If you’ve been enjoying the last three videos on learning English with the TV show Friends, here’s the final installment
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Video Transcript:
Today is the fourth video where we’re using the Friends new year’s episode from season one to study English. They made a pact. They broke the pact and now, we get to see them at the stroke of midnight. We’re going to study this scene and everything we can about American English pronunciation to figure out what makes American English sound American. I make new videos every Tuesday to help you speak faster and more natural English. You’ll even be watching TV without subtitles. If you like this video, or you learned something new, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe with notifications, it really helps.
First, our scene.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out?
Happy New Year!
You know, I, uh, just thought I’d throw this out here, I’m no math whiz but I do believe there are three girls and three guys right here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No. You can’t kiss Ross, that’s your brother.
Oh perfect, perfect. So now everybody’s getting kissed but me?
Alright, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight!
And now, the analysis. In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight. So the first voice that we hear is Dick Clark on the television. He’s doing the countdown party from Times Square. And it’s part of the tradition of the New Year that you kiss somebody on the stroke of midnight. Is it the same way in your country?
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
So he puts a break here, breaking up this sentence into two thought groups, and I’m going to go ahead and write out the word twenty.
In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds.
In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds.
We have stress on the first syllable of twenty, and also on the first syllable of seconds. Um in twenty, I would say here it dips down and up. In twenty seconds, and then on seconds, it does the scoop up and then down. Now we have a couple interesting pronunciation things happening here. The word twenty, it’s really common to drop the T. That’s because it comes after an N. And when the T comes after an N, that’s a case where it might get dropped. And in the word twenty, I would say it’s dropped more than half the time.
In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds.
You can definitely say it with a true T. Twenty. But that’s way less common than just dropping the T completely, twenty. Now on the word seconds, we have the EH as in bed vowel in our stressed syllable. We have the schwa in our second syllable. Seconds, seconds, seconds, and do you notice that D is dropped? Why? Well the D comes after an N, so when D comes after an N, and before another consonant, here it’s the weak ending Z sound, that’s another case where we’ll probably drop the consonant, in this case, the D, so the N before T and D can mean they’re dropped. Almost always we’ll drop the D between N and another consonant. Seconds. Ndz, ndz, ndz, right from N into Z.
Seconds. Seconds. Seconds.
In twenty seconds, smoothly linked together, change in pitch happens without jumps. In twenty seconds, try to do it that smoothly.
In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds, In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
It’ll be midnight. It’ll be mid– going up to that peak of stress on mid, midnight. And then the pitch comes back down. It’ll be, ‘it will’ becomes it’ll, so it’s the IH as in sit vowel, the apostrophe L, I would write that schwa L, and the letter T is a flap between two vowel sounds. So here, it’s between two vowel sounds so that’s a flap. In IPA, I write that with the D sound between vowels but just know, it’s a flap. It’ll be midnight.
It’ll be midnight. It’ll be midnight. It’ll be midnight.
Again smoothly connected, and the pitch changes without abrupt stops or skips, uhhhh– it’ll be midnight. Midnight and we have a stop T at the end of that thought group, which is a common pronunciation at the end of a thought group, or when the next word begins with a consonant. Let’s talk really quickly about the D sound, it’s not fully pronounced, it’s not mid, midnight, dd– but it’s midnight, so we put the tongue in position for the D, we vibrate the vocal chords, but then we don’t release dd– an escape of air, we just go right into the next sound of the N consonant. Midnight, midnight, midnight.
Midnight ,midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.
So Chandler, always the jokester, and the moment of joy, sort of skips his pronunciation a little bit, but even though we have these big changes, and the– it’s not and the, and the– The voice still carries. And the moment of- And the moment of– and the moment of– and the moment of- And the– Do you notice the D is dropped? Look at that. After an N, before another consonant, it’s really common to drop the D in the word and, even though he’s making it stress. And, he’s making it longer, he still drops the D. It’s the AA vowel plus N. Now when we have that sequence. When you look it up in a dictionary, this is what it will say: aa, an, an, an, but that’s not how we actually pronounce it. The back of the tongue relaxes, so whenever AA is followed by N or M, it’s not pure. Aauhh– We have an UH vowel, you can think of it as the schwa, or the UH as in butter. Aauhh– Aauhh– and, and, so it’s not pure, an– back of the tongue relaxes. And the– now he takes the word the, and he puts the EE vowel. That’s not usual, the rule is when the next word begins with a consonant sound, you make it the schwa. You would make it EE if the next word began with a vowel or diphthong, but in this case, he doesn’t do it that way. He pronounces it ‘the’.
And the– and the– And the moment of joy is upon us.
Moment of joy is upon us. So we have a peak on moment, moment of joy is upon us. As well as another peak on the stressed syllable of ‘upon’.
Moment of joy is upon us. Moment of joy is upon us. Moment of joy is upon us.
Moment of– hold on, moment of, moment of, what? That T is dropped. Look guys, it comes after an N. Just like in twenty. Moment of, moment of, the next word, the word of, begins with a vowel sound. So the T between two consonants we drop that a lot. But with N, T, vowel or diphthong, we also might drop that. Like in the word internet, center, twenty, or when we’re linking into a word. Moment of. Lots of different cases where we change our T pronunciations. And we’re going to have some videos where we study that in February and march of 2021. So keep your eyes out for those, lots of good videos coming early next year.
Moment of, moment of, moment of joy.
In the stressed syllable of moment, mo– it’s the OH diphthong you do need a little bit of lip rounding for that. Moment of joy, joy, that’s the OY diphthong, need a little lip rounding for that too. Everything links together really smoothly. There are no skips or breaks.
Moment of joy, moment of joy, moment of joy is upon us.
Oy is– joy is– these two words linked together, joy is– IH smoothly right into IH, joy is, the S in ‘is’ is a weak Z sound, but it links into upon, uh, uh, uh, uh, the first vowel there, the schwa, is a, is a, is a, is a, is upon us. Upon us. Stressed syllable of pon– you can think of that as AH as in father or AW as in law.
Joy is upon us. Joy is upon us. Joy is upon us.
Upon us. And the ending N of upon, links right into the vowel of us.
Upon us. Upon us. Upon us.
Everything’s smoothly connected.
Joy is upon us. Joy is upon us. Joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
So Joey makes a comment about the ‘no date pact thing’. If you’ll remember in the first video we studied in this series, they made a pact, no dates for new year’s eve. Then in the next two videos, we saw how that pact fell apart. People started inviting dates. And now in this last video of the series, we see none of those plans worked out. Here it is midnight, and the six of them are there together, no dates.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
Looks like that, Looks like that, Looks like that- His first three words, unstressed, less clear, flatter in pitch, said quickly.
Looks like that, looks like that, looks like that.
Looks like that, looks like that, looks like that, looks like that.
I think you can even think of this K as dropped, looks like that, looks like that, like that, Like that, like that, because that’s what it sounds like to me. It sounds like he’s doing L unstressed I into the TH, like that, like that, like that, like that. AA vowel and then a stop T because the next word begins with a consonant. So it’s not looks like that. Definitely not that clear it. Looks like that.
Looks like that, looks like that, Looks like that no date pact- You know, now that I’m listening to the whole phrase, I’m not even sure there’s a stop T.
Looks like that, that, that, that, that no, that no, that no– I almost feel like I’m just hearing AH right into N. That no, that no, looks like that no date pact- Looks like that no date pact– Looks like that no date pact– Looks like that no date pact thing worked out.
No date pact thing– So definite stress on the word date, I feel that it’s scooping up, no date pact thing, pact thing, a little bit more length here as well. Pact thing.
No date pact thing, no date pact thing, no date pact thing.
Let’s look at our consonants here. Date. We definitely don’t hear that released, right? We definitely don’t hear tt– date. But we hear date pact, it’s not day, but date, date, ttt– I do a stop in the throat and the vocal cords. That signifies the stop T. Date pact. Now here we have consonant T, consonant, how is this T pronounced?
Pact thing, pact thing, pact thing.
Pact thing, pact thing, pact thing. It’s totally dropped. Not surprising. Ending CT clusters or ST clusters followed by a consonant, very common to drop that T.
Pact thing, pact thing, pact thing worked out.
Thing worked out. Thing worked out. Thing worked out. Then we have stress on part of our phrasal verb, to work out. Thing worked out.
Thing worked out. Thing worked out. Thing worked out.
I want to do a quick note on the word thing, it’s an unvoiced TH, tongue tip has to come through the teeth, then it’s the IH as in vowel followed by NG. So here we studied when AA is followed by M, it’s not a pure AA. That’s true here, too. When IH is followed by NG, it’s not a pure IH. That would be thih– thih– thing, thing, that’s not how it’s pronounced. It’s pronounced thing, thing. So the NG consonant changes that IH vowel, it’s more of an EE vowel. Thing, thing, thing.
Thing, thing. Thing worked out.
Let’s look at our word ‘worked’. W consonant, the R vowel R combination, wor– wor– then we have K, our ED ending here is pronounced as a T, that’s because the sound before was unvoiced, the K consonant. Worked.
Worked out. Worked out. Worked out.
I really don’t hear the T though. Worked out. Worked out. Ttt– normally because the next word begins with the vowel or diphthong, I would expect to hear a light T release there, but I’m not really hearing that.
Worked out. Worked out. Worked out.
Worked out. Worked out. Worked out.
I don’t know, I feel like it’s dropped. Even though that’s not what most people would do, I think most people would do a light T release. Definitely, we would drop it if the next word began with a consonant, but here, it’s the OW diphthong, I would expect to hear a light T release. You know, there’s background noise, he’s not talking very loudly, maybe that’s why we’re not hearing.
Worked out. Worked out. Worked out.
One, happy new year!
So they’re counting down. They get to the last one, one. So when you’re counting like this for something like a holiday countdown, ten, nine, eight, each word would be stressed with that up down shape of stress. One, happy new year!
One, happy new year!
One, happy new year!
One, happy new year!
Happy has stress, happy new year. So most stress on ha– and new, and of course, I wrote it like that, but it all links together smoothly, doesn’t it? Happy new year! Actually, you know, the P, it’s a stop consonant, and I think part of the celebratory tone and the stress they give, they kind of exaggerate that stop. Happy new year!
Happy new year! Happy new year! Happy new year!
But it does still link together smoothly. The EE vowel right into the N consonant. Happy new year. Ppy new year– ppy new, ppy new, ppy new, ppy new, ppy new, ppy new, ppy new. Smooth links.
Happy new year! Happy new year! Happy new year!
Year, this word can be tricky. How is year different than ear? Well I have a video on that. So if you’re not clear on the differences between year and ear, just look it up on youtube, ‘year ear Rachel’s English’ and you’ll find that video. And everyone kisses, hugs, celebrating the change of the year.
Happy new year! Happy new year! Happy new year!
You know, I, uh–
You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh– All linked together really smoothly. The word you, not you, ye– said so quickly, you barely even notice it. You know- You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh- You know, I, uh– very smooth. The OH diphthong, right into the AI diphthong. You know I– when you’re doing a link like that, with the OH diphthong into another vowel or diphthong, it can help to think of saying the W consonant to link. You know I– And of course the K in this word is silent. You know, you know, You know, I, uh- You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh– You know, I, uh, just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw this out here. Just thought I’d throw this out here. So we have a couple stressed words here. Just thought i’d, thought i’d, a little bit there, just thought I’d throw, a little bit there, this out here. Throw out, our phrasal verb, we have more of the stress on the word out, but everything in this phrase links together really smoothly, doesn’t it?
Just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought, the word just, you know what? I’m really just hearing that as the S. So we already know when we have an ending ST cluster, and the next word begins with a consonant, as it does here, that that T will probably be dropped, definitely. Just thought, just thought, just thought. But I feel that he’s reducing it even further. I don’t even hear the beginning consonant or the vowel. I just hear S. Just thought, just thought, just thought And you know what? That’s not that surprising to me. That seems like a natural reduction of the word ‘just’ to me. We can reduce it to: just, just, just, just, just, but we can also reduce it to sss– st thought, st thought. And even though out of all four sounds, we’re only saying one sound, any native speaker would know that word as ‘just’.
Just thought i’d– just thought i’d– just thought i’d- Just thought i’d– just thought i’d– just thought i’d- So a quick S before the word thought. Thought, the tongue tip does have to come through for the TH here. I know some of my students have a hard time transitioning between S and TH. St thought, st thought.
So let’s just talk through that very, quickly teeth are together for the S, tongue tip is just inside the mouth, for me, they’re just behind the bottom front teeth. Sss– thought– st thought. So to transition into TH, I just lift the tongue tip, peek it through the teeth, just a bit, the teeth part, stt– sstt– stt- It’s not a very big movement. These two positions are not very far apart. You might just want to practice them with a break stt– and then stt– Slowly together, really thinking about the change in tongue position. The rest of the mouth is completely relaxed.
Just thought i’d– just thought i’d– just thought i’d- Thought with the AW as in law vowel, then the letter T, but wait, the next word is the AI diphthong, i’d– so that T becomes a flap T. Thought i’d, thought i’d, linking the two words together.
Just thought i’d– just thought i’d– just thought i’d- The D in i’d– not released because the next word begins with a consonant. Again, it’s the unvoiced TH, so it’s not I’d throw, but it’s I throw. Vocal chords vibrate for the D, with no release, go right into the next consonant. Smooth transitions. Just thought i’d- Just thought i’d– just thought i’d– just thought I’d throw this out here.
Just thought I’d throw– THR consonant, this can be another tricky transition, so the tongue is just through the teeth, th– no stop or hold, the air flows freely, it’s a relaxed sound, and then the tongue tip pulls back into the mouth and just away from the front of the mouth, so it’s just backing up slightly, thrr– to make that R sound. Thr– it shouldn’t touch the roof of the mouth, we definitely don’t want it flapping. Thrr– throw– OH diphthong.
Now we have the word this, this word begins with a TH, but this time it’s voiced. It’s not unvoiced like thought or throw. When there’s an unstressed word like this, this, that, these, the, and it begins with the voiced TH, that’s a case where we might not bring the tongue tip all the way through the teeth. The teeth can be slightly parted and the tongue just touches behind them, you might see it peeking through the teeth but you don’t need to bring it quite as far forward: this, this, this, this, helps us say those unstressed words more quickly. Thought I’d throw this, thought I’d throw this- Thought I’d throw this, thought I’d throw this, thought I’d throw this out here.
And the ending S links right into the OW diphthong. Ss out– ss out– ss out– ss out here– throw this out here.
Stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.
Throw this out here. Throw this out here. Throw this out here.
The word ‘here’ when you look it up, you’ll see IH as in sit, schwa R ending. IH followed by schwa R, this is another case where it’s not pure. Just like when it’s followed by NG, with thing, it gets turned into more of an EE vowel, same with schwa R. It’s not hih– here, here, but it’s here, e e e, much more of an EE sound even though that’s not what you’ll see in the dictionary. That’s what we do.
here. here. here.
Can you believe how much we’ve studied about pronunciation already? not only are we seeing how many sounds change, but we’re studying why, and so much about the smoothness and linking that happens in American English. the up down shape of stress.
here. here. here. I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz. four words, all going up to the peak of stress on Math or falling from that peak of stress. I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz.
linking together very smoothly, again another unvoiced TH. you’re really gonna get your work here with that. I’m no math whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz, smoothly connecting consonants together. M to N, TH to W. now the word whiz, we have a WH here, but he’s pronouncing that with without any extra escape of air. whiz, whiz, just a clean W sound. I’m no math whiz.
I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz. I’m no math whiz but I do believe there are three girls.
but I do believe there are three girls. do, three, our peaks of stress there. but I do believe, but I, but I, but I. do you hear how those two words are linking together with a flap T? and they’re flat, they’re unstressed. but I, but I, but I do.
but I do, but I do, but I do believe there–
But I do believe they’re– believe, believe they’re– V consonant right into that voiced TH, but it’s unstressed, so it’s not there’s not thh– it’s not that much energy in it. there, there, there, there, there, there, do believe there- do believe there– do believe there– do believe there- The word ‘there’ ends with an R and it’s linking into the reduction of the word ‘are’. let’s listen to just these two words together.
There are– There are– There are–
The word ‘are’ I would write that schwa R, and the word there, it’s reduced as well, it’s not there, but it’s there there there.
I would also write that with schwa R. so we have two schwa R sounds in a row. there’s just a very subtle restart of it. There are– There are– There are– There are– There are– There are– There are– There are– There are three girls.
There are three girls. There are three girls. There are three girls.
Very smoothly connected. now three, we again have that unvoiced THR constant just like in the word throw. like I said, you’re really gonna get your workout for these unvoiced TH’s here.
three, three, three girls–
three girls– and the word ‘girls’ just comes down in pitch after that peak of stress. girls, girls, girls, girls, girls. don’t try to make more of a vowel than that. it’s just that R vowel consonant combination gg– urr– uhls– Then we have the dark L, the tongue tip doesn’t need to lift for that. just make a dark sound with the back of the tongue. guhrrrlll.
To make that sound, my tongue tip is lightly touching the backs of the bottom front teeth. not the top, but the bottom. girls. and then a weak ending Z.
Girls, girls, girls, and three guys.
and three guys. and three guys. so he stresses and, and but he still drops the D. and three guys.
and three guys. and three guys. and three guys.
actually, all of those have a little bit of that stressed feeling. and three guys. da-da-da. all linked together. and three guys.
and three guys. and three guys. and three guys right here.
Right here. right here. more stress on here, stop T because the next word begins with a consonant.
right here. right here. right here.
here. Again, remember it’s a case where the IH vowel is more like EE because it’s followed by R.
here, here, here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
So phoebe’s very sad she had to break up with her boyfriend tonight because he got a grant to go do research abroad. and she didn’t want to hold him back. so she’s depressed. her volume is very low.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight. oh, I– a little bit of stress there. Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight. and then the peak of stress on anyone.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
But it all links together very smoothly. no skips or breaks. let’s look at our NT contraction. you probably learned this word is pronounced don’t, but that’s very rare that the T is pronounced like that.
Oh, I don’t feel– Oh, I don’t feel– Oh, I don’t feel- I don’t feel– I don’t feel– I don’t feel– The T is dropped. N, T consonant, pretty common to drop it. with N apostrophe T contractions, that could also be a stop sound. I don’t feel. but in this case, she drops it completely. I don’t feel, don’t feel– Right from N and to the F.
Oh, I don’t feel– Oh, I don’t feel–
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
Feel like– you can link those with a single L sound. you do want some dark after the EE vowel, but then you do lift your tongue tip for the light L. feel like, feel like, feel like. so it’s not feel, feel, but feel, get that dark sound in there. feel like, feel like, feel like.
feel like, feel like, feel like kissing anyone tonight.
like kissing, like kissing, like kissing–
you can link those words with a single K sound.
like kissing, like kissing, like kissing– like kissing anyone- then the NG sound links really smoothly into our EH as in bed vowel. kissing anyone.
like kissing anyone– like kissing anyone– like kissing anyone- The word ‘tonight’. a lot of my students say tonight, but that’s not the pronunciation. if you look it up in the dictionary, you’ll see it’s T, schwa, in our first syllable, that’s unstressed, to, to, to. so there are no cases where it should be pronounced to, to, to, but always: to, to, to, tonight, tonight, tonight, and a stop T at the end of the word.
tonight, tonight, tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
poor Rachel. she’s had a run-in with somebody about a cab at the airport. you know, when there are a lot of people and not very many cabs, it can get it can get tough in New York trying to get one. so she got in a fight with somebody, her face is a little bruised up.
I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone. she says that without really moving her mouth very much. and that’s why this word is a little less clear because we don’t have any lip rounding for the W of one. anyone, anyone. she’s not really able to make that W sound. anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone.
I can’t, I can’t, up down shape of stress there. and that is a stop T. she does make that a stop T pronunciation for the N apostrophe T contraction. I can’t kiss anyone. links together smoothly, S into EH vowel. ss anyone.
I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone. I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
So I’m kissing everyone? So I’m– stress on I’m, so I’m kissing everyone? Also stress on ev– but it goes down and then back up because our pitch is heading up, because it’s a yes no question. everything links together really smoothly. OH diphthong into AI diphthong. so I’m kissing– M right into K, no breaks. and then again, the NG consonant linking into the EH vowel. kissing eh– ng everyone?
So I’m kissing everyone? So I’m kissing everyone? So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. N consonant, OH diphthong, right back into an N constant OH diphthong, very smooth. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. The N, the tongue for the N just going up so quickly to the roof of the mouth and back down.
No. No. No.
No. No. No.
No. No. No. You can’t kiss Ross, that’s your brother.
You can’t kiss Ross, you can’t kiss, you can’t kiss. do you notice he does do the stop T pronunciation for that? You can’t kiss Ross. actually, all three of those words have some shape. da da da. You can’t kiss Ross.
You can’t kiss Ross, You can’t kiss Ross, You can’t kiss Ross, that’s your brother.
That’s your brother. That’s your brother. Very smooth. that’s your brother. That’s your brother. The word ‘your’ not pronounced you. reduced, unstressed, that’s your– that’s your– that’s your brother.
That’s your brother. That’s your brother. That’s your brother.
Brother. that’s the voiced TH. brother, brother, brother. if it seems tricky to bring your tongue tip through the teeth here, think of this. think of the tongue flapping up to touch the bottom of the top front teeth. broth– brother, brother, brother. I think sometimes thinking of the light point of contact between the tongue and the upper teeth can make it feel more simple. brother.
brother. brother. brother.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Two-syllable word. oh perfect, perfect. Now we have an ending cluster here, CT.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
I hear the T dropped. oh perfect, per– So we have, the next word begins with a consonant. I’m not surprised he drops it here. very common to drop that T between consonants. but even here, I don’t think it’s pronounced. even though it’s the end of a thought group, and it wouldn’t sound that strange to say it. perfect. but I hear: perfect, perfect. Perfect, perfect. Stop of air, these are both stop consonants. the K consonant and the T consonant both stops. so he stops the air, doesn’t release. oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect.
In that stressed syllable, per– it’s that, UR, R vowel combination just like in work. per, per, perfect, perfect.
Oh perfect, Oh perfect.
Oh perfect, perfect. So now everybody’s getting kissed but me.
So now, so now, so now. he ever so slightly separates that from everyone. that helps stress everyone more. so now, so now, so now, they link together smoothly, they’re flat. so now, so now, so now, so, so. I think I’m going to write that S schwa. it’s not so, so, so, but suh suh suh so now, so now, so now. linking together smoothly.
So now, So now, So now everybody’s getting kissed but me.
I just noticed I wrote that wrong it’s not everyone’s, it’s everybody’s.
everybody’s getting kissed but me. everybody’s getting kissed but me. everybody’s getting kissed but me.
everybody’s getting kissed– Everybody. stress on ev– everybody’s getting kissed but me. and then a lot of stress on me. he’s feeling kind of bad about himself.
everybody’s getting kissed but me.
everybody’s getting kissed but me.
everybody’s getting kissed but me.
Everybody. so it’s only the first syllable that’s stressed there, and it’s not every, but ev-ry. everybody’s, everybody’s, everybody’s.
everybody’s, everybody’s, everybody’s getting kissed but me.
Everybody’s getting kissed, getting, getting, getting. Do you notice that? flap T. T between two vowels, rarararara, flaps against the roof of the mouth. and the last three syllables of everybody, and the two syllables of getting, are flatter, said more quickly. ev-rybody’s getting, rybody’s getting, rybody’s getting, rybody’s getting, not a lot of up down there.
everybody’s getting, everybody’s getting, everybody’s getting kissed but me.
kissed. The ED ending there makes the T sound because the sound before, the S is unvoiced. so this word would be K, IH as in sit, S, T. kissed but me. He goes right into the B sound, therefore the T is dropped, T between two consonants, fairly common to drop that. so we don’t hear the ED ending at all, even though we know it’s there.
kissed but me. kissed but me. kissed but me.
but me. but me. Do you hear the difference in those two words? they’re each one syllable long. one is clearly unstressed, but, but, but, and the second clearly stressed: me, me. so we really hear the difference here. unstressed word, shorter and flatter in pitch. but, but. there’s a stop T there because the next word begins with a consonant. but, but. and then me, is not me, me, me, me, that would be an unstressed feel. flat, lower in pitch, said quickly. but instead, it’s me, me, me, uh, uh, uh. that change in pitch, uuuhh– is what signals stressed syllable, it’s also a little bit longer, but me.
but me. but me. but me.
Alright, somebody kiss me.
Alright. drops the L, that’s common. Alright, Alright, Alright, Alright. Really quick AH as in father, or AW as in law vowel before the R. Alright, Alright, Alright, Alright. he does a stop T.
Alright, Alright. Alright, somebody kiss me.
Alright, somebody kiss me. Alright, somebody kiss me. So he’s stressing some. doesn’t matter who, anybody, somebody, Somebody kiss me. UH as in butter vowel there. the peak of stress on some, the word alright goes up to it, and ‘body kiss me’ comes away from it. Alright, somebody kiss me. Linking together really smoothly.
Alright, somebody kiss me. Alright, somebody kiss me. Alright, somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, Somebody kiss me, some– is the only syllable there that’s really longer. the rest are said more quickly. Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, Somebody kiss me, Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, then he says it again, this time he stresses kiss m– Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
it’s midnight. okay, he’s really he’s really getting upset here, isn’t it? it’s midnight. it’s midnight. the stressed syllable of mid– gets our peak of stress there. it’s midnight– and everything links together smoothly, the D isn’t released, we make the sound on the vocal cords, but then just go right on to the M. midnight. stop T, doesn’t release it, it’s the end of his thought group.
it’s midnight. it’s midnight. it’s midnight.
and then he just repeats over and over. Somebody kiss me.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight.
Well, Chandler wanted a kiss at midnight, and he got one. Let’s watch this whole conversation one more time.
And isn’t it incredible how much there is to study about how Americans speak English that’s probably different from what you learned in school? whenever you take native speakers and you analyze it like this, you really start to see the give and take in American English, stressed and unstressed, and all of the sounds that may change.
In twenty seconds, it’ll be midnight.
And the moment of joy is upon us.
Looks like that no date pact thing worked out?
Happy New Year!
You know, I, uh, just thought I’d throw this out here, I’m no math whiz but I do believe there are three girls and three guys right here.
Oh, I don’t feel like kissing anyone tonight.
I can’t kiss anyone.
So I’m kissing everyone?
No. No. No. You can’t kiss Ross, that’s your brother.
Oh perfect, perfect. So now everybody’s getting kissed but me?
Alright, somebody kiss me. Somebody kiss me, it’s midnight! Somebody kiss me! It’s midnight!
I had so much fun putting together this four-part series for you. If you haven’t seen the other scenes from this episode, check them out in this playlist. If you love this kind of analysis video, I have over 150 that aren’t on my YouTube channel in my online school Rachel’s English Academy. There’s also audio that goes along with each lesson to help you with your imitation skills and to really change your habits. This kind of training will transform your voice and confidence. To sign up, visit rachelsenglishacademy.com While you’re waiting for your next video, check out more of my videos right here on my YouTube channel including this one. And don’t forget to subscribe with notifications. I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday and I’m doing a 30-day vocabulary challenge in January that you won’t want to miss. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
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