Wel... that was pretty awkward wasn't it? What you just witnessed is a huge challenge for most
English learners and that is telling the very subtle difference when Americans say "can"
and "can't." Now, although these words look pretty similar,
you may have noticed that depending on how they are used in a sentence their pronunciation can
change quite a bit. So what you see and what you hear are actually quite different. So as
our goal here at RealLife English is to help you to confidently understand anyone, we will first
be recapping the difference in the pronunciation between these two words before testing your
listening skills, so that you never confuse "can" and "can't" again. Are you ready? Let's go!
So the weak form of "can" is usually pronounced with a schwa sound. This is the uh sound which
is the most common sound in English. So instead of saying a strong "can", we'll usually reduce it to
kən. Let me give you some examples. I kən ride a bike. He kən go for a walk later.
Now we do this when can is not the main verb in the sentence, it's an auxiliary verb and
auxiliary verbs in their nature are usually reduced. So it can even link on to other words
in the sentence. For example if I say "I" "can" I'll reduce it and connect it Ikuhn.
Ikuhn. It almost sounds just like one word right. Ikuhn ride a bike. Why don't you give it a try?
Now the strong form of "can" which you are probably more familiar with
from your English classes is pronounced with a short a sound
just like the word "and." So we have two very similar sounds there can, and, can,
and. So we pronounce that short a sound with the mouth relaxed and just slightly open.
So if you're comfortable doing that, then why don't you try saying it with me? "Can", "can."
Awesome! Now you might be asking yourself: "When do we use the reduced version and when do we use
the fully pronounced version of can?" So when should I say kən when should i say
it fully as kæn? So you would use this fully pronounced kæn when you want to give emphasis,
for example. So if I'm wanting to reassure you: "You can win the game" or "you kæn pass the test."
We'll also use it for contrast situations. So for example "he can't come to the party but she kæn."
Finally if you see this word coming at the end of a sentence, you would
also pronounce it fully. So for example "I don't know if i kæn."
By the way, if you could understand the difference when natives say "can" and "can't" without any
difficulty, you'd probably feel a lot more confident, right? Well, every week we make
English lessons to help learners just like you to go from feeling like a lost and insecure English
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Now to practice your pronunciation of "can't", you can do the exact same exercises before.
Take the word canter which is kind of a way that's between walking and running like a horse might do.
And just drop that final "er" syllable. So it's can't. And something to keep in mind,
with "can't", not like "can", it never reduces. You don't have that schwa sound there.
So make sure that you're always saying that with a strong æ sound:
kænt. But what happens here that does seem to trip up most of my students, is that they don't hear
that final t sound. Now this is exactly right. Americans tend to take that T and make it into a
glottal t. What does this mean? This means that instead of releasing the full sound, we cut it off
in the back of our throats. And if this sound does not exist in your native language, then you might
not even hear it, so it just sounds the same as saying a full "can", right? Let's look at a couple
examples: "I can't understand what he's saying." "The team can't progress into the next round."
Now usually we only pronounce that t sound at the end of can't if it's at the end of a
sentence or we want to clarify or add more emphasis. So let's look at some examples.
If some person asked "can I borrow your car?" Then I could respond
"I've told you 10 times, no you can't" or similar to the example that we saw before,
a place where I've gotten in trouble with my students is when they say something in English
and I couldn't understand what they said. And so I said "sorry I can't understand." But what
happens here is because we have that glottal t and then it's followed by a vowel, they connect.
So they think that I said "I can understand", when I said "I can't understand." You can see how this
can cause some confusion? For sure in my classes right and so to avoid this problem altogether,
I started using a "didn't catch that" instead of "I can't understand you". In all English lessons
anyways having good listening skills is absolutely essential if you want to feel
confident communicating in any language. And a big problem that I've heard from English learners from
all around the world, is that they just don't have enough good opportunities to practice speaking
English with other people. And that's why we decided to go and solve this problem for you.
Our RealLife App is the only place where anytime, anywhere, you can simply press a button and be
instantly connected to another English speaker in another part of the world for a fun and dynamic
English conversation. That's right, you can have a fascinating conversation about your life,
about that other person's culture, about your shared hobbies or even just about the weather,
if you want. And we know for a lot of you, you know, that having a teacher can be a life-changing
experience, but maybe you just simply can't afford it. And that's exactly why we've made
the RealLife App a free resource that you can use to practice your speaking every day. Does that
sound pretty good? Then why don't you download it now by clicking up here or down description
below or you can simply search for RealLife English in Apple app or Google Play Store.
Alright so now that you've warmed up, it's time to test your English listening
skills. So this test has two parts, in the first part you will see my face,
so you'll be able to see me saying 10 different example sentences. For each one
you need to determine whether I said "can" or "can't" in the example. In the second part,
you're not going to see my face, so this is really great to challenge your listening skills.
Just like you would need to do, for example, if you have a phone call or maybe a Zoom
meeting without any video. Alright, are you ready? Then let's jump into the test
So the first example:
Excellent! How did you do? All Right! Are you ready to step the challenge up a notch?
So now you're not going to see my face, you're just going to have to really trust your ears.
Ah yeah! Great job! How do you feel after that? Don't worry too much if that was a big challenge
for you. You can watch the lesson over and over as many times as you want until you can
effortlessly understand the difference between can and can't. And if you need a little bit more help,
then be sure that you don't miss this lesson that we did that really focuses in on the pronunciation
differences between can and can't. You can find that by clicking up here or down the description
below. And let's recap what we learned today about the differences between can and can't. So can is
often pronounced in the weak form with a schwa sound kən and when we have another word before it
then it often links like Ikuhn. The strong form of can is pronounced with a short æ
sound just like in man. There are three types of cases where you'll see can used
in the strong form. And that's for emphasis, contrast or if it's at the end of a sentence.
Can't doesn't have a weak form as it is always stressed. So be sure to always pronounce it
with a strong æ: kænt. However, we usually don't pronounce that t at the end of can't
either. We use a glottal t kæn. Finally you'll probably only hear that t sound and can't fully
pronounced if it comes at the end of a sentence and the person wants to add a bit more emphasis.
Alright! I hope that you really enjoyed learning with today's lesson.
Why don't you send it over to a friend and challenge them to see if they score as good
as you did? And if you want to continue your English learning journey with us,
then be sure to subscribe and why don't you check out this lesson next!