Speak English Naturally: 2-Hour Vocabulary & Conversation Masterclass

Speaking English naturally and confidently is possible! This 2-hour masterclass uses real English conversation to quickly help you master new vocabulary words.

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It’s easier to remember new vocabulary when you’re studying real English conversation. Today, we’re studying 10 conversations starting with one where I go over my morning routine back when I had a cute baby. We’ll also go in depth on how Americans greet each other, my friend will make us some pizza, I’ll go shopping with my husband and you’ll be able to see and learn from many more real life moments in America.

Lesson 1: My morning routine.

It’s 6:37 in the morning.

That’s about how well my eyes focus when I get up.

What time do you get up?

I was recently at a YouTube conference where someone did a presentation on My Morning Routine.

Different people across the world just taking their camera through their morning,

showing people what their life is like and I thought: This is fascinating!

I loved seeing other cultures, seeing what people did, how they lived just a normal day.

So I decided today, I’m going to do the same. I’m going to show you my morning routine.

What is my morning like? And of course, we’ll turn it into an English lesson along the way.

I have a baby. What do you think the first thing I do every morning is?

The first thing is always nurse Sawyer.

He’s a little too distracted by the camera to nurse right now.

Nurse – this word has several different meanings.

You can nurse a baby, you can nurse a sick person, you can nurse a cold, and you can even nurse a beer.

We’ll go over these meanings.

First, I want to say the verb ‘breastfeed’ can be used interchangeably with this term,

and it doesn’t mean anything else, so that can be another option.

The first thing I do every morning is breastfeed my baby.

Notice that I’m not saying the T here – that’s common.

When the T comes between two consonants, we often drop it.

Breastfeed.

Straight from the S sound in to the F sound.

Breastfeed.

Now, let’s talk about all those different meanings.

If we use this word as a noun, it’s somebody who’s been trained as a nurse, to care for the sick, it’s an occupation.

My aunt is a surgical nurse.

As a verb, like I used it, it can mean to breastfeed, to feed a baby.

It can also be used to describe caring for someone who is sick:  she nursed him back to health.

It can be used to describe taking care of an ailment:  I’ve been nursing a cold for two weeks.

That means I’m taking throat lozenges for it, drinking lots of tea, trying to get better.

We also use it to talk about a drink, usually an alcoholic one, that we’re drinking very slowly.

Just taking a sip every once in a while.

Rachel, can I get you a drink?

No thanks, I’m still nursing this beer.

This is something new. This is different from our routine.

Looking at a camera.

One of the first things I try to do everyday is make the bed which I used to never do.

But it’s one tiny thing that I can do to create a little bit of organization in a life that is otherwise very chaotic right now.

Chaotic, chaos.

Here the CH makes a hard K sound.

Kk–  It’s also common to make a CH sound, like in ‘chest’, ch– or an SH sound, like in Chicago, sh–.

CH makes a K in choir, echo, Chemistry, anchor, stomach, orchestra, and many others.

You can’t tell how a CH should be pronounced just by looking at it, you have to know word by word.

This is why spelling and pronunciation is so tricky in English.

Then I head downstairs to have breakfast with Stoney and David.

I don’t feel like cereal so I’m going to make an egg. Does anybody want an egg?

I don’t.

>> No?

>> Okay.

I used the phrase ‘feel like’.

You can use this interchangeably with ‘want’, except the form of the verb will change.

I feel like going to bed, I want to go to bed.

So with ‘feel like’ we follow it with the ING form of a verb, feel like going.

With ‘want’, the next verb is in the infinitive, want to go, wanna go.

But the meaning of the two sentences is the same.

This applies to the negative as well.

I don’t feel like having cereal, I don’t want to have cereal.

But when I said it, I followed it by a noun.

I don’t feel like cereal so I’m going to make an egg.

I don’t feel like cereal.

So nothing else changes

I don’t feel like cereal, I don’t want cereal.

Hey Stoney, your mouth is totally full.

So we can’t understand you. So take your time, chew, swallow, and then say what you were trying to say.

Good, daddy. It’s good.

It’s good? The toast?

Yes.

Looks like it’s really good.

The most common breakfast in the US is probably cereal with milk. That’s what David and Stoney had.

What do you usually have for breakfast?

Post it to Instagram, tag me, @RachelsEnglish, I love to see this kind of thing, what people eat in different cultures.

Let’s have breakfast together.

Mommy, I want some milk.

Okay. Well, how would you ask me to get you some milk?

Milk, please?

Sure.

What time are you guys getting together?

Here, David’s talking about getting together with a friend and his kids.

This is a phrasal verb that means to meet, to spend time together.

You could also use it as a noun: we’re having a get-together at our house this weekend.

Why don’t you come?

If you use it with ‘it’, the meaning is different.

‘Get it together’ means to get organized or get stabilized after chaos.

For example, if Stoney is having a tantrum, we could say, ‘get it together, Stoney’.

Or, at a busy time in my life lately, I missed a meeting because I totally forgot.

I apologized and said, “I’m so sorry I forgot.

I just can’t get it together these days.”

Get together is to meet.

Get it together is to recover from a period of chaos.

Mommy, where is the flashing part?

Oh, I put it over there.

There?

The flashing part – here, Stoney is talking about a camera that had a blinking light.

Did you notice that Stoney can’t say ‘there’ yet?

There.

He can’t make a TH.

I’ve worked with him on it several times and he just can’t coordinate putting the tongue tip through the teeth.

I know this is a huge challenge for my non-native students, so I just wanted you to know it takes time!

Stoney has been speaking English for over two years now, and he still doesn’t have that sound.

There.

I’m interested to see when he picks it up.

And breakfast just continues with random loud noises.

The rest of the morning continues with cleaning up the kids.

Okay, let’s get you cleaned up.

How was ‘get you’ pronounced?

Have you noticed that it’s really common to hear a CH in this phrase?

Let’s get you cleaned up.

When a word that ends in T is followed by ‘you’ or ‘your’, that T often turns into a CH.

Chuu.  Chuu.  Ge-chuu.There’s no rule about doing this or not.

It’s just a habit the happens and many Americans do it a lot of the time.

If you don’t do it, you can do a stop T.

Get you, get you.

Let’s get you cleaned up.

Stoney, you want these waffle pretzels for your snack, right?

Do you want one right now?

Yes.

Special treat.

Snack.

We all need a good snack every once in a while.

This is not a full meal, but a little bit of food that we eat between meals.

Snack.

At our house, we get up anywhere between 6 and 6:45.

Stoney doesn’t leave for school until after 9, so we have a lot of time to fill up.

Sometimes we go out for a walk, but often we just play at home.

I’ve already got it all ready for you.

Did you hear the ‘you’ reduction?

Yuh, yuh.

I’ve already got it all ready for you.

Hey, hey. We’re not skipping teeth. Stand up. Stoney.

We’re not skipping teeth.

I’m sure many parents can relate to this.

When you skip something, you don’t do something that is part of a regular sequence.

In this case, brushing teeth in the morning is definitely part of our morning routine.

Stand up.

Mercy.

Mercy.

This is an exclamation of exasperation, surprise, anger, or frustration.

I was feeling all of those things!

Luckily, he did decide to brush his teeth.

And now, we brush teeth. It’s just part of getting ready for school.

My camera died, after that, we got Stoney dressed and David took him to school,

then he came home and took Sawyer while I went to work. And that is our morning routine.

I’m Rachel and I’ve been teaching the American accent on YouTube for over 15 years go to Rachelsenglish.com/free to get my free course The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent.

In this video, my husband and I are shopping for a new bed in New York city.

So we have a problem to solve. We need new bed, so we’re going to take this problem and we’re going to make an English lesson about it so you’re going to learn some new vocabulary, new phrases while we’re on the streets of New York City going furniture shopping.

There’s so many different kinds of beds so we’re looking for a king, that’s the biggest. Queen is the next then full then twin. Now, there’s also something called a California King which is also really big but the dimensions are kind of different but today we’re looking for king bed.

David.

Yes.

Are you thinking wood, metal, upholstered, leather like what material are you thinking about?

Well, I’m thinking more about upholstered which is unusual for me.

Uhmm.

So, like what kind of fabric, you know I love velvet. I love a good velvet.

Yeah. Now I’m in that I’m that zone too.

Uhmhm, Okay. I was just thinking about the word metal like the material. It’s sort of a tricky pronunciation that’s a flap T and then a dark L and it sounds just like this word: meddle, which is a verb and it means to get into and to get busy with someone else’s business, things that don’t concern you like I could say, “stop meddling in my life. You do not need to know the details of my life. Stop meddling!”

Meddle. Metal.

Alright, we’re crossing Houston. In New York City, the street is pronounced Houston but in Texas, same spelling, big city is Houston. Now we’re heading there to the building with green spikes on top. We’re heading to the Crate and Barrels. To head somewhere means to go in that direction, that is your destination. We’re heading to the Crate and Barrel.

Let’s head on in.

Yeah, check there. And beds are upstairs.

Beds are upstairs. Thank you.

Now, we are making a side stop at the espresso machine spot because I decided it’s what I want for my birthday. The question is do you go with the big one that does lots of things or small one that’s simple and just does one thing well? Hard to decide!

Way too big, right David?

Yup.

Okay.

I think we need to head over here.

In this video, you’re going to hear me use the phrase “head on in”, “head over” and “head upstairs”.

Now, you said you didn’t love the looks of it. Seeing it in person, what do you think?

Not crazy about it.

Not crazy about it.

Shoot. Well then, I guess we’re starting from scratch because that’s what I had narrowed it down to.

Alright, let’s head upstairs.

This one, a little too bold for our taste so you probably know bold, the font. If something is bold like in style or color, it’s making a big statement, it’s pretty different. This bed is a little too bold for us.

What do you think?

I don’t think like how chunky that is.

Too bulky?

Yeah.

This one less chunky, less bold, more subtle than the metal one. I kind of like the warmth of the wood color, what to you think? You were thinking upholstered, this is not upholstered.

No, but I like that.

So this is a maybe.

Yep.

I do kind of like the ones that have more of a platform feel where this comes out of a few inches although there’s sort of a pain in the butt to make.

It’s a maybe. We may choose it in the end. Any bed that is a no is one we’re definitely going to eliminate and when we finally find the one we like, that’s the one and the only one that will be a yes.

Upholstered has a bit of a wider frame to it.

Because of that flap T, the word wider sounds just like this word, to call something more white, whiter.

Looks like they have various fabrics we could choose from. Let’s look.

This one does have different swatches available.

So you think this is the right one.

I do, yeah.

Alright, I’m open to it. I can’t say yes in the moment but I’m open to it.

Thank you.

Bye, see you later.

Bye.

Bye bye.

In addition to a bed, we are looking for a mattress.

How does it feel David?

I’ll come back in a hour to get you.

Alright.

I think it would match the style of the nightstands.

Excuse me.

Yeah.

Does this come in other, other, uhm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Can I see the swatches?

They would be at the design lab.

Okay. Thank you.

Anytime.

It’s also nice. It’s also got the metal leg that that I think is a nice feature.

Soft.

What do you think of the color?

I’m not crazy about that color.

Okay. Not crazy about it. But you’re crazy about the boucle?

Yeah.

Boucle, just like velvet is a kind of fabric.

We already know we don’t want all wood right?

I think that’s true.

Okay.

Alright. So, it’s sort of between those two boucle ones. What? Now you’re looking at and you’re wavering.

That looks sort of like the style of what the vanity is going to be in the bathroom.

Yeah. But how is this going to look next to white wood nightstands. I don’t want to get new nightstands.

That’s true.

I mean I love the dresser; I love the nightstands but they’re not what we have.

Right. Good point.

The only thing with going with not the white is that it’s custom made and you can’t return it. Oh.

And you know we like to be wishy-washy.

Let’s just go look at that one more time and then pull up the one we saw at Crate and Barrel and just sort of compare the two.

Pull up is a phrasal verb that we use in many ways. We do use it often to refer to a screen. I’m going to pull this up on my computer. I’m going to pull it up on my phone.

Alright, let me pull up the other one.

Like I did here. You can also pull up your socks. Oh, my socks are slipping, I’m going to pull them up. But also a car will pull up it comes to the curb. Is your car here yet? Yeah, the Lyft driver is pulling up right now.

The headboard here has a bit of a curve to it which you kind of like.

I think that adds something yeah.

The Lotus though does have a seamer on the top which is also sort of a detail that.

Yeah, I like that.

That is interesting.

I’m going to ask this guy.

Naturally, we wanted to see the bed we were considering next to the nightstands we already have. Don’t worry, I asked. They said I could move it.

Alright, let’s see. I can totally do it. I can totally do it. Okay, I think I’m going to need some help.

I mean it looks fine.

It turns out the king size didn’t come with the boucle fabric we wanted so, we had to talk to a consultant and work out other fabric options.

Problem is, it doesn’t come in a fabric we want for a king so, comparing these two fabrics, the other issue is David likes this

one better and I like the one at Crate and Barrel better. So we have a few things to figure out.

Come around the front babe. Check it out.

The long view, which one do you like better?

Yeah, me too.

More warmth in that.

Yeah.

Okay, let me get the long view.

Honestly, it might look a little bit better than the white boucle in my opinion anyway.

Alright, let’s drape this over. That looks kind of nice like you know, the metal and the leg just almost a bronzy feel to this.

Yeah, I thought the same thing, it nods to the leg.

Well, let’s take a sample of this home, make sure it works with the carpet and chaise.

This video I made with a bunch of other YouTubers on different greetings in American English.

In this American English pronunciation video we’re going to go over how to greet Americans as some of you know last time I was here in La at the YouTube space I made a video on introducing yourself to people at the time I didn’t know anybody now I’m back again with all the same people so they’re all going to be in this video again saying hey first of all let’s listen to a bunch of different greetings says hey hey Anthony what’s up hey Rachel what’s up Rachel hey Veronica hey morning guys morning hi hey hey hey hello greetings hey what’s going on hey man what up no you probably noticed a lot of people said hey this is definitely the most common way to greet somebody in America it’s pretty casual and I use it all the time with my friends hey hey notice the shape of the voice there’s a little curve up and then a curve down in the voice hey hey hey so basically it’s a stressed word we start with the H consonant sound and go into the a as in say thong make sure you drop your jaw enough for the first half of that diff thong hey hey hey says hey hey Veronica hey hey Rachel hey hey we also heard hi a few times again it’s stressed so it has that shape of a stressed syllable hi hi it begins with the H consonant sound and we have the I as in b by diff thong again make sure you drop your jaw enough for the first half of that diff thong hi hi hi hi look at that jaw drop we have on the ey as in by diff thong we also heard hello this is a two- syllable word with stress on the second syllable daa hello so it’s that second syllable with the up down shape of the voice the first syllable will be pretty flat H it begins with the H consonant and has the e as in bed vowel but this is very quick hello the second syllable begins with the L consonant so the tongue tip will come up here and touch the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth hello then we have the O as in no diff thong drop your jaw for the first half of the sound and make sure you round your lips for the second half hello hello hello a little bit of lip rounding here for the second half of the O diff thong you may have noticed some of the guys added man hey man hey man it’s okay to say this only to a man but you may have noticed that I used the term guys for a bunch of girls so guys is a little bit more gender neutral hey guys morning guys morning because I was was filming in the morning a lot of people said morning as their greeting this is short for good morning simply morning morning now you could say afternoon or evening during those times but it’s not nearly as common morning morning guys morning hey morning guys morning morning most greetings involve one of these greeting words hey hi morning and so on and often a question the appropriate way to respond is to answer the question and to ask the same question yourself for example hey how are you good how are you let’s take a look at a few of these exchanges Stacey Christina hey hey ra how are you guys oh it’s good to see you yeah you too how have you been good good hey s what’s up what up no hey Max what’s up hey how’s it going good how are you hey Jen hey Frankie hey how are you guys doing today good how are you not good good you’re not good good I just broke my hey what’s going on not much how are you I’m just hanging out here it’s your birthday today it is actually happy birthday Rachel thank you how are you Fabulous As Always hey Aaron hey how are you doing good how are you good how are you we heard this two ways once with the word are stressed how are you how are you guys are you guys how are you guys how are you but most of the time you’ll hear it with that word reduced how are you how are you how are you how are you how are you how are you how are you great how are you great how are you great how are you how are you so in that case mixture it’s really short how how are you how are you D how are you D da the most common response to this phrase is good you might sometimes hear great one person even said how are you fabulous as always and unfortunately one person said not good because her phone had just broken you’re not good I just broke my another question we heard is how’s it going so we’re Contracting How is how’s how so just put a z sound there at the end of how the next word begins with a vowel so the Z should link those two words together how is it how is it how’s it going notice the stop T at the end of it we’re not releasing it how’s it going so just hold the air for a second and then release again you can either end with the NG consonant or with the N consonant n going going it’s a little more casual but that’s okay how’s it going how’s it going how’s it going it’s going how’s it going daada daada how’s it going again the answers here will be good great not bad Etc what’s up this is answered just like what’s going on usually nothing or not much but you can say what you’re doing in that moment you can hear this as up with the TS reduction we also heard it as what up where the T was dropped Al together what up and we even heard one person say what up so what was he doing here he dropped the S sound so now the T came between two vowel sounds so it was a flap T sounding like a d what up what’s up what’s up what’s up Rachel hey Bry what’s up oh hey Rachel what’s up hey Scooter what’s up what up no I hope this was helpful the next time you see someone you know don’t be afraid to go up and start a conversation a huge thanks to everybody who is in this video Stacy and Christina both have awesome how to channels Stacy does knitting tutorials and Christina paper crafts Aaron makes awesome skateboarding videos Anthony does music reviews Don does children’s music Evan makes awesome Drawing Tutorials what’s up Rachel’s English how y’all doing people this is Evan from your uh Channel cartoon block showing kids how to do their thing and drawing and sketching and all that Veronica has great great travel videos on California Rose and Ean both have great makeup and style channels fabulous Cuban guy does sketch comedy Sarah’s crafting channel is awesome Chris and hila work on hila cooking a great Cooking Channel Billy does awesome children’s music with puppets you met one of the puppets in one of my other videos Bry ey mixes rap with video games on his channel Jason does comedy sketches on his channel scooter has some great 100 lists on his Comedy Channel Max no sleeves never wears sleeves in his Comedy Channel Miss Jen fabulous has a nail Channel where she did teach me a different way to paint my nails and Pete is a video producer behind the scenes on several different YouTube channels yeah what does that mean what does do mean do is a urban term which can mean though however you just added for that emphasis on to the end of sentences pretty much anything it’s like an exclamation point almost.

Can you say it again?

Whudup doe!!!

Here, my friend Dave makes his pizza with his cute little pizza oven.

Doesn’t this look good? We’re going to look at a lot of different vocabulary words and pronunciations here.

First, this word.

Look at that bubble.

Wow.

You probably know bubble as this:

And you probably know it as bubble gum or bubble tea. But do you what it means to live in a bubble? This is a phrase that I’ve heard used more and more in recent years and it means detached from the world. You only know what’s happening right around you, your friends, your family. You don’t think about what else is going on in the world. You don’t inform yourself. It’s sometimes applied to people who live a comfortable life who don’t really think about what it might be like for someone who’s less fortunate. Or it can be used to describe someone who only interacts with people that have the

same views and opinions like in politics as they do. Let’s use it in a sample sentence.

I really want to travel a lot with my children because I don’t want their lives to only be lived in an American bubble.

Okay, that’s in a bubble. What about on the bubble?

If something’s on the bubble, that means a decision is being made and you’re not sure what the outcome would be. It could go this way or that way. For example, let’s say I’m taking the top ten students in my Physics class to form a team for competition. I have eight people, I know I’ll use them for sure. Then I have four or five kind of on the bubble. I’m not sure which of those students I’ll choose. Each one of those students is on the

bubble. They may get chosen or they may not.

Have you heard this word to describe something inside you? A feeling can bubble up.

I started to feel panic. Bubble inside me. An idea can bubble up.

I’m bubbling with ideas!

Or someone can be bubbly. Someone who’s bubbly is really cheerful.

The idiom “To burst your bubble” means to wreck an idea or reality that someone’s put together that can’t actually work out.

To say or do something that show someone his beliefs are false or what he wants to happen will now happen.

For example, let’s say I ran into my friend from English class and I say “What are you up to this weekend?” She tells me all the great things she’s going to do this weekend, all the fun she’s going to have. On Monday then, she’ll start working on a paper that’s due on Wednesday. I might say, “I hate to burst your bubble, but that paper is due on Monday. You’re going to have to work on it over the weekend.”

So many uses for this word. And this dough was bubbly with pockets of air in it.

Look at that bubble.

Wow.

Now I ask my friend Dave how long he’s been making pizzas.

Little over a year now since I got this pizza oven.

Uh-uh.

This thing is definitely been a game changer from my outdoor uh food and uhm entertaining capabilities.

Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.

It is.

Game changer is an idiom and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with games. It’s anything that significantly changes the outcome of something.

For example, let’s say my friend got into the college of her dreams. You know, I hate to burst your bubble but that college is too expensive. But wait, she got a major scholarship. Oh, this is a game changer!

With this scholarship, she will be able to go to the college of her choice. Or, I got my grandma her first iPhone. It’s a game-changer. She can keep in touch with all her grandchildren now. Game changer.

Little over a year now since I got this pizza oven.

Uh-uh.

This thing is definitely been a game changer from my outdoor uh food and uh entertaining capabilities.

Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.

It is.

So, I’m just going to give myself a little bit of extra assurance by sliding it.

Yeah, because it’s so heavy with all that topping.

Yeah. But as soon as it hits that plate, it’s already baking. So now, it will be really easy to shift around. We want to get that lid back on so it draws the flame up and out.

What’s the temperature in there?

You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine hundred to a thousand degrees.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Hmmm.

Got me. This phrase means I don’t know. Have you heard it before? It could also be “beats me.” These both mean the same thing. I don’t know, I have no idea. Got me.

What’s the temperature in there?

You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine hundred to a thousand degrees.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Hmmm.

I just couldn’t believe it. Well, Dave made several amazing pizzas.

Mushrooms, I did a little uh, grilled Zucchini over here.

Oh I was wondering, did you had the grill going too?

Yeah I grilled some zucchini.

This has got some garlic, some turmeric. I’m a big fan or turmeric right now.

It’s supposed to be good to your joints, right?

Good at inflammation uh, anti-inflammatory.

So we’re going to make a vegetable, uh, pizza here.

Because Rachel, she loves her vegetables.

I do.

Yeah, it got a little extra burned there.

Hmm. Really good though.

How was it?

Amazing.

So the pizza got burned on the bottom. Let’s go over a few terms to discuss how things are cooked or baked.

With red meat, that is meat from a cow, it can be raw, not cooked at all. There’s also rare, just a little cooked. The internet

is full of helpful infographics. We passed through medium and go all the way to well-done. Burned is, well beyond well-done. Now, this terminology, medium, rare applies to red meat.

If you want to say that something hasn’t been cooked long enough, you could say underdone or undercooked.

One time, I got clam chowder and the potatoes were too hard. Not cooked all the way, not cooked through, undercooked.

So, one pizza on the bottom was a little burnt. No big deal.

By the way, just last weekend, Dave made us all pizza again and it was absolutely perfect. On point. I said, “Dave, you’ve really dialed in your pizza.”

Dial it in is one of my favorite idioms and I have a great video going over that idiom and the idiom “Phone it in” which has an opposite meaning, check out that video in the video description.

I love that zucchini on there.

That zucchini is bomb.

If something is bomb, that means it’s very good. This is slang that my husband David uses a lot. Food can be bomb, a house can be bomb, a trip, a view and so on. You’ll also hear it as “the bomb.” It doesn’t matter if “the” Infront or not, this pizza is bomb or this pizza is the bomb. They mean the same thing.

Who’s that?

Hah. Me!

You’re right! It’s you.

Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?

I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.

It looks so good.

I said, “Are you keeping a closer eye?”

To keep an eye on something is an idiom that means to pay attention to something. He’s keeping a closer eye on the pizza than last time so this one won’t burn.

One time, I was at an indoor playground and I asked another mom to keep an eye on Stoney while I went to the bathroom. Sometimes, if David is simmering a soup but has to leave the house to get the kids, he might say, “Can you keep an eye on the soup and stir it every once in a while?”

Think of a situation where you might want to keep an eye on something for you. To pay attention to it for you. Then make up a sentence an put it on the comments.

Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?

I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.

It looks so good.

I will say the texture of that crust is so good.

It is nice. I agree with you.

The texture of a food is important. The consistency, how it feels in your mouth. Pizza crust can be chewy. That’s what this was, it can be dry, crispy. There’s so many different ways to describe different textures for food, hard, crunchy, soft, pillowy, mushy, gooey, runny, spongey and so on. Can you think of more? Put them in the comments below.

I like a good chewy crust.

I will say the texture of that crust is so good.

It is nice. I agree with you.

This one’s blowing up.

Oh, that looks about perfect.

Almost done. That’s pretty good.

I’m going to hit this side

Yeah.

See it’s a little lighter?

Dave did a reduction over reduction. I love it when people do this. The phrase was “I am going to hit this side.” You’re probably familiar with the way Americans reduce “going to” to “gonna.” Very common. Have you ever notice before that I’m gonna is sometimes reduced further? It can become I’muna or even just muna. This is what Dave did

here. He said “I’muna.” Dropping the g of gonna.

I’muna hit this side

Now, hit this side. That just means he’s going to make sure that side is what get closest to the flame. Let’s listen a bit more. He also uses the contraction “should have.” He says “He let the dough rest more than he should’ve.”

I’muna hit this side. See it’s a little lighter?

I totally agree.

This stuff is making some deep dish. Today. I think I’ll let it sit the dough rest a little bit longer than I should’ve because the dough is a little less stretchy, it’s more bubbly, it’s airy.

I just love capturing natural English and finding the idioms and the reductions and sharing them with you here.

Massive thanks to my friend Dave who let me capture his pizza-making skills on camera.

In this lesson, you’ll see me working with my mom on a knit hat.

For fluent English, you need vocabulary, common phrases, idioms, phrasal verbs, even slang. In this video, we’re going to study real English conversation to get all of these. We’re sitting down with my mom, we’re working on a knitting project, and you’re going to hear her drop some slang in our conversation. Lots of great vocabulary here, idioms, learn them from my mom and you’ll never forget them. As always, if you like this video, or you learn something new, or if you like my mom, give it a thumbs up and subscribe with notifications. I’d love to see you back.

When I filmed this, Corona Virus was raging and I was visiting my parents, so we wore masks inside. My mom knit me a hat and we were going to make a pom-pom to put on top but we didn’t know how.

But you’ve just never–

I’ve just never put a pom-pom on a hat.

Okay, what do the instructions say? This thing is not self-explanatory.

If something needs instructions, that’s the opposite of self-explanatory. If something is self-explanatory, that means you can understand it by looking at it, it’s easily understood, it’s clear by looking at how to figure it out, how to do it. If that’s not the case, then you need instructions. A pompom is exactly what you’ll see us make here, an ornamental ball. It’s also used in cheerleading. Let’s see that clip again.

But you’ve just never–

I’ve just never put a pom-pom on a hat.

Okay, what do the instructions say? This thing is not self-explanatory.

Okay, see, it says wind the yarn.

Wind the yarn. The word wind is a verb. You wind something. We’ll see that later in the video. Wind. Wind. Wind. Past tense is wound. But these four letters can also be pronounced wind, the natural movement of air. Here it’s wind, wind the yarn, wrap it around this pompom maker.

Are they both out at the same time?

Yeah, it looks like it.

So… And you start here at the base, it looks like.

Now hold on, there are four of these things.

Twice there, I used the phrase ‘it looks like’. This means ‘it seems like this is true’ or ‘this will be true’ but it doesn’t have to be something you can see, that you can actually look at. For example, I was talking to my friend Laura on the phone in the fall. We had a trip planned together and because of the virus, we thought we were going to have to cancel. It seemed like we would need to cancel. I said it looks like we’re going to have to cancel. And she said it looks that way. It seems that it will be true, that we’ll have to cancel our trip. I also said, now hold on. ‘Hold on’ is a phrasal verb that means two different things. Hold on, get a grip on something, like a, here, a pencil, hold on.

It also means wait, stop. And that’s how I mean it here. Now hold on, wait, stop. There are four of these things. I thought there are only two. How does that make sense with the directions? This is a phrase we use on the phone a lot too. ‘Hold on’ means you’re going to pause a phone conversation, ask the person to wait while you quickly attend to something. Can you hold on a second? Could I please get a latte to go? Okay, I’m back, for example.

Are they both out at the same time?

Yeah, it looks like it.

So, and you start here at the base, it looks like.

Now, hold on. There are four of these things. Maybe a YouTube video is in order. What do you think? These are about as clear as mud in my opinion.

Yeah, they’re not very clear right.

Maybe a YouTube video is in order. ‘In order’ has two different meanings. Here it means appropriate to the situation. The situation, the directions were hard to understand. Watching a how-to video on YouTube was definitely appropriate to the situation. Here’s another example. Someone has just announced their engaged. Someone else might say champagne is in order.

Maybe a YouTube video is in order. What do you think?

These are about as clear as mud in my opinion.

Yeah, they’re not very clear, right?

Let’s study the phrase ‘what do you think’? I said ‘what do you think’ a little stress on the question word, wuh– wuh– stress on the verb think, think, think. And I had some reductions. What do– linked together: what do– what do– what do– the vowel in ‘do’ changed to the schwa, same with you, it became ya ya. Whuh duh yah– whuh duh yah– whuh duh yah– what do you think?

This is a common pronunciation of a common phrase. What do you think?

What do you think? These are about as clear as mud in my opinion.

Yeah. They’re not very clear.

I used the idiom ‘as clear as mud’. This means not clear at all, not easy to understand. Mud is opaque, you can’t see through it, it’s not clear. Something that’s hard to understand is clear as mud.

These are about as clear as mud in my opinion.

So she’s holding it like this and she’s wrapping it around here.

Right.

My mom said ‘wrapping it around’. Wrap around. Wind around. Coil around. Twist around. These all mean the same thing.

So she’s holding it like this and she’s wrapping it around here.

Right.

But then–

I mean, I, apparently, I would say you do the same for each one? But it doesn’t say that.

I used the adverb apparently. I was describing what to do, what I thought the directions were saying, but I wasn’t sure. The instructions didn’t actually say to do that. It’s what I was guessing based on what I saw in the directions. Apparently means as far as one can know, see, or understand. For example, why did Amanda quit? Apparently, she got another job that is, as far as I know, I didn’t hear it from Amanda, but this is what I heard, this is what I understand to be true.

But then–

I mean, apparently, I would say you do the same for each one? But it doesn’t say that.

Which is why I think we should go to YouTube.

All right let’s go to YouTube.

Okay, where’s your iPad?

Isn’t it funny? I make how-to videos here on YouTube but I often don’t think of it when I’m trying to learn how to do something. What’s something you’ve learned how to do by YouTube? My nephew learned how to play the ukulele, and my friend learned how to repair upholstery on her couch. Tell me in the comments what you’ve learned to do on YouTube. So anyway, we found a video, and we started copying what she was doing.

I mean she really filled it up.

Yeah. So should I be…

Yeah.

Okay. I hope we got enough yarn.

This is kind of fun. Stoney and Sawyer could do this.

I think you might want the small one actually.

I want a big pompom. I’m like, if you’re going to do a pompom, make it a big pompom.

Okay.

What does ‘I’m like’ mean? We use I’m like, she’s like, he’s like a lot when we’re telling the story of a past conversation. It’s equal to saying: I said, she said, and so on. Here’s an example from a YouTube video. She’s like ‘Dad you can’t believe it.’ I’m like ‘what?’ she said I think I’m going to be a geneticist. I’m like ‘what?’

I’m like, she’s like. Here, talking to my mom, I’m not retelling a conversation.

But we also use this to say our opinion on something, our feelings. My feeling was, if I was going to put a pompom on a hat it might as well be a big one.

I think you might want the small one actually.

I want a big pompom. I’m like, if you’re going to do a pompom, make it a big pompom.

Okay.

I totally don’t understand how this is going to become a pompom, but…

Trust YouTube.

That’s right!

I trust she knows what she’s doing. How full did she end up getting it?

Really full.

Wow, oh.

Wow, oh wow. Okay.

Geez Louise.

Geez Louise.

Geez is an exclamation used to show surprise or annoyance. It comes from Jesus which can offend people when used in this context. Jesus, you don’t have to shout. So instead of that, you can say: geez, you don’t have to shout! Adding Louise, a first name that can be given to women, doesn’t change the meaning. I would say this is a little old-fashioned. Geez Louise, but I still use it sometimes, it’s definitely way less common than just saying geez.

Wow, oh wow. Okay.

Geez Louise.

Yeah. It’s completely beyond me to understand how this is going to become a pompom.

Completely beyond me. If you say something is ‘beyond me’ that means you don’t understand it. Computer programming is beyond me. Or why she wants to marry him is beyond me.

Yeah. It’s completely beyond me to understand how this is going to become a pompom. People love seeing you guys in my videos. Especially dad should be in a video with this crazy Covid hair.

Yeah, that’s what this is. Covid time.

That’ll be obvious because of the masks.

Obvious. This is something that is easily understood, that is clear. It’s very different from using beyond me. If it’s beyond me, I don’t understand it. If it’s obvious, it’s clear and I do understand it. it’s also the opposite of clear as mud,

I really couldn’t believe how much winding I had to do. But eventually I finished that side and had to move on to the other side. I wasn’t quite sure how to move from one side to the next.

Now, did she do it through the middle?

No, right here. Just bring it around–

Like that?

Right there, yeah.

Okay.

Now, you’re golden.

Okay.

My mom used some slang here: golden. It’s literal meaning is made of gold, or gold colored. But in slang, it means fine, or great. Rachel, do you want another drink? No, thanks. I’m golden. Or maybe I’m giving you directions to a movie theater. At the end I say, After that, you’re golden, because there’s a big sign where you need to turn into the parking lot.

Now, did she do it through the middle?

No, right here. Just bring it around–

Like that?

Right there, yeah.

Okay.

Now, you’re golden.

Okay.

That looks like the same amount that I wound on the first one.

Okay.

All right. Now we–

Did you hear that? I used the past tense of wind, wound. Now, I said before that WIND can be wind or wind. In the past tense, WOUND, that’s also two words. We have the past tense of wind, wound, but it’s also pronounced wound, which means to injure someone, or an injury. When you have a word like this that has two different pronunciations and meanings but the same spelling, that’s called a heteronym.

That looks like the same amount that I wound on the first one.

Okay.

All right. Now we–

Then we watched what to do next. We cut the yarn, we tied a knot, and released the pompom. My dad will say: it’s bigger than the hat. And he’s going to drop the TH sound in than. This reduction is not all that common, but it’s definitely common to change the AA vowel to the schwa. Bigger than, bigger than, and in this case you’ll hear: bigger nn– bigger nn– listen for that.

It is one big pompom.

That’s awesome, isn’t it?

It’s bigger than the hat!

That’s okay.

Bigger nn– listen again to that phrase.

It’s bigger than the hat!

That’s okay.

Evening it up.

Even up. Phrasal verb.

To make everything even.

Should we watch a tutorial on how to attach a pompom?

I can figure this out.

Figure out. Another phrasal verb.

As my mom was attaching the pompom to the hat, she was having a difficult time. Listen to how she described the experience of being filmed.

It’s tough when you’re being filmed, isn’t it?

Yeah. Nerve-racking.

If something is nerve-racking, it’s distressing. You’re nervous to do it. There’s pressure to get it right and that makes it more difficult to do. It’s a simple thing to do, but I was filming her. It made her nervous. She felt pressure to do it perfectly for the camera.

It’s tough when you’re being filmed, isn’t it?

Yeah.

Nerve-racking.

Now we can turn it inside out, and we’re going to just tie a couple of knots here, and hope that holds it on.

Yeah. Inside out and then we’ll turn it right side out. Isn’t it funny how one is in, and the other is right? I guess you could say wrong side out, but usually, we say inside out.

That’s right, yeah.

And then the opposite of inside out is right side out. Not outside out.

Okay, now we’re going to turn it and see how it looks, and if it looks okay.

Oh, perfection! It’s so much cuter! And I’ve got my matching scarf. My mom made these stuff for me. Isn’t it great, guys? Gonna keep me warm all winter long in Philadelphia.

Oh, that’s so cute!

Thanks, mom!

That was a fun little project.

It was very fun.

So much love to my mom for not only making me that hat and scarf, but also for agreeing to be in this video with me.

Now, I don’t want to leave out my dad. Here, we’re discussing his office.

In this American English lesson, we’re going to sit down with my dad and talk about where he works now that he’s mostly retired.

You’ll learn the phrasal verb ‘boot out’, how to use space and room, a shortcut to make the word ‘months’ easier to pronounce, and much more.

We’re going to listen to the first 15 seconds or so of this conversation.

Then we’ll study some of the words—how they’re being used and how they’re pronounced.

Pay attention to booted out, space, and often from home.

Are you still going into work at all these days?

No. Actually, I finally got booted out in my second office.

Really?

Yeah.

I didn’t know that.

Well they, they’re…they have all kinds of issues with space.

Yeah.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

Did you hear my dad use the phrasal verb booted out?

Finally got booted out in my second office.

Really?

Booted out.

This is just like kicked out.

It means to be asked or forced to leave a place, job or situation.

My dad, though he was mostly retired, still

had an office at the University where he worked.

But after many years, they needed the office for someone else and booted him out of it.

Finally got booted out in my second office.

Really?

Notice my dad isn’t pronouncing the T in ‘booted’ as a true T.

That would sound like: booted, booted. But instead, it’s: booted.

That’s a flap T.

The tongue bounces once against the roof of the mouth and the teeth don’t need to come together the way they do for a true T.

Booted. Booted.

This is how we pronounce the T when it comes between two vowels but doesn’t start a stressed syllable in American English.

Finally got booted out in my second office.

Really?

Yeah.

I didn’t know that.

Well they, they’re…they have all kinds of issues with space.

The way my dad is using ‘space’ is interchangeable with the word room.

These are nouns that mean an area that’s available or unoccupied.

The university doesn’t have enough space.

It doesn’t have enough room for my dad to have an office anymore.

Of course these words have other meanings as a noun.

What you might think of as outer space, or a room with four walls like a living room, dining room, etc.

But let’s come up with a few more sample sentences where we’re using the words to mean ‘available’.

The garage is used for storage, there’s no room to park.

Or the garage is used for storage there’s space to park.

Sometimes, when I’m reading at night to my son Stoney, he sits really close to me.

So close that he’s sitting on my arm, and I can’t turn the page.

I might say: Can you scoot over, Stoney?

I need a little more room.

Or I could say: I need a little more space.

They have all kinds of issues with space.

Yeah.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

You may also use these nouns as adjectives.

Then they become spacious and roomy.

Our minivan is much more spacious than our Volkswagen.

Or our minivan is much more roomy than our Volkswagen.

They have all kinds of issues with space.

Yeah.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

‘Work from home’ is the phrase be used for working remotely at your computer in your home office.

From is the preposition we usually use, though you may use at as well.

I work at home one day a week.

Not ‘in’ but ‘from’ or ‘at’.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

And that often from home.

Listen to how my dad pronounces ‘from’.

Its reduced.

It’s not from, longer with the full UH as in butter vowel, but it’s reduced to the schwa and said really quickly.

Often from home.

Often from, from, from.

Practice that with my dad.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

Do you notice how he’s pronouncing often?

Without the T sound.

This word can be pronounced either way.

Often or often.

But it’s a bit more common to drop the T and that’s what I encourage you to do.

That often from home.

Often.

Often.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

Now we’ll listen to another thirty Seconds.

Pay attention to stuff, how I say okay, the pronunciation of months, and the word ‘bummed’.

I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf and two file cabinets.

Why have it there at all?

Well, these, I have a lot of things at home but these are things that I just wouldn’t use very often.

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down.

>> Okay.

So how long ago did that happen?

Oh, two months ago.

Are you bummed?

I was a little bummed about that.

Stuff.

This is a generic term we often use to mean possessions.

I have too much stuff.

I need a second suitcase.

Or as my dad said, I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf and two file cabinets.

I now have my stuff stored in one

bookshelf and two file cabinets.

However, it can also refer to things that are not tangible, not objects.

For example, I have a lot of stuff to deal with at work.

This could be an employee who’s not cooperating, a client who’s unhappy.

What I’m dealing with is the difficulty, not an actual thing, not an object.

You could also say: I have a lot of stuff to do.

That means I’m busy.

You may also hear the phrase: He really knows his stuff.

That means he’s very smart and informed, relating to a specific topic.

We also use this as a verb.

Meaning to try to make something fit with force.

There’s no room in my bag for shoes.

Can’t you stuff them in?

Did you notice how I use the word ‘room’ there?

I could have also used ‘space’.

There’s no space in my bag for shoes.

Can’t you stuff them in?

I now have my stuff stored in one

bookshelf and two file cabinets.

Why have it there at all?

Well, these, I have a lot of things at home, but these are things that I just wouldn’t use very often.

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down.

>> Okay.

There, I said: kay, then: mmkay.

These are both variants of ‘okay’.

I say this to show that I understand what

he’s talking about.

I understand his reasoning.

You’ll hear both of these variants a lot.

They’re both really common.

Kay. Mmmkay.

>> I just wouldn’t use very often.

>> Kay.

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down.

>> Mmkay.

So how long ago did that happen?

Oh, two months ago.

Two months ago.

The word ‘months’ can be really tricky

because we have a TH sound followed by S

and I know my students just hate this combination.

But there’s good news here.

There’s actually a shortcut that most native speakers do.

Did you hear my dad’s pronunciation?

Let’s listen again.

Oh, two months ago.

He said: months, with a TS ending rather than THS.

I do this too.

It’s really common and I definitely recommend my students use this pronunciation.

Tss. Tss

Months.

Months.

Try that now.

Months.

Two months ago.

Two months ago.

Two months ago.

Oh, two months ago.

Are you bummed?

I was a little bummed about that.

‘Bummed’ this is informal, slang, but it means to be disappointed.

We might also use the phrasal verb: bummed out.

It has the same meaning.

Are you bummed?

I was a little bummed about that.

Now we’re going to listen to the last fifty seconds of this conversation.

At the end, I’m going to ask you a question to test your listening comprehension. Since he doesn’t have an office, my dad will use the library, use a conference room, use someone else’s office, or none of the above?

Listen one more time to choose your answer.

What is the answer?

We did hear mention of the library, or a conference room.

Would you like go in and work at the library? Or is there like a conference room?

>> No.

>> No.

>> Not really.

But he said no, he would not use those.

Notice how my dad says the phrase ‘not really’.

This is a common phrase and sometimes, with common phrases, we reduce certain words even more than we normally would.

He dropped the T so the AW vowel connects right into the R.

Not really.

Not really.

Not is stressed even without the T.

This would be a common way to pronounce this two-word phrase.

Try it with me.

Not really.

Not really.

>> No.

>> No.

Not really.

>> No.

>> No.

Not really.

>> No.

>> No.

Not really.

So the first two options are out.

What about the third option?

We did talk about someone else’s office.

This guy offered for dad to use his office sometimes.

I can use another guy’s office.

Okay, is he also not there that much?

No, he is there but he said he would leave during that time.

Why would he do that? Who is it?

Well, he’s a new guy and his wife also works there and she’s not there that much.

So he would go over to her office.

Okay.

I would go into his office where I have my stuff stored.

But when I asked if he would do that, dad said: no.

>> Do you think you’ll ever do that?

>> No.

Yeah ’cause that feels awkward.

So the correct answer is D.

None of the above.

My dad will just work from home.

>> Do you think you’ll ever do that?

>> No.

Yeah ’cause that feels awkward.

I will just work from home.

Notice he used that phrase again.

Work from home.

With the reduction of the word ‘from’.

Work from, from, work from home.

>> I will just work from home.

>> Yeah.

Let’s listen to the whole conversation one more time and listen again to the words and phrases we studied.

Are you still going into work at all these days?

No. Actually, I finally got booted out in my second office.

Really?

Yeah.

I didn’t know that.

Well they, they’re…they have all kinds of issues with space.

Yeah.

And since I’m only working one month a year…

Yeah.

And that often from home.

Right.

I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf and two file cabinets.

Why have it there at all?

Well, these, I have a lot of things at home but these are things that I just wouldn’t use very often.

Okay.

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down.

>> Okay.

So how long ago did that happen?

Oh, two months ago.

Are you bummed?

I was a little bummed about that.

Because there’s no place for you to go.

Yeah.

Would you like go in and work at the library? Or is there like a conference room?

>> No.

>> No.

Not really.

So you’re done?

Now that… I can use another guy’s office.

Okay, is he also not there that much?

No, he is there but he said he would leave during that time.

Why would he do…who is it?

Well, he’s a new guy and his wife also

works there and she’s not there that much.

So he would go over to her office.

Okay.

I would go into his office where I have my stuff stored.

>> Do you think you’ll ever do that?

>> No.

Yeah ’cause that feels awkward.

>> I will just work from home.

>> Yeah.

Thanks to dad for being in this video with me.

One of my favorite things to do besides teaching English is to bake in this video I’ll bake with my friend Laura.

In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to study real-life English while I make an apple pie with my dear friend Laura.

Okay, time to eat the caramel sauce.

Caramel. Caramel. Caramel.

They’re all okay. They’re all okay. Okay.

Hmm… this tasty word can be pronounced three ways.

Caramel. Caramel. Or caramel.

Each pronunciation is accepted and you will find all three of these pronunciations listed in the dictionary.

Here’s what it says.

Whisk in a medium saucepan.

Now it doesn’t say over medium-low heat.

Okay.

Okay.

-I’ll do that.

-Okay.

Notice how we respond to each other. K and mkay.

These are both common variants of the word ‘okay’.

This word is used a lot in conversational English.

It can be used to say ‘I understand, I’m listening’ which is how Laura and I both use it here.

Over medium-low heat.

1. Mkay.

I’ve read a part of the recipe and we’re both saying I understand that.

Then she offers to take care of it and I say ‘mkay’ again here, meaning I understand.

-I’ll do that.

-Okay.

We also use it for ‘yes’.

Will you add the sugar?

Okay.

Over a medium low heat.

-K.

-Mkay.

-I’ll do that.

-Okay.

Here’s what it says. Hmm…

So we do this until the sugar is dissolved then we add the butter

-which I put out on the counter.

-with a stick.

-Just light on the butter.

-Yeah.

You know, it’s not… this, this pie is not very high in calories.

So that’s false.

False.

I’ve said something here that’s not true. It’s false.

I’m not being serious.

The pie is very high in calories.

Listen to the different ways you can say I’m not being serious.

False. I’m joking. I’m being facetious.

I’m just kidding.

– How else could you say that?

– She’s joking.

You already say that?

– I did say that. I’m pulling my leg.

-You’re pulling your leg.

Yeah, I’m pulling your leg. It’s a high in calorie pie.

Okay so um…

– Just joshing…

– I’m just joshing you.

Where does that one come from?

I’m just Joshin.

You could say that. I’m just joshing. Hey, don’t get upset. I’m just Joshin.

I’m joking. I’m being facetious. I’m just kidding. I’m pulling your leg. I’m just joshing.

All of these things mean what I’m saying should not be taken seriously or literally.

I could have also said I’m just playing or I’m playing.

The word ‘just’ in all of these phrases can be used but doesn’t have to be used.

A note on the pronunciation of the word ‘just’, if it’s followed by a word that begins with the consonant, the T will usually be dropped.

For example, I’m just kidding.

Just kidding.

Straight from the S sound into the K with no T.

False. I’m joking. I’m being facetious.

I’m just kidding.

I’m pulling your leg. It’s a high in calorie pie.

I’m just joshing you.

Where does that one come from?

You want to grab the stick of butter?

Yeah.

So every fall, for what, how many years have you been doing this?

Well we’ve lived here since 2010.

– No way.

– And it probably started…

No way.

Here? No way.

What does that mean?

That means I can’t believe what she’s saying.

I don’t think it’s true and it turns out I misunderstood.

I thought she meant she had been living in that house since 2010 but she meant she’d been living in the town since then.

Well we’ve lived here since 2010.

– Here? No way.

– And it probably started…

– No. No. No. In North Hampton. Yeah.

– Oh, you mean North Hampton.

-Seven-ish.

-6 or 7 years. Yeah.

I said seven-ish years while Laura said six or seven years.

‘Ish’ is something you might hear put at the end of a word to show approximation.

-Seven-ish.

-6 or 7 years. Yeah.

Every fall I come up to Laura’s house and we have a fall baking weekend and actually we’ve made lots of videos from the fall baking weekend so I’ll put a link to that playlist in the comments below.

Also right here, just click the I.

They’re really fun.

They are. At least we have fun.

We have fun.

We keep on working on the sauce for that pie adding butter and then adding cream.

Okay, are you ready to whisk?

– I think I’m supposed to add this really slowly.

– Slowly.

Am I supposed to keep on whisking or stirring?

There we’re both unsure of what the recipe says.

We both used the phrase ‘supposed to’.

We both reduce this phrase to: spose ta.

We reduced it from 3 syllables to 2.

This is really common.

The S and T can either be pronounced: Ss– sposta, or ZD, spose ta.

– I think I’m supposed to add this really slowly.

– Slowly.

Am I supposed to keep on whisking or stirring?

Alright. Here we go.

– Woah!

– Woah! Steam bomb! The camera!

Ok, so now we’re slicing the apples. We’re using machine to make it a little easier. You can put them in here then.

Yeah. Okay.

There are always lots of reductions in American English.

Let’s look at the ones I just used.

‘We are’ contracts to ‘we’re’ and is often pronounced ‘were’ in conversation.

It’s really fast and it sounds just like this word: were.

I use that contraction twice here.

So now we’re slicing the apples. We’re using a machine to make it a little easier. You can put them in here then.

Yeah. Okay.

You’re going to put them in here then.

Some more reductions.

The word are at the beginning was dropped.

We need that word to be grammatically correct but it is sometimes dropped in spoken English.

‘Going to’ became ‘gonna’ and the TH was dropped in them.

‘Put them’ becomes: put ‘em— put ‘em—

No TH and a flap T to connect the two words.

Put ‘em— put ‘em—

You can put them in here then.

Yeah. Okay.

Right. Watch this do its magic.

Love it. They come out at the bottom. Totally thin slice.

Let’s put the lemon juice in.

Let’s put the lemon juice in.

The word ‘let’s’ is really unclear.

It’s very common to drop the beginning and basically just make the TS sound.

Let’s put the lemon juice in. Ts- ts- ts-

That’s, its, and what can also make this reduction.

We’re just putting the TS sound in front of the next word.

See this video for further examples and explanation.

Let’s put the lemon juice in.

And the baby’s up. Let me go get him.

Let me go get him. A couple reductions here.

Let me becomes lemme, and the H is dropped in ‘him’.

Dropping the H in this word is a really common reduction.

When we do this, it sounds just like when we dropped the TH in them.

‘Get him’ becomes ‘get um’.

Just like ‘put them’ was ‘put um’.

The flap T links the words and the reduction of ‘them’ and ‘him’ are the exact same sounds, schwa and M.

Get em— put em—

Let me go get him.

Can you look right there? Say ‘Hi! I just had a nice nap!’

Can you say ‘Hey everybody!’

Can you try that?

‘Hey everybody!’ You want to try?

No. Okay.

Can I go ahead and put the apples in there?

Yeah, dump them in.

Dump them in. ‘Them’ is reduced again.

Dump em— dump em— Yeah, dump em in.

I’m going to take you down to daddy.

I’m going to take you down to daddy.

‘I’m going to’ got reduced.

With our most common words and phrases, we tend to do the most dramatic reductions. I’m gonna–

There’s almost an idea of I in front of it but not really.

I’m gonna– I’m gonna– I’m gonna– I’m gonna take you down to daddy.

I made a video where I go over this reduction and more examples.

Click here or in the description below to see that video.

I’m going to take you down to daddy.

Alright.

– All of them?

– Let me read ahead.

Yeah, all of them.

I love how when you start paying attention to a particular reduction, you constantly hear it.

Did you catch the reductions of ‘them’ here?

We’re talking about the apple slices.

– All of them?

– Let me read ahead.

Yeah, all of them.

All of them. Nice ‘them’ reduction, Laura.

– All of them?

– Mm-hmm.

I like it.

Okay.

Then we mixed the apples in with the other dry ingredients.

We packed the apples into our pie shell and drizzled on the caramel sauce which got too thick as it cooled.

We overcooked it and finally we make the lattice top for the pie.

I had some problems and I kept messing it up.

What is wrong with me?

I’m like really screwing up.

Really screwing up.

Screw up is a phrasal verb which means to do something the wrong way or to do a bad job with something.

I screwed up the pie crust.

You could also say mess up.

I messed up the pie crust.

I’m really screwing up. I have to wipe that out.

Oh darn. I I have to eat that caramel sauce.

This is weird, Laura. Last time I made this, it seeped in much more.

So when… because look when I’m doing the lattice now, when I pull it up, it’s like bringing up all this goo.

– It’s thicker.

– It’s weird.

I gotta say right now I’m like, I’m feeling embarrassed about how this is turning out.

Turn out. Another phrasal verb.

As I’m using it here, it means how something develops or ends.

I’m not happy with how it’s going, I’m embarrassed with the end result of my pie.

I got to say, right now, I’m like, I’m feeling embarrassed about how this is turning out.

I finished making the top and we put it in the oven and the final scene of course needs to be trying the pie.

It’s out of the oven, looking good. Laura, how are you feeling about it?

I’m feeling great!

Oh, also we made a pumpkin pie.

I’m also feeling great about that.

From scratch with a pumpkin. We made whipped cream. Big deal.

And Dana made chocolate-dipped macaroons.

Macaroon or Macaron?

To clarify, this is a macaroon and this is a macaron, which is also pronounced ‘macaroon’.

I don’t know, I’ll look it up and I’ll let everyone know.

Okay, let’s cut this pie. Who wants a little bit of apple?

If you’d like to recreate this pie, it really is amazingly delicious.

Please see the link in the video description below.

It’s from my favorite pie book, the Four and Twenty Blackbirds book.

I’m going to have a caramely taste.

It turned out well.

That’s it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English!

Here, it’s a beautiful sunny day in Colorado and I’m going for a hike.

In this American English pronunciation video, we’ll go for a hike in Colorado.

My dad and I discussed the hike and we’ll talk about interesting pronunciations and vocabulary words that come up in real English conversation.

This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch.

Chihuahua.

Have you heard this word before? It’s a teeny tiny breed of dog.

The spelling is pretty strange in American English because this word comes to us from Spanish.

The breed originated in Mexico.

This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch and it’s about seven miles roundtrip.

Roundtrip.

The opposite of this phrase is one way.

So when you go somewhere and come back, that’s roundtrip.

Notice how the D is dropped.

Roundtrip.

We often drop the D when it comes between two other consonants.

Roundtrip.

Roundtrip.

It’s about seven miles roundtrip and it goes up about 1,900 feet.

So this hike ends at a lake?

Yeah. You go… you start off going uphill about thirty minutes, then you go through this long valley.

Notice how my dad really stretches out the word ‘long’.

Why does he do that?

When we want to really stress words, we make them longer,

and you might do that especially with the word ‘long’ making it longer for dramatic purposes.

Long Valley.

That took a long time.

That test was so long.

through this long valley with a lot of gorse and little lakes and—

Gorse.

Hmm…do you know that word? I didn’t either.

Let’s find out what it means.

With a lot of gorse and little lakes and little streams.

Gorse.

Gorse are these bushes.

Oh! I didn’t…didn’t know that.

And you sort of go to the end of the trees where the jeep road ends.

Did you understand what he said there?

He called this road ‘jeep road’.

So a jeep is a really rugged vehicle that has a high clearance.

That is a lot of room between the ground and the bottom of a car.

You would not be able to drive a regular car on this road.

Where the jeep road ends and then it’s just a single path.

And you end up at a mountain lake.

And you said that mountain lake: “Eh, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

You’ve seen one. You seen them all.

This is a phrase you might use to say that something isn’t special.

Now the full grammatically correct pronunciation of this phrase would be ‘If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.’ but that’s not how we pronounce it.

We like to reduce things in American English especially familiar words and phrases and this is a familiar known phrase.

You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

We dropped the word ‘if’, we reduce ‘you’ve’ to just ye– and we reduce ‘them’ to ‘um’.

You seen.

Seen um.

You’ve seen one. You seen them all.

Another scenario where you may use this:

do you want to visit Paris?

Nah, I’m not that into cities.

You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

Eh, You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

A lot of them are pretty similar.

A lot of them.

My dad also reduced ‘them’ to ‘um’.

This is a really common reduction just like in the phrase ‘you’ve seen one, you seen them all’.

A lot of them.

A lot of them.

Practice that with me out loud, smoothly connecting all the words.

A lot of them.

A lot of them.

A lot of them are pretty similar.

But you do have a great view? You can see a long way out over the… a couple of different mountain ranges.

A couple of different mountain ranges.

My dad reduced the word ‘of’ to just the schwa. Uh.

A couple of—

We do this so much in conversation especially with this phrase: a couple of—

A couple of different mountain ranges. And the lake itself is probably—

Probably— This is how we pronounce ‘probably’ most of the time in conversation.

You can do it too. It simplifies the word and makes it easier to say.

Try it now.

Probably.

Probably.

Probably.

Itself is probably hundred yards across and maybe 200 by 400.

Does anyone ever swim there?

I did see somebody swim in there once.

– Very cold.

– Ice cold. Really cold.

Listen to the different ways we describe how cold it is.

– Very cold.

– Ice cold. Really cold.

Really cold.

Ice cold.

Very cold. ‘Really’ and ‘very’ are words we use before adjectives to say there’s a lot of something.

Really cold.

Very cold.

A high amount of coldness.

Ice cold is another great way to describe something being very cold.

Now this lake is not ice, its water, it’s very cold water.

So describing it as ice cold is an exaggeration, a hyperbole.

I know it’s not actually ice.

I know it’s just extremely cold water.

– Very cold.

– Ice cold. Really cold.

I had no temptation to do that.

Yeah, I don’t think I will either.

This is just… you can’t design a better day.

There’s not much wind, hardly any clouds, cool but not cold, and this time of year, you have a lot of aspens turning yellow.

This time of year.

Another example of reducing the word ‘of’ to just the schwa in natural conversation.

This time of year.

This time of year, you have a lot of aspens turning yellow and these bushes, I mean, they would be green and in the summer.

Yeah it looks awesome. I mean, I love, I love the view.

Yeah.

Sweeping views.

And we have seen wildlife along here.

Yeah, just a couple hundred yards down. Once, there were four moose.

Moose.

These animals are fairly rare to see in the wild.

One other time when I was in Colorado, we saw one.

Click here or in the video description to see that video.

There were four moose grazing right by the path.

Further down yet, we saw heard of maybe 10 or 15 antelope.

– Wow.

– Galloping along. You often see deer.

You often see.

My dad reduced ‘you’ to ye, changing the vowel to the schwa.

This is also a common reduction.

Why do we do this?

Because in American English, the contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables is really important.

So if we can make unstressed syllables even shorter by changing something, then we do that.

You often see.

You often see deer up here and then on the rocks, you can see marmots sometime and pike which are little tiny animals like and they squeak.

How many times have you done this hike?

Probably five or six.

Probably.

There’s another probably to probably reduction.

Probably five or six.

And to me, it’s the most scenic hike around here especially in September.

Scenic. This is a great word you can use to describe a beautiful landscape. Scenic.

Scenic.

To me it’s the most scenic hike around here especially in September because the aspen are turning yellow and a lot of these bushes are turning red and in June, July, it’s just the waters too high you’d have to take off your shoes and put on sandals and just wade through.

So usually, we wait till August or September to do this one.

Wade.

This is what you do when you’re walking through water.

So you’re not swimming. You’re walking like through a creek. If the water is too deep, then you can’t wade. You have to swim.

Take off your shoes and put on sandals and just wade through.

Here is David walking over the creek that dad says you have to wade through when the water is higher.

We didn’t make it to the top.

Yeah but we got to a good turning around point and we had a fantastic view, we had lunch looking out down the long valley.

Couldn’t have been better.

Couldn’t have been better.

A word here is being reduced to just the schwa.

What word is it?

We noticed before that the word ‘of’ reduces to just the schwa.

But here it’s the word ‘have’.

Yes, the word ‘have’ can be changed to just the schwa sound: uh in conversation especially after could, couldn’t, should, shouldn’t, would, wouldn’t.

I’ve actually seen native speakers mess this up and write ‘should of’ instead of ‘should have’.

It makes sense because ‘of’ and ‘have’ can both produce the same single sound, the schwa.

Shoulda.

But if this sound is following could, couldn’t, should, shouldn’t, would, wouldn’t, the word is definitely ‘have’ and reducing ‘have’ to just the schwa after these words will help your English sound natural.

Practice.

Couldn’t have.

Couldn’t have.

Notice I’m dropping the T in the contraction. This is how native speakers will say this phrase.

Couldn’t have.

Couldn’t have.

Special thanks to my dad for being in yet another Rachel’s English video.

To see more videos that use real English conversation for teaching, check out my Real English playlist.

Does you family ever do game night?

In this fun lesson, I’m playing a game with my husband and my parents.

Have you ever played the game Codenames?

Today you’re going to join me and my family as we play this word game, and study real English conversation as we play.

You’ll see lots of reductions happening, and you’ll learn some great vocabulary words and idioms

like ‘dominant’, ‘detract’, ‘neck and neck’, and ‘sore loser’.

The game is called Codenames and last night, we played

four rounds and Mom and I beat David and dad each time.

Did you hear how the word ‘and’ was used to connect two nouns?

This is a common way we use the word ‘and’.

Mom and I, David and Dad.

The word ‘and’ reduces so it just sounds like an N sound connecting the two words together.

Using reductions and linking can really smooth out your English

and help you sound more natural and native.

Try that now, Mom and I, Mom and I.

David and Dad,

David and Dad.

Listen again.

And Mom and I–

And Mom and I–

And Mom and I beat David and dad–

David and dad–

David and dad each time.

Mom, are you ready to crush David and

Dad again in the game?

I’m so ready to crush David and Dad again in the game.

My Mom had a really bad cold when we shot this video.

I apologize for her voice being a bit scratchy.

Did you notice the vocabulary we used here?

The word ‘crush’.

When you crush someone in a game, it means you beat them by a lot, a very wide margin.

The game was not close.

Mom, are you ready to crush David and Dad again in the game?

We’re going to be the clue givers first.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright, it’s red. That means ladies go first and we have to take the extra card.

Listen to the word ‘alright’.

You heard it three times in that clip.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright,  it’s red.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright,  it’s red.

Words with R’s and L’s tend to be extra tricky for non-native speakers.

But the L sound is very weak, and actually, you can get by without saying it at all.

I didn’t really say it, and neither did my Dad.

Just a quick AH as in FATHER or AW as in LAW sound will be great.

Alright, alright.

This works with ‘already’ as well.

Already, already.

Alright. Listen again.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright,  it’s red.

Okay, mom. My clue is ‘rod for two’.

In this game, you have a grid of words in front of you.

Some of the words are for your team, some are for the other team, and some are neutral.

You try to get your teammate to guess your words, and you do this by grouping them together and saying a word

that you think your partner will associate with the two words you’ve chosen.

So I said ‘rod’ for two.

That means, there are two words on the board that I think have an association with the word ‘rod’, and I hope she guesses them correctly.

Notice I said ‘rod’ really clearly.

It doesn’t have the context of a sentence around it, so I want to be really clear.

But how did I pronounce the word ‘for’?

I reduced it, f-schwa-r. Fer, fer, fer two.

Okay, mom. My clue is ‘rod for two’.

For two.

For two.

Okay, Rod king?

Rod fair?

She’s going through the words, trying to decide if any of them make sense with the word ‘rod’.

Rod king?

Rod fair?

Okay, Rod king?

Rod fair?

Probably cast.

Prob’ly ‘cast’.  Did you notice how she pronounced the word ‘probably’?

She reduced it by dropping a syllable.

I would say native speakers do this at least half of the time.

It makes the pronunciation easier, and you can do it do.

Practice that with me.

Prob’ly,

prob’ly.

Probably cast.

Probably cast.

Probably cast.

She chose ‘cast’.

This word can have several different meanings. For example, when you break your leg or arm,

you might wear a cast for several weeks while it heals.

Or, in a play or opera, everyone who is on stage acting is part of the ‘cast’.

It can also mean to throw or fling,

and this is what you do with a fishing pole, to get your hook out into the water.

It can also be called a fishing rod. So I said ‘rod’, she saw ‘cast’ and made the association, and that was correct.

In English, we have so many words like ‘cast’ that can be used different ways.

Probably cast.

Are we stumped already?

David is having a hard time coming up with his clue, and my Dad says, “are we stumped already?”

To be stumped means to have no idea.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to figure out a very difficult problem and you cannot come up with the answer.

You might say, “I’m stumped.”

The –ed ending is pronounced as a T because the sound before was unvoiced, the P consonant.  pt, pt, stumped.

Are we stumped already?

Are we getting off to a slow start?

Then Dad says, are we getting off to a slow start?

That phrase means you’re not making much progress at the beginning.

Getting off to a slow start.

But David thought of a clue, and he said ‘dominant’.

Are we stumped already?

Are we getting off to a slow start?

Dominant.

Do you know what ‘dominant’ means?

Ruling, controlling, commanding, main.

Dominant.

Dominant.

Dominant.

I’m gonna say superhero.

When Dad guesses, he says, “I’m ‘gonna’ say”,

reducing ‘going to’ to ‘gonna’.

I’m gonna.

I’m gonna say.

I’m gonna say superhero.

I’m gonna say king.

Okay mom, my hint is tent for two.

I give Mom a clue again, tent for two.

Did you hear how I reduced ‘for’ again?  Fer, fer.

Tent for two.

For two.

For two.

Okay, pole is probably one cause we always have a tent pole.

Although we haven’t always… had them when we went camping.

We had to resort to string and trees.

A ladder and crossed two by fours like that.

Have you ever forgotten the tent poles when you went camping?

I can’t quite imagine how you could leave that out,

but my parents managed to once a long time ago, and they had to use a ladder inside their tent to hold it up.

That’s when I would have gone home.

“That’s when I ‘would-a’ gone home.”

Did you hear how I pronounced the phrase ‘would have’?

I reduced the word ‘have’ to just the schwa.

Would-a, would-a, that’s when I would-a gone home.

This is a common reduction with ‘would’, ‘should’, and ‘could’.

Would-a, should-a, could-a.

That’s when I would have

That’s when I would have

That’s when I would have gone home.

You weren’t around yet.

I know, I’m just saying in my, in my world, camping is no longer fun when you didn’t bring the poles.

It did detract a bit.

My Dad used the word ‘detract’.

A great vocabulary word.

This means to take a way from the quality of something.

Camping, without a proper tent, made the experience less fun.

It did detract a bit.

Uhm, okay I’ll say rainforest for two.

David is giving the clue now, and he said ‘Rainforest for two’.

Did you see how he reduced the word ‘for’?  Fer, fer.

We almost always pronounce it this way.

Rainforest for two. For two. For two.

So I will say Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of  those –

another ‘for’ reduction.

Fer one, fer one,

Amazon for one of thosMy Dad also reduced the word ‘of’ to just the schwa – one of, one of.

Amazon for one of those.

So I will say Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of those.

Is it illegal for me to remove this?

Yes.

You’re gonna try to jog your memory?

Is it illegal for me to remove this?

You’re trying to jog your memory about what the previous clue was?

Yeah.

Once a correct word is chosen, you cover it with a card that’s the color for your team.

Because my dad can’t remember the clue, he wants to uncover the word to see if that will help him remember.

Did you notice the phrase I used for this?

Jog your memory.

Something ‘jogs your memory’ if it helps you remember something.

You’re trying to jog your memory about what the previous clue was?

Yeah.

Thanks for asking!

He also said ‘no’ though.

He said probably not.

Prob’ly not.

Another example of dropping that middle syllable in ‘probably’.

Probably. Prob’ly not.

Dad said: He said probably not.

He said probably not.

He said probably not.

We’ll I’m going to take a chance and say they are crickets in the rainforest.

Well, I’m going to take a chance… The word ‘well’ was pretty unclear.

This can happen with this word as it’s a filler word, it doesn’t have any special meaning here.

It’s just a quick W and dark L.  Well. well. well.

Well I’m gonna– Well I’m going to take a chance.

And another ‘gonna’ reduction.

Well, I’m going to take a chance…

Well, I’m going to take a chance

Well, I’m going to take a chance

We’ll I’m going to take a chance and say they are crickets in the rainforest.

Alright!

My dad celebrated with ‘alright!

And again, there was clearly no L sound in this word.

Alright.

Alright.

Alright.

Alright.

Okay, I’m gonna say shatter for two.

Shatter.

Another great vocabulary word.

This means to break into pieces.

A glass would shatter if it hit the floor.

Shatter.

Notice the double T is the Flap T here, because the T sound comes between two vowels.

Shatter.

Okay, I’m gonna say shatter for two.

And of course, another ‘for’ reduction. Fer two, fer two.

Shatter. For two. For two.  For two.

I’m gonna go with glass.

I’m going to go with.

This means you choose.

My mom is choosing ‘glass’ as her answer.

You could also say this at a restaurant as you’re ordering.

“I’m going to go with the fish special.”

That means that’s the dish that I choose to eat.

That I choose to order.

I’m gonna go with glass.

Now, Washington was the leader.

– She touched it.- Yeah, you’re not supposed to touch it

until…it’s okay, I know you weren’t doing your final but…

My Dad is really watching my Mom, who is on the opposite team.

In this game you’re not supposed to touch a card until you’re making that your official guess.

Listen to what I say to my Mom about this.

Yeah, you’re not supposed to touch it until…it’s okay,

I know you weren’t doing your final but…FYI.

I said, I knew you weren’t doing your final guess, but FYI.

That means, ‘for your information’.

It’s like saying, just so you know.

I was letting her know, that is the rule officially, so she should probably not do it.

FYI.

Yeah, you’re not supposed to touch it until…it’s okay,

I know you weren’t doing your final but…FYI

We don’t know that.

Just kidding.

Don’t pay attention to him.

I’m gonna go with Washington.

I’m going to go with.

There’s that phrase again, to mean “I choose”.

I’m gonna go with Washington.

Actually, you’re doing really well.

Yeah, you guys were neck and neck.

We’re doing better.  We’re doing better.

We’re neck and neck.

Here, we’re discussing the score.

We were tied, so I said, “we’re neck and neck”.

This means very close or tied, in a race or game.

Did you notice the AND reduction?

Neck and neck.

Just the schwa and N,

neck and—neck and neck– and the N in ‘and’ blends into the beginning N for ‘neck’.

Neck and neck.

We’re neck and neck.

So a historical figure is a proper noun?

Rosie the riveter for two.

Rosie the riveter for two. Wow.

For the win!

Two more ‘for’ reductions.

For two, and ‘for the win’.

The more you pay attention to and listen for reductions,

the more you start to notice they are used all the time in American English.

They are part of what makes up good, clear English.

Rosie the riveter for two. Wow.

For the win!

I can’t think of one that fits Rosie the Riveter right off the top of my head.

Dad can’t think of an answer off the top of his head.

What does this phrase mean?

It means immediately, without having to try or think.

He can’t think of one off the top of his head,

this means, he’s going to have to sit there and really think about it to try to come up with an answer.

I can’t think of one that fits Rosie the Riveter right off the top of my head.

I’m gonna say washer for one.

Maybe… probably you file things down when you’re riveting.

I’m gonna say file for two.

You almost had it, Dad. You did say it once as being the most obvious.

You said washer and queen seemed to be the 2 best fits.

We’ve just played the best 3 of 5.

4 out of 7.

4 out of 7.

We played the best of 5 which means one team has to win 3

before a winner can be declared and Mom and I won 3 in a row. The first 3.

So we’re the champions.

Great job, Mom!

Yay!

Boo!

Oh, don’t be a sore loser!

A sore loser is someone who is upset or angry when they lose a game or a competition.

Of course you don’t have to be happy when you lose,

but to be clearly upset, annoyed, or angry at a loss is to be a sore loser.

Oh, don’t be a sore loser!

That’s it guys, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English!

My parents were pretty great for being in this video with me.

It reminds me of a video we made a long time ago where I introduced my parents on Rachel’s English for the first time.

Did you see it?

I’ll play it here for you right now.

Now, I’ve been spending a lot of time teaching you English, and I thought it would be fun to show you who taught me English.

These are my parents Rita and Stan.

Rita.

Notice we have a Flap T there, because the T is coming between two vowel sounds.

-ta, -ta,Rita.

Stan.

Now here we have the AA as in BAT vowel followed by the N consonant.

When this vowel is followed by the N or the M consonant,

we get an extra sound. Aa-uu, uu, an uh-like sound before the nasal consonant.

Staaaaaan

Stan, Stan.

These are my parents Rita and Stan.

Hello.

So guys, do you remember what my first word was?

I remember your brother’s first word.

Ok. So, I’m the youngest of two.

Clearly I’m not a memorable child because the first one is the more interesting one.

His first word was ‘hi’.

Hi.

And, I don’t remember Rachel’s first word, but once she started speaking, she never stopped.

That’s true.

So you don’t remember my first word either?

It was probably ‘mama’.

But you don’t actually know.

I don’t actually know.

Ok.

The pronunciation of this word is four syllables, and with the CH consonant sound.

Actually.

But I notice both my Mom and I here pronounced it actually.

We’re reducing the word by substituting the CH with a SH sound, that has no stop; we’re making it a little bit smoother.

And we’re dropping the schwa syllable altogether.

Actually.

Actually.

But you don’t actually know.

I don’t actually know.

Ok.

They’re trying to think of something cute that I might have said to tell you guys. But my Mom said:

I can think of something cute your brother said.

Yeah. See? It’s terrible.

Well, I remember doing lots of things with you.

Right. No, it’s fine.

I remember riding you to school on the handlebars of my bike.

Yeah. That hurt. I always wished that he would buy an actual seat to put on the bike.

One thing I remember is sending off a card three days before she left for summer camp so she would receive a card on the first day of summer camp.

Yeah. That was nice. I used to go away for two weeks, and Mom was very good about sending cards and also treats.

Well, thanks Mom and Dad so much for being willing to meet my Rachel’s English audience.

One last thing I want to say about them is tomorrow is their 45th wedding anniversary.

So, happy anniversary, guys!

Thank you!

Are you ok?

Yeah.

This is my favorite uncle John.

This is my dad’s older brother. Isn’t he cute?

John, this is Rachel’s English.

Hi Rachel’s English. How are you?

Rachel comes from a very talkative family.

Yeah. We, we all talk a lot.

– Yeah.

– It makes sense that I’m doing what I’m doing.

– Right.

– I’m the quietest one I think.

– Yeah, probably.

And he’s not that quiet.

My cousin Brad owns a farm and one dusk, he showed me around.

Rachel: In this American English pronunciation

video, you’re going to visit my cousin Brad’s farm.

You’ll learn reductions like the reduction of the word them and how ‘want to’ becomes

‘wanna’.

You’ll hear the phrase “a lot of’ pronounced

‘a lotta’.

And you’ll hear an example of the reduction of because and you are.

Rachel: So Brad, how often do you feed ’em?

Brad: Twice a day.

Sorry about the wind here, guys.

Here was our first reduction.

Did you hear it?

The reduction of THEM.

It’s really common to drop the TH in this word and change the vowel to the schwa.

When you do this reduction, make sure you link it on to the word before. There should be no break between words.

“Feed them” becomes “feed ‘em”, feed ’em in conversational English.

Feed ‘em.

It’s like an unstressed syllable at the end of “feed”.

Rachel: So Brad, how often do you feed ’em?

So Brad, how often do you feed ’em?

So Brad, how often do you feed ’em?

Brad: Twice a day.

Twice a day.

Let’s look at this short sentence to study stress.

Do you notice that some words are longer and some are shorter?

They’re all one-syllable long, but “twice” and “day” are much longer than “a”.

They have an up-down intonation: Day, day.

“A” is flat and said very quickly. It’s unstressed.

The other two words are stressed.

This contrast between stressed and unstressed is important in American English.

If everything was stressed and longer, it would sound more like this: twice a day.

Twice a day.

That’s not normal English.

Twice a day.

Brad: Twice a day.

Twice a day.

Twice a day.

Have you ever seen a cockfight Brad?

Brad: No, I don’t want to.

Do they have ’em around here?

Did you hear another “them” reduction in that small conversation?

Listen again.

Do they have ’em around here?

Do they have ‘em around here?

Here the word ‘them’ refers to “cockfights”.

It’s the plural pronoun and it’s pronounced “em”.

Linked to the word before, it sounds like “have ‘em, have ‘em”.

Do they have ’em around here?

Do they have ’em around here?

Do they have ’em around here?

Yeah! a lot of guys from Washburn got arrested a couple of years ago for big cockfight ring.

Big, big betting?

Yeah.

Rachel: So you guys had a lot of rain you were saying?

Here was another reduction: of.

A lotta rain.

The phrase “a lot of” is common in American

English, and it’s common to change the word

“of” to “uh”, a lotta.

Notice what happens to the T: it changes to a Flap sound because it comes between two vowels.

That helps link the two words together.

A lotta.

Only “lot” is stressed here, the two other words are unstressed.

Uh uh uhlotta, uhlotta.

Try that.

A lotta.

Rachel: So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying?

So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying?

So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying?

Oh, it’s been terrible!

Brad: You wanna play with ’em?

This wind is making it a little hard to hear, but did you hear what my cousin said?

Brad: You wanna play with ’em?

You wanna play with ’em?

You wanna play with ‘em?

There’s the “them” reduction again, referring to the chickens.

With ‘em, with ‘em, with ‘em.

He also reduced “want to” to “wanna”.

This is really common, Americans do it all

the time in spoken English.

It’s not improper English.

You wanna play with ‘em?

Brad: You wanna play with ‘em?

You wanna play with ‘em?

You wanna play with ‘em?

Rachel: No I’d..

Brad: Okay, you can grab ‘em out of there

and play with ’em.

Rachel: You can grab ‘em out of there.

Another them reduction!

Grab ‘em, grab ‘em.

Brad: You can grab ‘em out, You can grab

‘em out, You can grab ‘em out of there and play with ’em if you want.

Rachel: No, I do not wanna hold one of those.

I just used the “wanna” reduction.

Did you hear it?

I do not wanna hold, I do not wanna hold,

I do not wanna hold one of those.

Rachel: It’s huge!

How much does that cow weigh?

About 1400 pounds.

Rachel: Wow, 1400.

Weigh.

This is a homophone.

That means it sounds exactly the same as another word.

Do you know what word is?

“Weigh” is pronounced just like “way”. Way.

Different word, different meaning, different spelling, but same pronunciation.

We have a lot of homophones in American English.

Click here to see a video I made about homophones.

Rachel: It’s huge!

How much does that cow weigh?

About 1400 pounds.

Rachel: Wow, 1400.

Yeah,

Rachel: Hey Ian.

Ian: Hey.

(laughing)

Rachel: No, that’s not how you said it.

You said “I sold 3 of ’em.”

I sold 3 of ’em before we went into winter.

Because I knew I was gonna be short on feed.

Here, my cousin is talking about his cows, and I made him say it again so I could get it on camera.

Do you hear the THEM reduction?

I sold 3 of ’em

Three of ‘em.

Three of ‘em.

Try that.

Three of ‘em.

I sold 3 of ’em.

I sold 3 of ’em.

I sold 3 of ’em before we went into winter.

Because I knew I was gonna be short on feed.

Good job.

Rachel: I don’t think I was meant to be a

farmer.

You wanna feed ’em Ian?

You just heard two reductions that we’ve

already learned in this video.

What are they?

Rachel: You wanna feed ’em Ian?

You wanna feed ’em Ian?

“Wanna” and “em”.

Do you want to feed them.?

You wanna feed ’em?

I dropped the word DO, turned “want to” into “wanna”, and used the “them” reduction.

You wanna feed ‘em, Ian?

Ian is my brother.

Rachel: You wanna feed ’em Ian?

You wanna feed ’em Ian?

You wanna feed ’em Ian?

Cows spend lot of time in there.

Rachel: Who?

The cows do.

Rachel: Oh, uhuh.

Rachel’s Dad: Do you uh, keep ’em in there during the winter?

My Dad made the “them” reduction too!

Did you hear it?

Rachel’s Dad: Do you uh, keep ’em in there

during the winter?

keep ’em in there during the winter?

keep ’em in there during the winter?

Keep ‘em in there.

Keep ‘em, keep ‘em, just add that unstressed syllable to the end of the word before.

Keep ’em.

My dad also dropped the T in “winter”. It became ‘winner’.

Did you notice that?

Rachel’s Dad: keep ’em in there during the

winter? during the winter? during the winter? keep ’em in there during the winter?

Actually, I noticed my cousin Brad did this earlier too.

Did you notice?

Winter became winner.

Brad: Before we went in to winter.

Before we went in to winter.

Before we went in to winter.

Americans sometimes drop the T when it comes after an N. “Winter” sounds like ”winner”.

Other common examples of this: center, interview, international, internet.

Rachel’s Dad: keep ’em in there during the

winter or do they still go out somewhere?

Brad: They go outside.

They, they’re actually outside even when it’s

snowing.

Because when I come to feed ’em, they have snow on their backs.

Rachel’s Dad: Oh.

Because when I come to feed ‘em.

THEM reduction, also, my cousin Brad reduced “because”.

It became “cuz”, cuz,.

Cuz when I. Cuz when I.

Brad: Cuz when I come to feed ’em, Cuz when

I come to feed ’emCuz when I come to feed

’em, they have snow on their backs.

Rachel’s Dad: Oh.

Rachel: Brad thanks for showing me your farm.

Brad: You’re welcome!

You’re welcome.

This is a really common phrase. We don’t say “you are”, you are welcome. we don’t generally say “you’re” fully pronounced, but we reduce it.

Yer, yer.

You’re welcome.

You’re welcome.

Brad: You’re welcome!

You’re welcome!

You’re welcome!

You studied a lot of reductions today.

Reductions are a part of natural spoken English,

but I don’t recommend using them in writing.

It’s not professional.

But please, please, use them when you speak.

It will sound great!

Which one of these conversations was your favorite? Let me know in the comments. I love sharing my life with you, sharing the English language with you. Be sure to subscribe with notifications on so you never miss a lesson. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.