Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's lesson, I am going to help you with your pronunciation.
Today I am going to teach you how to pronounce contractions for the word "would". Okay?
So, first of all, "would". When do we use "would"? We use it a lot in English. One of
the times in beginner and intermediate levels we use it is when we are at a restaurant.
The server will ask you: "Oh, what would you like?" And you would respond:
"I would like pizza.", "I would like chicken.", "I would like tacos.", "I would like coffee." Okay?
Now, the problem is... "Would"... This is all correct grammar-wise, but many, many students
have trouble when it comes to pronouncing "would". Okay? The "w" sound is a little difficult,
so many students can't pronounce this correctly. Okay?
Also, a lot of native speakers, like myself, a lot of Canadians and Americans, we don't
really say "would" that frequently. What we usually say instead are contractions. So,
a contraction is a short form. Instead of saying: "I would", "I'd" has the same meaning.
Okay? So this apostrophe here actually means "woul". Okay? So this means there are all
these missing letters, but we don't actually need them. Contractions are very, very common
in spoken English. Not writing, but in speaking, we use them a lot. Okay? So, if you want to
sound more Canadian or more American, you should use contractions.
So, let's look at some of these contractions. So: -"What would you like? What would you
like to order?" -"I'd like some tea." Okay? So, let's start with that. I want you to repeat
after me. "I'd", "I'd". And again, this means "I would", "I'd". So it almost sounds like
"eye-de". "I'd", "I'd like some tea. I'd like some tea."
Now, maybe you're talking about... To your friend. Okay? In this case, if you want to
say: "You would like tea", you can say: "You'd", "you'd". So, again: "You-de", "you'd". "You'd
like some tea.", "You'd like some bread.", "You'd enjoy going to the beach." Okay? "You'd".
Now, if you're talking about a boy or a man, we can use the word... Instead of: "he would",
you can use: "he'd". Okay? And notice, this one, I actually smiled quite a lot. "He'd".
"He'd like toast.", "He'd like the chicken.", "He'd like a salad." Okay? "He'd".
For women, we would use: "she'd", "she'd". And again, notice my smile, "she'd". "He'd",
"she'd". They rhyme. "She'd like coffee.", "She'd like coffee.", "She'd like pizza."
Okay? And again, "she'd" means "she would". "She would like pizza.", "She'd like pizza."
Okay, now, if we're talking about us and someone else, we would say: "we'd", "we'd". Okay?
And again, there's a big smile on my face. "We'd". "We'd like chicken.", "We'd like poutine.",
"We'd like french fries.", "We'd like hot dogs." Okay? Example of "we'd".
Finally: "they'd". "They'd like". So this is if you have "they would", it becomes "they'd".
And you'll notice-very simple-all of them are just apostrophe "d". "They'd like chicken.",
"They'd like to study English." Okay?
So any time you want to use the word "would", try to replace it with a contraction. It will
make you sound more like a native speaker. And, you know, especially if you have trouble
with the pronunciation of "would", just adding apostrophe "d" will really help you with your
spoken English.
So, I invite you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com. There, you can do a quiz
on this subject just to make sure you understand all of the material. You can also come...
Subscribe to my YouTube channel. I have a lot of other videos on pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, and many other topics.
So, thank you for watching, and until next time, take care.