using English, when you're speaking
English, apply what we're going to learn in this lesson,
because we have to take it from an intellectual level
to a using level.
And that's what we are going to do by looking at common words.
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So let's start by revealing the first word.
They don't get more simple than that.
We have "a."
This is the indefinite article.
This is "a" in its stressed form, how it looks in IPA.
This is a diphthong here, "a."
But did you know that native speakers--
although we do use the word "a" sometimes, most of the time
when we're speaking in a natural flow,
it doesn't sound like this.
Say it aloud if you know what it actually sounds like.
In fact, it sounds like a schwa, so it just sounds like "uh."
Let me write that in.
That is the worst schwa ever.
It's quite hard to write a schwa on the board.
Anyway.
"He drives a car.
He drives a car."
I'm saying "uh" here.
"A car.
A car.
He drives a car."
"She told me a joke.
She told me a joke."
I'll say it as fast as I can.
"She told me a joke."
You've got to train your ear to be able to hear it,
because it's such a quick nothing kind of sound,
that it's easy to miss.
OK.
Let's move to our next word.
We have "an."
"An" is a friend of "a".
This is the stressed form here with a vowel "ah-en,"
the same vowel that is in the word, "cat."
"An.
An."
But the weak form is "uhn."
"He's an actor.
He's an actor."
Z sound.
He's an actor.
Not "act-tor."
Although, if you're very posh, you say "act-tor."
"Do you want an apple?"
So we're not saying "an apple," "want an apple."
And I think it sounds like the "tuh" jumps to the next word,
so it actually sounds like "wanton."
Want an, want an apple.
This is actually the most common word in English.
It's ranked number one.
The stressed form is "thee, thee."
But we don't really use it that much.
Instead, we use "the."
There we go, there we go, that's the best schwa of the day.
Thank you, thank you.
"Go to the bank.
Go to the bank."
So most of the time when we're speaking, we use this word,
we're going to use the weak form, "the, the, the."
When I search my brain to think about when
do we say "the," the example that always comes to mind
is the old fashioned ending of a film.
When you've finished watching it, it's black and white,
and you get to the end and it says, "the end."
It is using the stressed form because it sounds more final.
"The, the, the.
The children.
The children were laughing.
The children were laughing."
Haha, very funny.
And our last word.
Our last word is "some".
That's not a capital letter there.
I just felt like making the S big.
The vowel we have is "uh," like in the word "up."
"Some" in the stressed form.
But "some, some" in the weak form.
"Some."
Let's have some sentences.
Spin around one more time, why not.
"Do you want some cake?
Do you want some cake?
Some, some.
Do you want some cake?
Some cake, some cake.
You want some cake?"
And one more sentence.
"Can you lend me some money?"
I'll pay you back, I promise.
Just give me 10 pounds, I'll pay you back next week.
"Can you lend me some money?"
So let me remind you one more time of the exercise I
want you to do this week.
When you are speaking English, these words are so common,
you are going to use these words when you're speaking.
So try to say it in the weak form here,
because this is the natural way that native speakers speak.
If you start using these weak forms,
it's going to elevate your English
and give you much better rhythm.
They're small words, but they're very, very important
for the overall music of your English.
Thank you for watching this lesson.
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Thank you so much for watching this video and come back soon.
I'll see you then.
Bye.