do you find that native English speakers talk really quickly like when you're watching TV shows or films do you need to turn on the subtitles but then when you turn on the subtitles you realize huh I understand all of the words here but still it sounds so fast let me tell you a secret the problem is not your grammar or vocabulary the problem is that you're hearing the weak forms of words in this English pronunciation lesson you're going to learn how to pronounce the weak forms of words in English so you can sound more natural and understand fast speech and native speakers better before we begin this lesson I'd like you to answer these two questions do you feel scared when you speak in English or do you feel embarrassed when you speak in English if you've answered yes and you have a fear of making mistakes when you speak English and this is holding you back from speaking English then I have the solution for you that will transform you into a more confident English speaker taking onetoone English lessons with a qualified and experienced English teacher peple makes it so easy for you to find your perfect English teacher so you can save your valuable time and instead spend it in your lessons learning English your teacher will help you replace your fear of speaking in English with confidence so you will be able to speak English conf confidently with your friends at University in meetings at work while traveling or in your English exams if you have a busy schedule and you find it difficult to find time to study English then peple will ensure that you stay consistent every single week so you see continuous Improvement in your English I'll give you 50% off your first English lesson on prep play if you use the code Emma to book your first lesson just click the link in the description of this video I also have a free bonus for you you can get extra practice to help improve your pronunciation faster and remember everything from this lesson by downloading the free pdf lesson notes you can share this free pdf with your teacher so you can get feedback and Corrections on your pronunciation or of course you can use it to self-study the link to download the free pdf is in the description of this video as well so a big thank you to preply for sponsoring this video but besides sponsoring this video I also use preply as a student with my own money and I take Spanish lessons every week and I've seen so much improvement not just in my Spanish but just in my confidence to be able to throw myself into situations and speak Spanish so it's been a an amazing investment for me so thank you prle for sponsoring but also thank you for providing such an amazing platform now let's start with today's pronunciation lesson let's start with the question why does English sound so fast the interesting thing is that English is actually one of the slowest spoken languages so the thing that makes it sound fast is not the speed it's the use of weak forms English is a stress timed language this means that it follows a particular Rhythm where some words which are more important I'll pronounce more loudly and more clearly however some other words which are the little grammatical words that aren't so important are quicker quieter and weaker now the words that we're going to focus on pronouncing today are and to four of a and the I'm pronouncing these words with the strong forms here and here's why when you say all of these words in isolation or if you want to add emphasis to them in a sentence then you use the strong forms however if you say these words in a sentence you will usually use the weaker form for example this word is pronounced as and when you use the strong form but you won't ever hear an English person saying fish and chips it sounds unnatural and too robotic what you will hear however is fish and chips fish and chips so you use the weak form of these words when you say them in a sentence as we're already talking about and let's practice this one in a bit more detail so the strong pronunciation is and and but the weak forms have two different pronunciations n n or and and however you'll more commonly hear people saying n listen carefully to these sentences and repeat she bought some apples and oranges from the market she bought some apples and oranges from the market they laughed and talked all night they laughed and talked all night or they laughed they went shopping and then to a restaurant they went shopping and then to a restaurant now let's look at two the strong form is to with a long ooh however the weak forms have two different options you have to which is like the strong form but just with a slightly shorter vowel and T typically the to form is used when the next word starts with another vowel sound for example I want to eat I want to eat but T is used when the next word starts with a consonant sound I want to go I want t go let's practice that pronunciation of t a little bit more I'm going to the shop I'm going to the shop I want to talk to you I want to talk to you I'm looking forward to the weekend I'm looking forward to the weekend so again remember not to use the ooh here the two pronunciation and say something like I want to talk to you is too strong so we use to I want to I want to talk to you now let's look at four four so I'm not pronouncing that r at the end this is very typical of most British English accents American English would pronounce it like four they would pronounce that really strongly but as this is a British English pronunciation video we will follow that so four the weak version is f so again we don't pronounce that R for f listen to these sentences and repeat this present is for you this present is for you I'm looking for my keys I'm looking for my keys I've lived in London for 3 years I've lived in London for 3 years next it's of the strong form of this word is pronounced with a voiced sound at the end so of of now the weak form of this word actually has three possible ways the first is of with a slight vibration of the next is of with a f so there's no vibration there and uh so you can say a piece of Apple we use a apple because the next word starts with a voiced sound so you use the V one when the next word is voiced however you use the f one when the next word starts with a voiceless sound so you can say a piece of cheese a piece of cheese or a piece of cheese you've got two possible ways with that one using a also sounds a lot more informal so just be mindful of that if you're speaking English in a more formal context here are some more sentences for you to practice so listen carefully and repeat we're going to practice both the of and the uh form Ms he's a good friend of mine he's a good friend of mine he's a good friend of mine he's a good friend of mine a bottle of water please a bottle of water please a bottle of water please a bottle of water please who's the manager of the company who's the manager of the company who's the manager of the company who's the manager of the company now in this section I just want to talk about a I will leave an for another day the strong form of this word is a but the weak form is uh so if you want to sound more natural don't say I want a cup of tea say I want a cup of tea it sounds much more natural and it flows much more easily notice as well with these sentences that a and of are both pronounced the same way they're both pronounced as uh this is where context is very very important because if you say these words in isolation or with no context then we don't know which word you're trying to say so if I say a t you don't know if I'm saying a tea or of tea but if I say a cup of tea then you know I'm talking about a so if there's little or no context or you're saying the words in isolation always make sure you're using the strong forms but in sentences because these words are little un important words you can use the weak forms now let's practice your pronunciation of that weak uh sound listen and repeat very carefully there's a cat in the garden there's a cat in the garden may I borrow a pen may I borrow a pen there's a message for you there's a message for you as a side note one of my biggest pet peeves is when I see videos of people teaching pronunciation and they say like a message a cat and it's like no we don't say that you will never hear people saying there is a cat in the garden no there is a cat in the garden so please if you want to sound more natural in English or if you have problems understanding fast speech and native speakers then really focus on this make sure you're using that a form that weak form the final word that you're going to learn how to pronounce is the the strong form of this word is the with a long e Smiley e sound there are two weak forms though we have the which is just a little bit shorter than the and then we have theth we use the when the next word starts with a vowel sound after it for example the elephant but we useth when the next word starts with a consonant sound after it so the table depending as well on the accent there are some accents that just use the for everything so they will say the elephant the electricity but it really does depend on the accent if you're looking at the rules uh the actual pronunciation rules then you will see that it's the with a vowel sound and the when it's a consonant sound now you're going to practice your pronunciation of the we're just going to focus on the with these sentences so listen carefully and repeat pass me the book on the table pass me the book on the table or pass me the book can you see the dog can you see the dog there's someone at the door there's someone at the door if if you would like more sentences to help you learn how to pronounce the weak forms of words in English then remember that your free pdf of the lesson notes and summary are waiting for you to download in the description of this video you will get a summary of all the rules we have talked about in this video as well as extra sentences for you to practice and repeat so you can improve your English pronunciation your next step now is to book your first lesson on preply using the link in the descript description if it's your dream to speak English confidently and fluently then personalized and consistent lessons with your preply teacher will help you achieve your goal just remember to use the code Emma for 50% off your first English lesson on preply if you've watched this far I would like you to leave a comment down below saying where you are watching this video from now I know for sure that a lot of you are going to be like I'm watching the this video from my toilet but if you want to keep it clean then write the country where you're watching this so I'm watching this video from Spain I'm watching this video from the UK okay let me know where you're watching this video in the comments I know I'm going to like regret asking that question remember to give this video a like if you have enjoyed it and subscribe to my channel if you'd like more videos to help you improve your English pronunciation and listening skills thank you very much for watching Ing and I will see you in the next lesson bye-bye [Music]