THIS IS WHY IT’S SO DIFFICULT: How to Speak American English | Learn English with FRIENDS

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Some people might say Americans butcher the pronunciation of English. We certainly do
our own thing with it. Today we're going to study part of a scene from Friends to see:
what are all the things that Americans do with spoken English?
How does Rachel Greene speak so fast? It's all about rhythm and simplification. Studying
spoken English this way helps my students a ton with their English listening comprehension and
also helps them speak English that's more smooth, natural, and easier to understand.
Also, fresh off the press, click here or in the video description to get a free cheat sheet, the
sounds of American English, it's a great reference tool and even I use it quite a bit. This is the
scene we'll use for our analysis. Rachel has just found out that Chandler and Monica are dating,
and she really wants to tell Joey.
Oh, Joey. I have such a problem.
Oh, well, your timing couldn't be better. I am putting out fires all over the place today.
Okay, okay. Joey? I have got to tell you something.
What? What? What is it, what is it?
Oh my God. It's so huge. But you just have to promise me – you can't tell anyone.
Oh no, no, no. I don't want to know.
Now let's do that analysis together.
Oh, Joey.
There's a little bit of stress in her voice here. Oh. A little bit of that up-down shape, Oh,
Joey, and then we have that very clear up-down curve for a stressed syllable
so the first syllable 'Jo' is what's stressed. The second syllable which is just the e vowel,
Joey, ee, it just comes on the way down doesn't have it's own separate shape or feel,
it's just falling away from that stressed syllable so it's really smooth. Joey.
Oh, Joey.
I have such a problem.
Normally, we would say problem. Really clear first syllable stress and a very
short second syllable but she's bringing a lot of stress and energy to this word, 'problem'.
And she really holds on to that second syllable so it also feels stressed.
I have such a problem.
Problem. So, it would be really common for um, to just
be like the e in Joey and just come down away from that stressed syllable pro,
problem. But here it's got its own separate shape for stress and emphasis.
problem.
Problem. The letter o makes the ah as in father vowel here and the e is the schwa,
problem, lem, lem. But she does put a little bit more of a vowel in there
because of holding it out. So I think we can think of that as the u vowel like in butter. Probleem.
Problem.
The other words definitely less stressed than our noun here, I have such a, I have such a. But there
is some on the word such, “I have such a”. And notice the ch sound links right into the schwa,
a nice smooth ending consonant to beginning vowel link such a, such a, such a. I have such a.
I have such a--
So I in have said really quickly. I have, I have, I have, I have.
You don't want to make more of it that. We want the contrast of the short words,
the short syllables with the long words and long syllables. I have, I have, I have,
I have such. I have such a. One down shape of stress in those four words. I have such a.
I have such a.
I have such a problem.
I have such a problem.
I have such a problem.
Oh, well--
Oh, well. Both of those are going up. Up, well.
The word well not pronounced too clearly. Well, well, well, well, uhuhuhl. A little bit of a w
maybe a schwa or an f feel with a dark l well well. But it's short, it's not stressed.
Oh, well--
Your timing couldn't be better.
So let's just look at this part of his phrase and I want you to think
about what are the stressed syllables like we had such and problem in this first sentence.
Where do you find you want to move a little bit? Maybe move your head a little bit.
What do you think are the most stressed syllables with that peak of stress?
Your timing couldn't be better.
I feel it. Your timing couldn't be better. On this first syllable of time, your timing,
the first syllable of timing, your timing couldn't be better. But it's all smooth, we don't have any
skips or break, everything's either leading up to a stressed syllable or coming away from it.
So the word your, that's not reduced. Said your, your, your. Very fast, simplify as much as you
can. Your, your, your, your timing. Now here we have a stressed syllable it begins with a t,
that is a true t. A lot of our t's in English change to other sounds but this is a true t,
your timing. And as I say that, do you hear the melody of my voice?
Ahh, ahh, your timing, your timing. With that up down shape of stress for the stressed syllable.
Your timing--
couldn't be better.
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Couldn't be, couldn't be. So the word l in the word could is silent,
the vowel there is the same vowel that we have in push, book, here it's spelled as 'ou'.
In push, it's spelled with just the u,
and in book it's spelled with 'oo'. But it's the same sound on all of these words, uh, uh.
Could, could, couldn't be.
couldn't be--
couldn't be better.
Let's listen to just “couldn't be better.” You
tell me what you think you're hearing with this n't contraction. Are you hearing tt, a true t?
couldn't be better.
N't contractions, we have three possibilities there. We have the least common true t, couldn't,
couldn't be. That's not what we hear. Then we couldn't be. Couldn't be with a little break,
a little stop of air, that's the stop t. That's fairly common. Couldn't be.
But actually, what I'm hearing is the third pronunciation which is no t at all,
t dropped right from n smoothly into b with no break. Couldn't be, couldn't be.
couldn't be better.
So keep that in mind when you're looking at n apostrophe t words,
the least common pronunciation by far is a true t.
couldn't be better.
couldn't be better. Ahuhuh. Two up-down shapes of stress, the tt
here is a flap t, the tongue just flaps against the roof of the mouth
[flap], better, better.
couldn't be better.
Some students find it tricky to go from flap t into the schwa r
which is the ending of this word, better. So the tongue bounces against the roof of
the then the tip pulls back a little bit so it's not touching anything. Be-tter.
I always encourage students to hold out the sound before
and after a flap t to help them focus on that clean quick movement holding out that errr,
r schwa combination, errr will also help you focus in on that sound. Be-tter. Better.
couldn't be better.
I am putting out fires.
I am putting out fires. So it's very common to speak with the contraction
'I'm' but here he is stressing I so he doesn't make that a contraction. I am.
I am--
I am putting out fires all over the place.
I am putting out fires. So we have an idiom here. We have stress on the stressed syllable
of pudding. Put now fires all over the place. First syllable of over also stress.
I am putting out fires all over the place.
So the flap t just like in better. This sounds like the d between vowels in American English
so this word actually sounds just like this word “pudding” which is a dessert.
Because d between vowels sounds the same as t between vowels, we call that a flap t,
now he doesn't say pudding with the ing ending, he actually
switches the ing to an in ending puttin, puttin.
I am putting out--
And when we do that, it changes actually the t pronunciation if you can believe it.
Changing the ending actually changes how we pronounce the middle consonant
I'm not getting into all the details that has to do with the sounds in between but basically
it turns into a flap t into a stop t. Puttin, puttin. So I'm going to go ahead and erase
flap t because I don't want to confuse anybody when you're going back looking at it. So putting
ing ending we're going to make that a flap t.
But if we make that an in ending then we change it to a stop t, putting, putting. I am putting out.
I am putting out--
I am putting out fires all over the place.
Actually I would say we have some stress on out as well. Putting out, another stop t. Fires all over.
Why is this a stop t? Well, the t is a stop t, the general rule is when it's followed by a consonant
so here it is followed by a consonant so we're going to make that a stop t,
putting out fires, putting out fires. Now, the ending z sound of fires links into the next word.
This is the ah as in law vowel and it's really common to link ending consonants
into beginning vowels so it almost sounds like the ending consonant begins to the next word.
So you could think of the as zall, zall, zall, zall, zall. Fires all, fires all over.
putting out fires all over the place.
And that's how we get that really smooth character of American English. Fires all over the place.
fires all over the place.
Here again we have an ending consonant and beginning vowel. Vowel or diphthong in this
case the o as in no diphthong so we want to take the l, lover, lover, allover, all over the place.
all over the place.
all over the place today.
all over the place today. Then again a little bit more stress on the second syllable of
today. A few things, the most stress here really is in the vowel or the diphthong o
and you can see he moves his head on that all over.
Sometimes Americans will add a physical gesture to our most stressed syllable for emphasis.
That's a good clue that that's the syllable that you want to put your energy towards.
all over the place--
all over the place today.
All over the place today. I want to talk to a second about the last word. People see to
when they want to say to. But this is always tt with a schwa, don't make the u vowel make
it much faster to, to, today. And this t can be a trues t or a flap it, he is making it a true t.
So this word is today. Not today but today, today, today.
all over the place--
all over the place today.
The syllable er plus the words the in place, they're unstressed, they're said more quickly.
For the place, for the place, for the place. So you need to take some of the clarity out,
some of your voice out some of the energy out in order to be able to make them that quickly
so we have that important contrast of stressed and unstressed. Now the word 'the'. I'm going to give
you a trick, a tip for a word like the that starts with the voiced th and is unstressed.
We have the, this, these those, that, quite a few common words that follow
this pattern of unstressed and beginning with a voiced th. For those words, you don't actually
have to bring your tongue tip all the way through the teeth. The, you don't have to make it that
clearly. But you don't want to put your tongue to the roof of the mouth because then it will
start to sound like duh, a d and we do not want that. So in order to make it sound like a th
rather than having your tongue tip at the roof of the mouth,
have it touching the backs of the teeth. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. That will help it
sound like a th. And it will also help you make it more quickly. The, the, the, the, the. The place,
the place, the place. Notice those are low in pitch and a little quiet? Those are some
of the qualities of unstressed syllable. The place, the place, the place, the place today.
all over the place today.
What does the idiom mean “to put out fires”? Or “to put out fires all over
the place”? This means deal with problems. So if a situation, a problem has risen
and you have to deal with it, you can say, uh, alright, I guess I'll go out put out that fire.
I am putting out fires all over the place today.
Okay, okay.
Okay, okay. She's making that with first syllable stress. That word can have either first or second
syllable stress. You can say, okay or okay. And here she's doing that first syllable stress, okay,
okay. Now that is an o diphthong in that first syllable so make sure you're moving
your lips a little bit, Ou. they have to round in more, that movement gives us the
change which gives us the full quality of the diphthong, ou, ou, uo, ou. Okay, okay.
Okay, okay.
Joey?
Joey? Joey? The questioning intonation going up, she's about to ask something of him,
she wants permission to tell him this big secret. So earlier, she said “Joey.” and it went down,
the statement intonation here. Joey? it's going up questioning intonation and again, that unstressed
syllable at the end doesn't have its own shape, it just comes into the rise of the voice, “Joey?”
Joey?
I have got to tell you something.
Okay now, let's see if you can guess upon
hearing this sentence three times. What is the most stressed word?
I have got to tell you something.
It's the one that's the loudest, the most stressed, got. I have got to tell you something.
Also sometimes for emphasis, we'll put a little break before or a little break
after a stressed word and it doesn't fit into the flow of the sentence as much.
I have got to tell you something.
So we have stress on I. I have got. And now we have an ending t and a beginning t,
she is linking those with a single but clear and fully released true t. Got to, got to.
I have got--
I have got to tell you something.
Got to. So the vowel in the word to reduces to the schwa just like in today.
That's not two day and this isn't two. This is to. Got to tell you something.
got to tell you something.
I have got to tell you something. We have two more stressed words here, we have to tell. Again,
with a true t. So we have two true t's here. One, linking got and to and one beginning the
stressed word tell. Tell you something. So the word something is stressed but any stressed
word only has one stressed syllable. So thing, still unstressed, thing, thing, something.
got to tell you something.
The letter o in got it the ah as in father vowel. The letter oh in to is the schwa vowel and the
letter o in something is the uh as in butter vowel. Up here, the letter o was the o as in no
diphthong. That is one of the things that is so tricky about American English. The letters don't
have just one sound that they can represent. It makes both pronunciation and spelling tricky.
got to tell you something.
Let's just listen to “to tell you something.” and I want you to listen to the music of that.
The up-down shapes of stress on tell and some.
to tell you something.
It almost feels like a song, doesn't it?
to tell you something.
Let's talk a little bit about the l in the word “tell”. So that's a true t,
e as in bed l. And when the l comes after the vowel or diphthong in the syllable which here
it's s so it comes after then it's called a dark l. And Americans usually don't lift their
tongue tip for that dark l. They usually make that sound a different way, uhl, uhl,
with the back of the tongue so the tongue tip is down. The back of the tongue presses down and back
a little bit. uhl, uhl, uhl. And then we usually don't lift the tongue tip. If the next word begins
with a vowel or diphthong, then we might to link in just like we did on the previous page.
Here, when we were linking the word all and over, it was a dark l because it's at the end of the
word but because of the linking it feels like it's the beginning of the word so we do lift the tongue
tip in that case if it's linking into a vowel or diphthong. But here, the next word is you,
in this case that first sound is acting like a consonant, sometimes the combination is
more of a diphthong, here it's acting more as a consonant, the y consonant,
tell-you. So I'm making that smoothly with no lift of the tongue tip. Tell. This sound here
is the dark sound made with the back of the tongue. Tell, uhl, uhl, uhl, uhl, uhl, uhl.
If you're confused by the dark l, it is a bit of a confusing sound,
I do have some videos on it, you can look them up on my Youtube channel.Tell you something.
to tell you something.
Now the th in something, that is an unvoiced th so the tongue tip does
have to come through the teeth there. Don't hold the air though or force it,
thh, thhh. The air should be able to move freely. Something, something.
you something.
You something.
What? What is it? What is it?
What? What is it? What is it?
What? Upward intonation, what? And those are all stop t's so a t is a stop t, I said if
it's followed by a consonant but also if it's at the end of a sentence or thought
group. Here it's the end. What? What? So it's really common to make that a stop t
so that's an abrupt stop of the air without tt, that release.
What? What is it? What is it?
What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? So here,
what is, both of those have stress on is, what is it? That's a great little
three-word phrase to practice, it has one peak of stress. What, leads up to it.
It falls away from it. And we have linking ending consonant to beginning vowel.
What is it? What is it?
Also the h in what we usually don't pronounce that at all.
Some people could say what, what with that little extra escape of air with a w,
we write that in ipa with this little h before the w but most Americans don't pronounce it that way
anymore and we just make a clean w sound. What? What? What is it? What is it linking consonant,
that makes it a flap t, the ending z into the it as in sit vowel. What
is it. What is it? And a stop t at the end because it's the end of the thought group
so really smooth linking it should feel just like one word what is it, what is it
What is it? What is it?
Oh my God, it's so huge.
Oh my God. This phrase usually we're going to have stress on the first and last word, oh
my God. And again the letter o making the ah as in father vowel
Oh my God,
it's so huge.
And she doesn't put a brak here, she keeps going,
the d links right into the ih as in sit vowel. It's so.
Oh my God, it's so huge.
Oh my God, it's so huge. And then so and huge both have stress and I want to point out we have an
ending s, a beginning s, those link with a single s sound. It's so, it's so, no break, all connected
Oh my God, it's so huge.
Huge. In American English, we don't drop this this h but it's also not hh, very throaty,
it's just hhh, a very light escape of air. The letter u
makes the u diphthong here, huge. And then we end with the g sound, huge, huge, huge.
it's so huge.
But you just have to promise me you cannot tell anyone.
So she goes all the way to here without taking a breath without making a break.
Everything links together even though writing it out we would use some grammar
punctuation like the period but she skips right over that and talking there are no breaks here
But you just have to promise me you cannot tell anyone.
But you just have to promise me. Wow, okay so she says these words really quickly.
A little bit of stress on you, a little bit of stress of pro,
but it's all said really quickly, isn't it? We don't have that full engagement of the voice,
we don't have full volume, we don't have a lot of up-down melody.
But you just have to promise me--
But you just have to promise me. Wow, to say it that quickly we have to simplify some so the word
but, said so fast and the t combines with the you, this happens, the ending t beginning y
consonant into a ch so but you becomes butchyou, butchyou, butchyou, butchyou.
Helps us say that a little bit more quickly. But you
But you just have to promise me--
But you just have to. What else is happening that helps us simplify and say this more quickly?
The st consonant cluster, when this is followed by a consonant. It's the most common pronunciation
by far to drop the t. Just have, and that's what she does. That also helps her say it more quickly.
But you know what? Even in a stressed word, you just have to. Even if I was going to stress
just, if it's followed by a consonant, I do drop that t.
But you just have to promise me--
But you just have to promise me. But you just have to, have to. So when have which is a v is
followed by the word to which is pretty common, we actually change the v to the f. have to, have to,
have to. So it becomes ft schwa. Hafta, hafta, hafta, hafta, hafta. Low in pitch, said quickly,
simply without much mouth movement. Have to, have to, just have to, just have to, just have to.
But you just have to promise me--
But you just have to promise me. Promise me, promise me, promise me, promise me.
Not a lot of melody, pretty flat, mostly an unstressed feeling.
you just have to promise me--
You cannot tell anyone.
Now, she slows down again and she brings more stress into some of the words.
You cannot tell anyone.
You cannot tell anyone. Okay, I'm actually going to write this out differently. I wrote can't,
that's not what's she's saying. She's not doing the contraction because she needs
to stress it. That means she's not going to contract, contract it, you cannot tell
anyone. We have three syllables in a row, the two unstressed syllables at the
end on anyone just come in as the voice falls away from that stressed syllable.
You, unstressed, leading up to can't. Sorry, leading up to cannot.
You cannot tell anyone.
So she doesn't say cannot, she says cannot, cannot. So we have k schwa
and unstressed said more quickly. It's the unstressed syllable here. Because she wants
to stress not the negative. So we have you can, you can, you can, you can, you can.
you can--
You can, you can, you can, you can, you can, you cannot, you cannot.
You cannot--
You cannot tell anyone.
You cannot tell. Again, she has an ending t, a beginning t, she makes that a single
but strong and clear true t. Cannot tell, cannot tell.
cannot tell--
Anyone.
Cannot tell anyone.
So I'm trying to decide, do I think she's linking the l into the eh vowel here, tell anyone, I don't
really think so. Tell anyone, I think there's just a slight lift there to bring more stress to
the word. You cannot tell anyone. So make this a dark l, tell, uhluhluhluhl, tell, uhluhluhl.
Don't involve the tip of your tongue there. You cannot tell anyone.
You cannot tell anyone.
And actually, as I'm listening again and more, I do think anyone. She is also kind of emphasizing
the last syllable here which would be a little unusual, it's not very conversation but it's
definitely bringing in her point normally we would say anyone but she's saying anyone.
Really stressing that. Not one person
You cannot tell anyone.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Oh no, oh no. Linked together, the word no is stressed with that up-down shape,
these are both oh diphthongs. Oh no.
Oh no
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Then it's one stress with the rest falling in to the way down. no,
no, no, no, no. And the tongue is just flipping up to the roof of the mouth and
then right back down there, all connected not separate words. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
And when we're doing them like that in a string not really saying the full diphthong each time
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Then it becomes more like the other no's
are just schwa. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
I don't want to know.
I don't want to know. So we have stress on I and no. I don't want to know.
I don't want to know.
I actually going to change the way I'm writing the stress on I. I think it's more of a going up.
I don't want to know. And then curve up and down, I'll know so don't want to, all that higher but
flatter pitch. I don't want to, I don't want to, don't want to, don't want to, don't want to, don't
want to, don't want to. How is he making that so fast. Well, an apostrophe t dropping the t.
Want to, dropping the t's turning that into. Want to, want to, want to, want, want to with a schwa.
I don't want to know.
I don't want to know. Dropping those true t's definitely helps to smooth that out.
Helps us say that phrase more quickly. Now here the word no,
that's the o diphthong, sounds just like this word no, different spelling different words,
same pronunciation, so the o diphthong can be written o w, or just o.
I don't want to know.
There's so much to study in just a few lines of English, isn't there?
Let's see the scene with the analysis two more times.
Oh, Joey. I have such a problem.
Oh, well, your timing couldn't be better. I am putting out fires all over the place today.
Okay, okay. Joey? I have got to tell you something.
What? What? What is it, what is it?
Oh my God. It's so huge. But you just have to promise me – you can't tell anyone.
Oh no, no, no. I don't want to know.
Oh, Joey. I have such a problem.
Oh, well, your timing couldn't be better. I am putting out fires all over the place today.
Okay, okay. Joey? I have got to tell you something.
What? What? What is it, what is it?
Oh my God. It's so huge. But you just have to promise me – you can't tell anyone.
Oh no, no, no. I don't want to know.
If you like this kind of analysis, check out this playlist here on YouTube,
or consider signing up for my Academy which has over 150 of these kinds of pronunciation analyses
along with all sorts of training that transforms the voices and accents of my students – go to
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I love being your English teacher. That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.