It's a beautiful spring day here in New York, and we're going to talk a little bit about

the flap T.

Pretty. The T's here are a flap T because it comes between two vowels, and

the T is not starting a stressed syllable. Pretty, pretty. So, you may want to pronounce

it as a true T, tttt, pretty, pretty, but most Americans will make this a flap T, it

smooths out the line. And Americans are always going for a smoother line. Pretty, pretty.

Ben, can you think of any other words with a flap T?

>> City.

City! That's a good one. City. So again, the T here, coming between two vowels, not starting

a stressed syllable, so it's a flap. City, city. It's such a pretty day in the city.

Ben, can you think of another word with a flap T?

>> No.

No. That's ok. It doesn't matter. Matter! There's another word with a flap T. So again,

the T sound is coming between two vowels, not starting a stressed syllable, flap. Ddddd,

matter, matter.

I just thought of another. >> What is it?

And you just did another one too! Thought of, thought of, thought of. So here --- that

was a loud pigeon --- So here the T comes at the end of a word, but the next word begins

with a vowel, so still the T is coming between two vowels. And still, it is not starting

a stressed syllable, so we can flap that. Thought of, duv, duv, duv, thought of. And

Ben said, 'What is it?' Again, the T ends what, but the next word begins with a vowel,

so the T is coming between two vowels, not starting a stressed syllable, so we can flap

that. Diz, diz, what is, what is it?

>> Ben, aren't those tulips pretty? >> Oh, they're so pretty!

>> Rachel, look at this tree! Isn't it so pretty?

>> Wow, this tree is really pretty. >> Such a pretty tree.

This tree, also really pretty. Don't forget to flap your T's!

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

Don't stop there. Have fun with my real-life English videos. Or get more comfortable with

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