Speaking English with the TV Show Friends!

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Video Transcript:

I have a tradition. Every December, do an in-depth analysis of a scene from the show Friends. Any scene from any Christmas episode. Today we get to study a scene where Phoebe is collecting money for the Salvation Army and her friend Monica shows up. First, here’s the scene that we’ll study.

Well, it’s going okay.

Oh, good. Here, let me help you out.

Oh, thanks!

Yeah.

Wow.

Is that a new suede jacket? It looks really expensive.

Yeah, I guess.

Just get your nails done?

Yes, Phoebe but this is all I have, okay?

Okay, thanks!

Now, let’s do an in-depth analysis of the pronunciation, everything we hear. When you study English this way, your listening comprehension and your accent can really improve.

Well, it’s going okay.

Oh, good.

Their voices are really high, aren’t they? It’s going okay. It’s very unnatural for normal conversational English, but we raise our voices like this a lot to show more happiness, more willingness, that kind of thing. So, you wouldn’t want your whole conversation to be up here. Well, it’s going okay. Here, let me help you out. But it totally works for a phrase like this.

Well, it’s going okay.

Well, so she goes up in pitch for that word. Well, it’s going okay. Because the voice is so high, it’s sort of light. There’s not a ton of volume here. It’s very singsongy. It’s all connected together.

Well, it’s going okay.

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 go to rachelenglish.com/free to get my free course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent. It will blow your mind. It will give you totally new ideas on how to get the sound you’ve always wanted.

Well, it’s going okay.

One thing I want you to think about is the O diphthong here, going. It’s pretty common for my students to say something more like going, go, ou. But we want go with lip rounding. Going. Going. Going.

It’s going okay.

Oh, good.

Oh, good. Monica’s response is also very high. Oh, good. Again, you would never have your whole conversation at this pitch, but a line or two here or there showing extra positivity totally works.

Oh, good.

Here. And now her pitch drops 100% into a normal conversational pitch range. Here.

Here.

Up, down, shape of stress, but still said pretty quickly. Here, here. Make sure you don’t make it flat. Here, here, here, here. We want that pitch change. That makes it much more clear, much easier for us to understand. Here. Uh.

Here.

Let me help you out.

Let me help you out. Again, so connected we have two most stressed words. Let me help you out.

Let me help you out.

Let me. These two words link together with the no t sound at all. Le-me, le-me. So L consonant, e as in bed vowel, no T, right -into the m consonant and the e vowel. Le-me, le-me. And we want that up down shape of stress on our e vowel. Le, le-me, le-me.

Let me help you out.

The more you study English, the more you’ll notice that we drop Ts and we change them. We have all sorts of different t pronunciations to help make your speech more smooth. That is one of the goals. That’s one of the characteristics of American English.

Let me help you out.

So, the words are said very quickly and they’re very connected. Let me help you. So, these three words are all much flatter. ‘Le’ has the up down shape of stress and ‘out’ has the up down shape of stress. The other words are flat. Let me help you out.

Let me help you out.

Also, these middle three words are faster than our stress syllables. When we have the up down shape of stress, we take a little bit more time on those words on those vowel or diphthongs. Now, notice the word out doesn’t end like this, out. It ends like this. Out.

Let me help you out.

That’s a stop T where we stop the air but we don’t release tt, the ending of the sound out. Very common for words that end in a t when the word before is a vowel or diphthong to be a stop T. Now if the next word if it was linking into a word that began with a vowel or diphthong then the T would change but it doesn’t. It’s the end of the thought, so we make that an unreleased stop T. Pronouncing it this way will help it be smoother.

Let me help you out.

Oh, thanks!

Oh, what do we notice? Pitch got really high again, right? Extra positivity. Oh, also big up down shape of stress. It is not flat. It’s so important for your stress syllables to have that pitch change. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult to understand.

Oh,

Thanks!

Thanks! I can almost not imitate that. It’s so high. Thanks! And again, big pitch change here. The length, the pitch change, it brings clarity to that stressed word. Let’s talk about the pronunciation of this word. It’s so important. It’s important to say thank you, isn’t it? As a mom, I’m always reminding my kids that. So, the first sound is the unvoiced th, where the tongue tip comes through, th, th, th, through the teeth. Thanks.

Thanks!

Now, when we write this phonetically, when you look it up in a dictionary, you’ll see that the vowel is this a vowel like in cat. However, when that a vowel is followed by this consonant, which is the ng sound, that vowel then changes. So don’t think of it as a like in cat, but think of it more as the ei diphthong like in the word they. They, they, thanks. Thanks. Thanks!

Thanks!

Yeah.

That’s Mona Monica’s response. It’s like saying, “You’re welcome. Happy to do it.”

Yeah.

Wow.

If this doesn’t teach you, if this scene doesn’t teach you about how important the up down shape of stress is, I don’t know how to tell you about it. There’s so much pitch variation in this speech. The more excited we are, the more pitch variation we have. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Is that a new suede jacket? It looks really expensive.

Now, we have a question followed very quickly by a statement. First, let’s look at the question.

Is that a new suede jacket?

So the word is, I don’t even really hear it. We know it’s there grammatically, but verbally to me it seems dropped. That a, that a, that a. I don’t really hear is at all. That a new suede jacket? So that ‘a’, not stressed said very quickly, not with pitch variation. And these two words are linking together with a flap t. That smooths things out. And remember I said the T sound is one that changes a lot in American English. So when a word ends in a T and that T comes after a vowel or diphthong sound and the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong sound, those words link together with Ra, rra, rra, a flap of the tongue. [Flap] Do you hear that flap? [flap].

 

That a new.

So that a, said so quickly. And then with new, we have a little bit of length and a little bit of that up down shape of stress. New. This adjective is a stressed word. That a new. That a new.

That a new—

suede jacket?

That a new suede jacket? So suede doesn’t really have its own stress, but the word jacket has a down up shape of stress on its stressed syllable. And that is the a vowel. It is pure ja, ja, jacket?

Jacket?  

Again, a stop t. We don’t hear t because it’s the end of a thought group.

Jacket?

Is that a new suede jacket?

New suede jacket? Jacket? That pitch change. Like I said, so important for clarity. Now, most statements in American English go down in pitch at the end. This one goes up. That is the standard for yes, no questions. Yes, no questions tend to go up in pitch at the end. That a new suede jacket.

Is that a new suede jacket?

It looks really expensive.

It looks really expensive. So again, we have that up down shape of stress for clarity on our adverb really expensive. And our adjective. And the pitch is going down. It’s a statement.

It looks really expensive.

So, it looks these two words flatter, said very quickly.

It looks—

Stop T because the next word begins with a consonant. So, it’s not tt, released. It looks, It looks, It looks.

It looks—

really expensive.

And that’s flat and it leads right into the melody. Really expensive. Challenge yourself to match that pitch change. Really expensive.

Really expensive.

Also, make sure that you’re linking these two sounds. It ends in an e vowel. This word begins in an e vowel. Sometimes my students have a hard time linking two vowels together because it feels too sloppy and lazy, but we do want them to connect together with no break. Reallye, reallye. Really expensive.

Really expensive.

What does it feel like to have your voice go up and down on these little roller coasters of pitch? Does it feel strange? The gliding and sliding is such an important part of the natural American English sound.

Really expensive.

Yeah, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah. Up down shape of stress. It is a new suede jacket. Yeah. And then she puts a break between I, I but it’s flat. It’s not an up down shape of stress. It’s not I guess. It’s still unstressed. Said very quickly. I, I.

Yeah, I guess.

It’s pretty mumbled, right? That’s because it’s unstressed. It’s fast. It has less volume. No pitch change. I.

I—

Guess.

Guess. We have a pitch change. It goes down and up. Now, we said that this kind of rising intonation is usually used for yes, no questions. That’s true. But it’s also used sometimes to show confusion or to signal someone that you’re going to keep talking or that you’re going to do something next.

I guess.

I think Monica is a little bit caught off guard by Phoebe implying she should give more money because she’s wearing an expensive new suede jacket.

I guess.

Did you just get your nails done?

Okay. Now again, just like is was dropped before that. Did you? I don’t really hear that. But we know it’s there grammatically. It just is getting dropped in this casual conversation.

Did you just get your nails done?

Just get your. So, a little bit of up down shape of stress there. Just get your, and these two words are flatter. Then we have nails. Our pitch is starting to go up. Done. Because it’s a yes no question.

Did you just get your nails done?

And because we’re going towards a rise in pitch, our pitch change for our stressed syllables are down up instead of up down. Nails. Nails. Done. The letter O here is the uh vowel like in butter. It’s very relaxed. Done.

Nails done?

Just get your nails done?

Just get your, just get your. The word just, we say this quickly even when it’s a little bit stressed with an up down shape of stress and we don’t really give it that full uh vowel. Sometimes it sounds like there’s no vowel at all. Just, just, just, just get your, just get your.

Just get your—

Get your. Another stop t there not released the word your reduced. It’s not your. That’s how we would fully pronounce it on its own. But in a sentence that vowel changes to the schwa. Your, your, your, your. And when the schwa is followed by R, it kind of loses its own sound. It just really becomes a Y sound and an R sound. So you can think of it as Y your Y and R said very quickly. Of course, flat low in pitch. Just get your, just get your. These three words together, pretty fast and maybe unclear. Maybe on their own, you would not even recognize what that phrase is, but in the context of the whole sentence, we get it.

Did you just get your—

nails done?

Yes, Phoebe. But this is all I have, okay?

Yes, Phoebe. Yes, Phoebe. Again, her voice is higher than normal conversational pitch here. She’s got more emotion here. She’s being called out on not being generous enough. Yes. Yes, Phoebe.

Yes Phoebe,

Phoebe. Phoebe. Phoebe. Phoebe. Said pretty quickly. This is pronounced f consonant, e vowel, b consonant, e vowel. First syllable stress. Phoebe. Phoebe. Phoebe.

Phoebe.

But this is all I have, okay?

But this is, but this is all I have. So the pitch is pretty high, but this is all I have. And then, it comes down to a more natural pitch with an up down shape of stress on all and have.

 

But this is all I have,

But this is. But this is. Stop t not released. The ending s of this links right into the i vowel. This is. But this is, but this is, but this is all. Very fast and connected.

But this is—

all I have.

Let’s talk about the word all. The L there comes after the vowel and that is called a dark L when that happens in a syllable. Dark L is not made by lifting the tongue tip. It’s made by pressing the back of the tongue down and back while keeping the tongue tip down. Try that.

Did your tongue tip lift? If so, try again. Try to keep your tongue tip down. All.

This is all I have.

Now, because it links in to a vowel or diphthong, you can quickly lift your tongue tip at the end to connect into the I.

But don’t forget that dark sound. That’s an important sound in American English. It helps keep the placement low in the body. All. All I. Quick little flip of the tongue at the end to link into the I diphthong. All. All I.

This is all I have.

All I have. When we have an up down shape of stress and length, it usually comes in on the vowel. This is the A vowel like in cat. So it’s not have, but it’s have. Longer vowel. Up down shape of stress in the vowel.

All I have,

Okay?

Okay? Up down shape of stress on the second syllable.

Okay?

The rising intonation here is like asking a question. Do you get it? Do you understand? I cannot give you more money after this.

Okay?

Okay, thanks!

Again, really high pitch showing extra positivity. Okay, thanks! Lots of pitch change there. Try to imitate all that pitch change.

Okay, thanks!

Let’s listen to this whole conversation one more time.

Well, it’s going okay.

Oh, good.

Here, let me help you out.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah.

Wow. Is that a new suede jacket? It looks really expensive.

Yeah, I guess.

Did you just get your nails done?

Yes Phoebe, but this is all I have, okay?

Okay, thanks!

Be sure to tune in in 2 weeks when we have another scene from this Friends episode. Keep your learning going now with this video. And don’t forget to visit rachelsenglishacademy.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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