Do you hear a J sound in this phrase? "Could you? Could you?" There's no J sound written,
but that does happen sometimes in American English pronunciation. In this video, we'll
look at why.
I've had several people ask me about when the word 'you' follows a T or a D
sound. First, let's look at some examples. Could you, could you. Could you be there?
Want you, want you. I want you to come. Do you notice the JJ sound in 'could you', or
the CH sound in 'want you'? The JJ and CH sounds that you're hearing are coming in because
of the mouth position. The shape of these sounds -- JJ, CH -- is similar to the 'oo'
as in 'boo' sound. So what's happening is the lips are beginning to move for the oo
vowel sound, even as they're making the T and the D consonants. And these things blending
together make more of a JJ or CH sound. Let's look at some more examples. What would you
do? [3x] It doesn't have to be pronounced this way. Could you? Could you? Where you
make a separate D and Y sound: totally appropriate, and you will hear that. However, in more casual
conversation, the JJ and CH sound does tend to come into play. Let's look at some more
examples. I want to know what you thought. I want to know what you -- I want to know
what you thought. Would you hand me that? Would you, would you. Would you hand me that?
I hope this helps to clear up what many of my students hear and find confusing.
That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.