So many non-native speakers struggle with pronouncing numbers correctly and this can
be really important when you're talking about years, right, when the years change, when
you're talking about dates, like birthdays or dates when you were trying to schedule
something, when you're talking about ages, there's a big difference between somebody
being 17 and being 70, and especially when we're talking about money.
There is a big difference between something costing $15 and $50.
But it's even bigger when we're talking about tens of thousands or
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You really want to get your numbers stress correct then.
A couple of weeks ago I was watching an episode of the TV show Shark Tank.
And Shark Tank is a TV show where entrepreneurs ask investors to spend lots of money
investing in their company.
I saw an episode with a young man from Ukraine who had been living in the United States
for 10 or 15 years.
So he wa-, he was fluent in English, he spoke beautifully, he had a very slight accent.
But something that I noticed on the TV show is that he had trouble pronouncing numbers
correctly and the investors asked him to clarify.
They asked him to clarify if he meant 15,000 customers or 50,000 customers.
Or maybe he was talking about money, I can't remember exactly.
But this made me realize how important it is that non-native speakers
get their number stress correct.
So I wanted to make this quick video to work on number stress with you.
The good news is it's actually really easy.
It's actually really easy to understand the difference between the teens and the tens.
So we're gonna start with thirteen.
If you notice when I say thirteen, the stress is on the second syllable, on the "teen."
And that's the same for the rest of the "teen" numbers.
And you'll notice that my mouth ends in the "n" position.
You may not really hear a rolling "n" sound at the end, right, thirteen, but my mouth
definitely forms the "n" at the end of the syllable.
So you want to make sure that you do that: thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.
So that's how you distinguish the teens.
You can hear that "teen" is stressed, which means it's longer, louder and higher in pitch
than the number. Right?
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.
The stress is on the second syllable.
So that's the same for all of the teens.
You just need to make sure are stressing the second syllable, making it a little bit longer,
a little bit louder, and a little bit higher in pitch than the first syllable.
You also want to make sure that your mouth is ending in the "n" position, right?
Fifteen.
My mouth is ending in that position.
And when you're speaking a full sentence, it'll be a little less obvious, but you still
want to make sure that you're transitioning your mouth into that "n" at the end.
Right? Sixteen.
You want to make sure you end in that position.
So now let's talk about the tens, right, and we're going to start with twenty.
Twenty.
If you notice the stress is on the first syllable: TWEN-ty.
So the, the, the 20 at the end, the "ee" is much quieter.
It's less loud, less long and less high in pitch, right?
It's less obvious.
Twenty.
So the stress is on the first syllable.
That's how you distinguish between the teens and the tens.
Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety.
So you notice that the first syllable receives the stress and the second syllable is a little
less distinct because it's not stressed.
Right?
Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety.
A lot of people will probably be saying, "Hey, I noticed that the "t" at the end, right,
twenty, you're not pronouncing it as clearly."
And that's because I'm American and we do what we call a flap "t"
between those two syllables.
Twenty, right?
It's more of a "d" sound.
So it's a little more subtle.
But I don't need you to worry about that right now.
What I really want you to focus on is the stress.
Right?
So if we notice the difference: twelve is not a teen, so it's twelve
and twenty, right?
Thirteen.
Thirty.
Fourteen.
Forty.
Fifteen.
Fifty.
Sixteen.
Sixty.
Seventeen.
Seventy.
Eighteen.
Eighty.
Nineteen.
Ninety.
So do you hear the difference between the two pairs, right, between each pair?
You notice that the "teen" has stress on the second syllable and you can hear that "n"
at the end, whereas the "tens" all have stress on the first syllable and then the "ee" at
the end is less distinct.
It's less stressed, it's not as loud.
So I hope that helps you understand the differences between these different numbers and the number
stress that you need to be following.
If you practice this, I guarantee you people are going to understand you when you're talking
about prices, dates, ages, and years.
I really encourage you to practice this because this is a problem not just for people at the
beginning levels of English but fluent non-native English speakers.
So if you give it a chance, practice, try to get it right, you're going to feel less
frustrated when saying numbers in front of native speakers, which is generally what my
clients talk about, how they can't get the dates correct even though they're completely
fluent in English and their students or their colleagues don't understand exactly
what they're saying.
So practice that.
Practice the difference between the teens and the tens and you'll get
your number stress correct.
I hope this tip has helped you and if it has, please leave me a comment and let me know
that this was helpful for you.
Give it a thumbs up and I look forward to sharing more tips with you very soon.
Once again, this is Kim from englishwithkim.com.
I'm your guide to the essential conversation skills you need to sound more natural in English.
See you soon.
Goodbye.