Speaking English: 7 Must-Know Phrases (Perfectly Spoken!)

Speaking English like a native speaker might feel impossible…but it’s not! Let me teach you these 7 common phrases and you’ll be feeling more confident right away.

Tagged With: Common English Phrases   YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video.

Video Transcript:

Improving your listening comprehension of American English is so important for confidence speaking English. Today, you’re going to improve your listening skills with seven common phrases. First, you’re going to hear a bunch of examples of one phrase. What do you hear?

Lots of different voices and slightly different accents. What phrase were you hearing?

I’m Rachel. I have a background in opera singing and I’ve been teaching the American accent to non-native speakers for over 20 years. Scan this QR code or visit rachelsenglish.com/free to get my free course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent. It will blow your mind and give you totally new ideas on how to get the sound you’ve always wanted.

Before I tell you what phrase you were hearing, would it help if we slowed it down a little bit? Let’s try it. Here are all the phrases again. This time slowed down.

Have you got it now? The phrase is “I don’t want to hear it.” Now that you know, listen again at regular pace.

I don’t want to hear it.

Did you notice each time “I don’t want to” became “I don’t wannu” or “I don’t wanna.” I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna. So fast. The T in don’t and want and to are dropped. This is called a reduction. When we change or drop a sound in a spoken word. And it might make listening comprehension a challenge. But the more you study reductions like we will today, the easier they will become for you. Let’s take another phrase. What are you hearing?

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

What phrase was that? It was “I don’t want it anymore.” Again, with those dropped T’s. You know, it’s going to be really good for our listening comprehension if we also practice speaking this way. Let’s take these first two phrases that we’ve been listening to and do some training. Listen three times in a row.

I don’t want to hear it.

When you listen to it like this, you notice there is a song to it, a melody. I want you to imitate exactly as you speak out loud with the training. Don’t think about the letters and the words and how you would pronounce them. Try out a new way of speaking by imitating each actor.

I don’t want to hear it.

Notice how smoothly connected all the words are and the dropped T’s.

I don’t want to hear it.

Here’s the same phrase three times. Now, after you hear it, you repeat it once.

I don’t want to hear it.

Great. Now, if you’re not repeating out loud, this training isn’t going to help you much. So, please do it. If it feels too fast, stop thinking about the words and instead think about the overall melody and song of what you hear.

This time, you’ll hear it three times with a break to repeat once and then three times again with a break to repeat once.

I don’t want to hear it.

Okay. So, this is the training. We’re going to do training with these two phrases we’ve studied so far before moving on to the rest of the phrases. Here’s the first phrase.

I don’t want to hear it.

Now, the phrase “I don’t want it anymore.”

I don’t want it anymore.

Okay, let’s listen to a third phrase now. What are you hearing?

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

The phrase is, “I don’t want to see you again.”

I don’t want to see you again.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

The phrase is “I don’t want to see you again.”

The phrase is “I don’t want to know that.”

I don’t want to know that.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

Here’s our next phrase.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

The phrase is, “I don’t want to leave you.”  

I don’t want to leave you.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

I don’t want to leave you.

Here’s our next phrase.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

The phrase is, “I don’t want to go inside.”

I don’t want to go inside.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

I don’t want to go inside.

Here’s our last phrase.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

The phrase is “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I don’t want to hurt you.

Now, let’s listen again. This time a little slower.

I don’t want to hurt you.

Now, let’s do speaking practice training with these phrases. It will be the same format as before. You’ll hear it three times, repeat once. You’ll hear it three times, repeat once.

I don’t want to see you again.

I don’t want to know that.

I don’t want to leave you.

I don’t want to go inside.

I don’t want to hurt you.

What has all this done for your listening comprehension? Let’s see. Now, you’ll hear a bunch of the phrases at random. You’ll only hear each phrase once and you won’t see the scene, so that won’t help. Keep track of how many you get right and put your answer in the comments below.

Keep your learning going now with this video. And don’t forget to visit rachelenglishacademy.com to get my free mini course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

Please subscribe with notifications on. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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