Do you want to improve your listening skills of fast English so you can understand native
English speakers in any context? Well, that's what you'll do today. Welcome back to JForrest
English. My name is Jennifer, and today you're going to test your listening skills. This
is a fun lesson. Now let's get started. Here are your instructions for the entire lesson.
I'm going to say a sentence.
And I'm going to say it at a fast pace, the way I would speak to my friends or colleagues.
I'm going to use phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions, and I'm going to use natural
pronunciation. And you're going to test your listening skills. I will say each sentence
three times, write down exactly what you hear in the comment section, and then after I'll
explain exactly what I said, the expression I use, and the natural pronunciation changes.
OK. Our first listening test. Did you break it to him? Did you break it to him? Did you
break it to him? Did you get that one? I said, did you break it to him? First, let's talk
about the pronunciation changes. Did you? We pronounce this as. Did you? Did you?
Did you? So I combine those sounds together and I take you and I change it to ya. Did
ya? Did ya? Did you break it, Tim? Notice the last two words really sounded like one
word. Tim. Tim. It almost sounded like Tim the name Tim.
And that's because we frequently get rid of the age on him and her at a natural pace and
we connected to the word before. So it really sounds like MM And then you hear that from
to Tim. Tim, did you break it, Tim.
Now what does this mean to break something to someone Is an expression and we use this
when you share news or information with someone. But it's always negative. So maybe.
You applied for a promotion, but you're not going to get the promotion. So that's the
negative news. Did you break it to him that he's not getting the promotion? So did you
share this negative news with him? Did you break it to him? Our next listening test,
remember to put what you hear in the comments. Cut it out, would you? Cut it out, would you?
Cut it out? Would you?
Did you get that one? I said cut it out, would you? First, let's talk about pronunciation.
Did ya? The same thing is happening here with would you? You becomes ya and I. Combine those
sounds, would ya, ya, Would ya, Would ya? Would ya? Cut it out, would ya? Now let's
talk about cut it.
Out. You'll notice we have T's in between vowels. In American English, when a T comes
between vowels, we change that to a a very soft D Cut it out, cut it out, and I pronounce
all three as one. Cut it out, cut it out, cut it out, cut it out, would you?
The expression to cut something out means to stop something that is annoying or frustrating
or irritating or unwanted. So let's say you're in a meeting for work and in the background
your kids are going crazy. They're screaming, they're yelling, they're fighting. This is
behavior that is unwanted, frustrating, irritating, annoying, and you want them to stop. So.
You can say to your kids, cut it out, would you, our next listening exercise, write what
you hear in the comments. You got to kick it up a notch. You got to kick it up a notch.
You got to kick it up a notch. Did you get that one? I said you gotta kick it up a notch.
First, notice how I used gotta. This is a reduction. It's a combination of the words
got two and it's pronounced as one. Gotta, you gotta.
You can also say you've gotta, you have got to. But in American English it's very common
to just say you gotta, you gotta, you got to is the same as you have to. Now let's talk
about the expression to kick something up a notch. When you kick something up a notch,
it's just encouraging you to perform better work, faster work.
Harder. So let's say you were tasked with assembling 100 boxes, and two hours have passed
and your boss sees that you've only assembled 20 boxes, and your boss wants to tell you
that you need to work harder, you need to work faster. You need to perform better.
She can say you got to kick it up a notch. You got to work faster. You got to work harder.
Our next listening exercise. Write what you hear in the comments. I'll say it three times.
Don't let him get to you. Don't let him get to you. Don't let him get to you. How'd you
do with that one? I said don't let him get to you.
First, let's talk about pronunciation. Don't let him. Let him notice again. I take that
H off of him. I drop the sound and then I'm left with him. But I combine it with the word
before. Let him. Let him, let him. Don't let him.
Don't let them get to you now, I said you at the end. Many native speakers will drop
this to ya. Don't let them get to ya. Get to ya. Just like we saw with did ya, Would
ya? But I said you don't let them get to you. Now what does this mean? When someone gets
to you, it means that you become angry, annoyed, irritated or frustrated because.
Of that person's behavior. But we can also use this in situations. If you get really
angry when you're stuck in traffic, I can say don't let the traffic get to you. So don't
let the situation make you angry. Because what does being angry do? It doesn't benefit
the situation in any way. Don't let the traffic get to you, don't let your bosses.
Criticism Get to you. Don't let it anger you, frustrate you, or annoy you. Our next listing
Exercise. I'll say it three times. Write what you hear in the comments. What are you looking
at? What are you looking at? What are you looking at? Did you get that one? What are
you looking at?
So here we have a very simple sentence, but it might be difficult for you because of those
natural pronunciation changes. How I combine my words At a natural pace. What are you?
Sounds like one word. What are ya? What are ya?
So the R just becomes ur ur and I attach it to what? What are, What are, what are, what
are you. Now I think I said you, but you can also again shorten that to ya and native speakers
commonly do that. So get comfortable with it. What are you? What are ya? What are you?
What are ya? But remember it sounds like one word. What are you, what are you looking at?
Here it's very common to take a word that ends in ING and drop the G sound that go sound
and just end it on looking, looking, looking that, looking that. But notice I combine it
with the word that comes next because it's a vowel look in that. So instead of looking
at.
It sounds like not, not. And then I combined them looking at, not looking at, looking at.
What are you looking at?
So how did you do with those listening exercises? Share your score in the comments below and
remember you were being Test on your ability to understand the words I say, but also the
ability to understand what my meaning is. So maybe you understood the words, but you
didn't know the expression or the idiom. You didn't know what it meant, so you need both.
But don't worry if this was difficult, because the more you practice, the more you.
Study native speakers. The more you add these expressions to your vocabulary, the easier
it will become. So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to say each sentence again, and
I want you to imitate me and try to say it as closely to the way I pronounce it. And
if you're in a private space, I want you to say it out loud. If you're in a public space
will then try this again when you're at home and you can say it.
Out loud. Did you break it to him? Did you break it to him? Did you break it to him?
Cut it out. Would you Cut it out? Would you Cut it out? Would you? You got to kick it
up a notch. You got to kick it up a notch. You got to kick it up a notch. Don't let him
get to you. Don't let him get to you. Don't let him get to you. What are you looking at?
What are you looking at? What are you looking at?
Now practice this again and again until you feel very confident that your pronunciation
is close to mine. And if you enjoy studying native English speakers, I want to tell you
about the Finally Fluent Academy. This is my premium training program where we study
different native English speakers from TV, movies, YouTube and the news so you can improve
your listening skills of fast English and add these common phrasal verbs, idioms and
expressions to your speech use.
Advance, grammatically correct speech. So if you'd like to learn more, you can look
in the comments below and once you join, you'll have me as your personal coach. What do you
mean she can't make it? Did you hear what I just said? What do you mean she can't make
it? I said, what do you mean she can't make it? But of course I didn't say it like that.
I said, what do you mean she can't make it?
Notice how I said, what do you? What do you? What do you? What do you mean? What do you
mean? This is called connected speech, and native speakers love connecting their speech.
But of course, this makes it difficult for you to understand us. So let me share the
most common connected phrases that you need to know. The first one, of course. What do
you what do you? What do you mean? What are you doing?
What do you want? How do you know she can't make it? Did you catch this one? How do you?
How do you? How do you? How do you know what you doing this weekend? Did you get this one?
What are you becomes what you what you what you. What you doing this weekend?
So make it your goal to learn these connected phrases. But for now, focus on the top three.
You need to know what do you, How do you, and what you. How about this one? How are
you going to get to the mall? How are you? That's a connected phrase. How are you? How
are you? How are you?
Gonna now, this is a reduction. We take 2 words going to and we reduce it into one.
Gonna. These are informal. They're very casual, but they're frequently used in spoken English.
I gotta go. I'm sure you know this one Got to. Sounds like gotta. I gotta go. Give me
a break. Gimme, Gimme.
Give me a break. Give me. Sounds like Gimme. I don't know. I don't know don't know as a
reduction. I don't know. I want to go to the movies want to becomes wanna start with these
and pay attention and keep adding more reductions to your speech. We'll be there at 5:00. We'll
be there at 5:00.
We will be there at 5:00. We'll be there will, will. This is a contraction. We take two separate
words and we form one word. The thing you need to know about contractions is that they
are grammatically correct. You can use them in your spoken English and your writing, and
although they do sound more casual, they are grammatically correct. I would never say it
is.
A hot day. I would say it's a hot day. It's it's, it's a hot day. I would not say she
is my friend. I would say she's my friend. She's my friend.
Now, because of this, students might not get the verb because it's in a contraction. You
must learn contractions if you want to understand native speakers. Let's start with the most
common It is, it's there is, there's I have I've. You are your should not.
Shouldn't, will not, won't. Start with these and keep adding contractions to your speech.
It will help you understand native speakers. Let's try that listening exercise from the
beginning again. What do you mean you can't make it? What do you mean you can't make it?
I'm sure you already understand this a lot more because you now understand the connected
speech. But did you also know I said make it?
Make it Now. If you looked at each individual sound, it sounds like May Kit. So you might
be thinking May, the month of May, April, May, and Kit like a Kit Kat bar. I don't understand.
This is linking. Linking is when we take a sound from one word and we put that sound
on the next word. We do this in English to help us connect our speech and smooth our
pronunciation so we can speak without pauses. Make it notice there's that on make, but it
forces me to take a pause. Make it.
So to get rid of that pause, I take that and I put it on the next word. May kit, may kit,
Let's try another listening exercise. You shouldn't walk alone at night. Now I used
a contraction. Should not. Becomes shouldn't. You shouldn't. And then I said walk alone.
But again, there's that sound.
So I take that K sound and I put it on the next word and it becomes wah Cologne. But
Cologne sounds a lot like men's perfume, which we call Cologne. For women is perfume, but
for men it's Cologne. So this can cause confusion because you might think I just said Cologne
meaning men's perfume. But this is part of walk alone, walk alone walk.
Alone with linking. The best way to get comfortable with linking is to study native speakers.
So instead of listening to an entire 30 minute episode, just listen to one sentence on YouTube
or on TV and pause and listen to that sentence many many times and really get comfortable
with how those sounds are.
Pronounced together and really get comfortable with how those sounds are pronounced at a
natural pace. Let's try a listening exercise. I got a lot of merch. I got a lot of merch.
I got a lot of merch. Here I used a reduction. A lot of is pronounced A lotta A lotta. Now
what is merch?
Maybe you understood the sound. You understood. I said merch, but you have no idea what that
means. That's because native speakers, we shorten words all the time for no reason.
This is very casual and informal, but it's done in both a professional and social context.
So Merge is short for merchandise. If you work in a company that buys and sells products,
most likely your coworkers will say merch and you might not understand what they mean.
That's a fab dress. Fab is short for fabulous. I have to take my cat to the vet. Vet is short
for veterinarian. Are we meeting at HQ?
HQ is an acronym for Headquarters, which is the head office, the main office of a company.
But pretty much everyone calls it HQ. So when you're studying native speakers, listen for
the shortened words and just make a list of them and keep adding the most common ones
to your speech. Let's try another listening exercise. You got to cut it out. You got to
cut it out.
I used a reduction. Got to gotta. You gotta cut it out. Cut it out, cut it, cut it out.
Now maybe you heard the what? And you're thinking HM what does Jennifer have to cut out? Does
she have to cut something out?
But no, because this is an idiom. So to understand native speakers you have to learn phrasal
verbs, idioms and expressions because we use them all the time. Take a look at this article
from Forbes magazine. Now everything I have underlined is either a phrasal verb, an idiom
or an expression. And they don't have literal meanings. So maybe you understood the word
cut.
But that doesn't help you understand my message because it doesn't have a literal meaning.
Now there are hundreds and hundreds of phrasal verbs, idioms, and expressions, but don't
worry because I have many video tutorials on my channel already. So make it your goal
to add 1 one a day, one phrasal verb idiom or expression a day, and that will be 365
in one year. And by expanding your vocabulary with these.
Resal verbs, idioms and expressions. It will really help you understand native speakers.
Here is how this lesson will work. I'll say a sentence three times and you need to write
down exactly what you hear. After. I'll explain the pronunciation changes that I used in spoken
English and I'll explain what the expression means. Are you ready for your first listening
exercise? Get out of here.
Get out of here. Get out of here. Did you get this one? I said get out of here. Let's
talk about a common reduction outta out of side by side you can pronounce as outta.
Outta Get Outta Here, Get Outta Here. And if you don't feel comfortable using that in
your speech, that's fine. But you should understand it because native speakers use it the majority
of the time in spoken English. Outta Get Outta Here, Get Outta Here. And maybe you understood
the words, but did you understand the expression?
This might be a trick question because there are actually two totally different meanings
for this expression. There's the more literal meaning where I want you to leave the room
that I'm currently in. Being here. Get out means leave, leave.
Of here of the room I'm currently in. So I'm recording this video and my annoying little
sister barges in and starts talking. Get out of here. That's what I would say. Now most
likely you're going to say it with a little bit of anger or annoyance. Get out of here.
And it's not a very polite expression. So if you politely want to ask someone to leave,
don't say get out of here. You should say Would you mind leaving? Could you please leave?
Because I need to film a video. Get out of here is also used as an expression to show
shock or surprise at what someone said.
So let's say my friend just told me she's going to move from Chicago to Australia around
the world, and she has lived in Chicago her entire life. To show my surprise or even shock,
I could say get out of here, get out of here. It's almost like saying really, wow, I can't
believe it. Get out of here, get out of here.
Now with this expression, it will be lighter. There won't be that anger or annoyance in
it. Get out of here. There'll be more surprise in it. Get out of here. So the meaning will
depend on the overall context of the situation. And also look for the tone of voice because
that can be very helpful to decide our next listening exercise. I'll say it three times.
Give me a break.
Give me a break. Give me a break. Did you get this one? Give me a break. Pretty easy,
right? Did you hear that reduction? Give me. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme Again. You might not feel
comfortable using reductions in your speech, but you should understand them because native
speakers use the most of the time.
Give me. Give me a break. What does this mean? This is another expression. We use this to
express disbelief in what someone says. Let's say I am watching TV late at night and I see
an advertisement for a pill.
That is supposed to help me lose 20 pounds overnight. That's what the ad says. If I want
to show my distrust or disbelief with this ad, I can say give me a break, give me a break.
There's no way that's true. Give me a break. So that's a fun expression you can use and
remember that tone.
You'll want to add some sarcasm into this. Oh, give me a break. Do you want to keep improving
your listening skills of fast English? Well then I want to tell you about the Finally
Fluent Academy. This is my premium training program where we study native English speakers
on TV, movies, YouTube, and the news so you can improve your listening skills, learn common
expressions, and learn advanced grammar as well. Plus, you'll have me as your.
Personal coach. You can look in the description For more information on how to join. Are you
ready for another listening exercise? I'll say it three times. My sister will know. My
sister will know. My sister will know. I said. My sister will know. Did you hear the verb?
Will my sister will know?
Probably didn't hear it, but maybe based on the grammar, you understood that it has to
be there. Because my sister no, doesn't make any sense. Something's missing. My sister
will know. You probably know that we form subject will contractions. I will go. I'll
go.
You'll go, he'll go. She'll go, it'll go, will go, they'll go. Those are subject pronoun
contractions, and they are grammatically correct. Learning contractions is another must when
you want to understand native speakers, In this case a noun phrase. My sister.
Isn't contracted grammatically, but in spoken English we combine them together anyway, even
though grammatically this isn't done simply to be able to speak faster and confuse students.
But remember, grammatically we only contract subject pronouns with will, so in your writing,
make sure you don't write my sister.
Will as a contraction. But in spoken English you'll hear it. Another listening exercise.
I'll say it three times. You ought to call her. You ought to call her. You ought to call
her. Did you get this one? You ought to call her. So here ought to a very common reduction.
Oughtta.
Otta ought to is a modal verb used to express necessity. More commonly you should call her,
but you can also use ought to You ought to call her in spoken English. Native speakers
will say otta the majority of the time. Now did you hear call her? Maybe to you it sounded
like one word caller.
Collar like a dog collar. That's because we drop the H sound on her and it sounds like
ur ur but we also combine it with the previous word call ur and then we combine them. Collar.
Collar. Again. Based on context, you'll understand.
That I'm not saying collar like a dog collar. And I'm in fact saying call her. You ought
to collar. How about one more listening exercise? I'll say it three times. I had an inkling
sheet Bale. I had an inkling sheet Bale. I had an inkling sheet Bale. Oh, did you get
this one? I had an inkling sheet Bale.
She'd bail she would as a contraction. This is a grammatically correct contraction. She'd
bail. I had had can also be in a contraction with a subject pronoun when it's the auxiliary
verb. So if I turn this into the past perfect, I had gone.
I can say I'd gone because then had is the auxiliary verb. I'd gone, I'd gone. But here,
because it's the main verb, we don't turn it into a contraction. I had an inkling she'd
bail. What does it mean she'd bail? Bail. Well, when someone bails, this is an expression
that's used when someone doesn't.
Do what they said they were going to do, and we specifically use this with plans and arrangements.
So let's say I made a plan with my friend to watch a movie on Saturday at 7:00 o'clock,
then Saturday 7:00 o'clock. No friend. She bailed. She bailed on me. I can't believe
she bailed on me again.
She didn't do what she said she was going to do. And again, we use this frequently with
plans and arrangements. Now what an inkling. An inkling. I had an inkling sheet bail. An
inkling is a slight indication, a slight hint, a slight suggestion. So something my friend
said made me think.
She was going to bail. Maybe she didn't sound that excited about seeing the movie. Maybe
she's been talking about how tired she is. So that's an inkling. An inkling. That's fun
to say. An inkling. I had an inkling she'd bail. So how did you do with these listening
exercises? Did you enjoy this lesson? Would you like me to make more lessons like this?
If you would then put Yes, yes, yes in the comments. So I know that you want me to make
more lessons just like this and you can get this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips
on how to speak English fluently and confidently. You can get it from my website right here,
or look for the link in the description below. And why don't you get started with your next
lesson? Right now I have an inkling that you'll like it.