what are the most common words in
american english
and how exactly do you pronounce them
today you're getting
the next video in the 100 most common
words in english series
this is video six in this series we're
studying
the real pronunciation this is likely
different from what you learned in
english class
you see in american english we have all
sorts of words that are unstressed
or even reduced that means we change the
pronunciation
the set of the 100 most common words in
american english contains
many many words that reduce if you
haven't already seen
video one and the other videos in this
series
i suggest you start there these videos
build
one on top of the next so click here to
watch video one
number 51 the word when
this word definitely reduces fully
pronounced it's the w
sound the e as in bed vowel and the n
consonant when you may be thinking
i've heard this word pronounced
differently you may have heard it
pronounced
when when
wh words can be pronounced with a
sound before the w it's not necessary
and it's not my preference
i think just keep it simple just use
a clean w sound when
but in a sentence this word can be
unstressed and said more quickly
then you could write the vowel with the
schwa or the it as in sit vowel in ipa
when becomes when said
very quickly if you don't know what ipa
the international phonetic alphabet is i
have a playlist of videos that goes over
that
click here or in the description let's
look at some example sentences
when are you going to stop by when
when are you i said that very quickly
unstressed when when when are you gonna
stop by
another sentence it was better when we
were kids
when when when when when we were
when we were unstressed said very
quickly
it was better when we were kids you see
we don't want
every word in american english to be
fully pronounced
when some of the understandability of
english depends on the contrast
of stressed and unstressed syllables
clear
and less clear let's look at number 52
the word make now this is a stressed
word
we have two categories of words in
american english
content words and function words
content words are nouns verbs like this
verb
make adjectives and adverbs
and content words are what are generally
stressed in a sentence
make m consonant a diphthong
and the k sound is usually stressed in a
sentence
make make it has an
up down shape that's the stressed shape
of intonation
make that's different from when when
when which was flatter in pitch and
lower
make longer shape of stress
more clear sentences
i'll make you one make
make it would make things easier
make make number 53
here we have a beautiful reduction it's
the word
can if can is the main verb
then it's not reduced who can help
tomorrow
i can also it doesn't reduce if
it's a noun a can of soup but most of
the time
can is a helping verb not a main verb
and that means
it reduces we change a sound
let's go back to the example who can
help tomorrow
i can in the question
who can help tomorrow help is the main
verb
can is the helping verb did you hear how
i pronounced it
who can help tomorrow who can help
it's no longer can but can
who can who can help short
flat no vowel we write it in ipa with
the schwa
can try that
who can help i can see you
see the main verb can
the helping verb can i can
i can see you that's quite a reduction
very common number 54 the word
like this word can be used lots of
different ways
so it can be an adverb a noun or an
adjective
which would mean it's stressed or it can
be a preposition
or conjunction which means it will be a
function word
and is unstressed however even when it's
unstressed this word does not reduce
let's look at an example where it's
stressed
i don't like it like
i don't like it here it's stressed
like like up down shape of stress
but what about this sentence he acted
like nothing happened
he acted like like like
lower in pitch much faster he acted like
nothing happened
he acted like nothing happened like
unstressed none of the sounds change so
it doesn't reduce
but it's pretty different from the
stressed version
like like like like
like one more example
and this is a really common use of the
word
we use this when we're telling a story
something that happened to us
and we're talking about what someone
said or someone's reaction
for example yesterday i saw jim walking
home from school
and i was like do you need a ride and he
was like
no i'm just gonna walk i was like
he was like she was like you were like
like like like like like
all of these are examples of like
unstressed
number 55 time now this word a noun an
adjective a verb
is always a content word that means it
will likely
be stressed this is only the sixth word
in this list
so far that's always stressed we're on
number 55.
that's crazy so if you thought every
word you spoke needed to be
clear and fully pronounced i hope this
series is helping to change your mind
this word is pronounced with the true t
because it's stressed
it has the i as in by diphthong and
don't forget that m
time lips have to come together
time there's no case where the lips
don't come together for the m
always time time
crisp clear true tea teeth come together
for it
time up down shape of stress let's look
at a sentence
what time is it time a noun
or you do sit ups for a minute and i'll
time you
time time there it's a verb still
stressed same pronunciation number 56
no another word this seventh word
that will generally always be stressed
there is not a case where it would
usually reduce or be unstressed
no no up
down shape no and please don't ever
forget the lip rounding that goes into
this diphthong
oh no
no i have no idea he voted
no on the sugar tax no
no that was a simple one wasn't it
what about 57 57 is interesting
the word just it's either an adjective
or an
adverb and those are both content words
so it will generally be stressed
and for the most part we don't reduce
stressed words
they're important we only reduce and say
quickly
the words that are a little less
important the function words
but this word is interesting because it
has a t
and t has its own set of funny rules
if you've seen many of my videos you
know them i talk about the t
pronunciations
a lot if the t comes between two
consonants
we often drop that t well that's a
reduction
let me show you what i mean when the
word just
is followed by a word that starts with a
consonant
there's a good chance that a native
speaker will drop the t
and just say just just
instead of just
i just thought why not just just
just thought just thought just
the st ending is followed by th
the t comes between two consonants we
drop it
just thought just thought i just missed
the bus
i just missed just missed the bus
stm dropped the t just missed
just missed i just missed the bus
now if just is followed by a word that
begins with the vowel or diphthong
don't drop the t just make it a light
true t for example it's just
alex just alex just
just alex it's just alex
number 58 another word that reduces
this one is a function word him
and just like number nine have
number 16 he number 23
his number 29 her
we often drop the h and link this to the
word before
for example i gave him another one gave
him
gave him gave him a very
common reduction we do this with these
function words
that begin with an h simply schwa
m gave them gave them
another example we want them to succeed
want them want them wait
what's happening to the t in want i'm
dropping the h
so it doesn't come between two
consonants well
we'll find out soon because that's
number 93 on the list of the 100
most common words in english number 59
no you're thinking wait we already did
that
that was number 56 yes
but different word no and no
are homophones that's right that means
they sound
exactly the same even though they're two
different words
and they're spelled differently no
no a verb usually stressed in a sentence
n consonant o diphthong no
however with really common phrases we
often make
some reductions like how going to
becomes
gonna and with the really common phrase
i don't know we make a reduction
i don't know i don't know i don't know
and this can sound like the last sound
is not
o i don't know i don't know
i don't know i don't know oh oh oh oh oh
it's more like a quick uh there
certainly not
no o o with a full
and stressed o diphthong
i don't know number 60
the last word for this video the word
take
usually a verb sometimes a noun it's a
content word
and generally it's going to be stressed
in a sentence
just like time it's a one syllable
stressed word that begins with a true t
a then the a diphthong and the k sound
take sentences can you take me there
take take take or
i need to take it back take take
take longer up down shape
more time a stressed syllable
okay so we've gotten through our first
60 words in the 100
most common words in english list
so far there were only seven where i
could say
never do we reduce any part of this word
in any case
wow i expect as we keep going that we'll
get
more content words but let's see let's
keep going down this list
of the 100 most common words in english
studying the pronunciation and i don't
mean the full
official pronunciation i mean how the
word is
actually used in a sentence in american
english
look for the next installment in this
series coming soon
that's it and thanks so much for using
rachel's english
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