Speaking English with the TV Show “Friends”! | How To Speak American English

Is speaking English more naturally on your Christmas wish-list? Check out this English lesson from the TV Show Friends!

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Video Transcript:

I love sweater weather and the holidays. Today we’re studying English by analyzing a scene from the TV show Friends. What exactly makes American English sound American? We’ll look at the music of English what words might change in a full sentence. First here’s the scene we’ll study.

Hey, look at this. They’re lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. Um, that paper’s 2 weeks old.

Alright who keeps leaving old newspapers in the in the trash?

I really wanted to take Kathy to this.

I can’t believe I missed it.

Hey, you know at least you have somebody to miss that stuff with. Hate being alone this time of year. Next thing you know, it will be Valentine’s Day then my birthday then bang! Before you know it, they’re lighting that damn tree again.

Let’s study the music of speech together. I’m Rachel and I’ve been teaching the American accent here on YouTube for over 15 years. Get my free course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent at Rachelsenglish.com/free. It will give you some killer tips on speaking natural English. Now the analysis.

Hey, look at this.

Hey, hey. Pretty abrupt. Hey. But I still feel an up down shape of stress there, the volume’s pretty high. Hey, hey. And he sort of cuts it off. Hey.

Hey,

look at this.

Look at this. Look at this. One stress word there and it’s the word this.

look at this.

Look and at, just lead up to it. Look at this. This is really typical for American English. Words sort of glide together and sometimes sounds even get dropped. Now let’s look at what’s happening to these sounds to make this phrase so smooth.

look at this.

So, the first thing I noticed is I’m looking for the T here, look at this. And I find it’s totally dropped. This is not normal for at, for at, there’s usually a stop T when it’s followed by a consonant but here it’s totally dropped. Look at. I would write that as a schwa. Look at this, look at this. And the schwa is linking right into the voiced TH. The word this then has the IH vowel and an S. This, this. And it has a curve up and down because it’s a stress word. This, this. So the word at just becomes a quick uh, uh, uh, which is called the schwa and it links into the next word.

Look at this.

If I go back to the word look, here I’m looking for a K. Listening for a K, let’s see what we hear.

look at this.

I hear that being turned into a g.

Looga

and that’s sort of being used to link into the schwa.

look at—

look at this.

The o-o here makes the push vowel uh, uh, luh, luh, look at this. So all of those sounds really melting together very smoothly to become this one single phrase. And even though it sounds nothing like look at this. Everyone who is a native speaker would understand this easily without trying hearing it just once.

Look at this.

Try it as well yourself now and to really go for that smoothness. So listen to it three times and then say it.

Look at this.

They’re lighting the big Christmas tree tonight.

So now we have a pretty long sentence. They are lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. And of course it’s not pronounced that way at all just like ‘look at this.’ It all Glides together smoothly, some sounds change. Some syllables are longer and clearer, those are stressed and others are very minimal, very fast, quiet. Let’s first look for the stressed syllables in this phrase.

They’re lighting the big Christmas tree tonight.

They’re lighting. So I hear a little bit of length and up down shape of stress on the first syllable of lighting. They’re lighting.

They’re lighting—

the big Christmas tree tonight.

They’re lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. So basically wherever there’s a change in pitch, Christmas tree tonight is where we have a stressed syllable, it’s a little bit long and it has a change in pitch. Usually, it goes up and down like here, sometimes it goes down and up. But everything else is just falling away from that stressed syllable or leading up to it. So here, there is there, there, there, there. Just starting to curve up, head up for that peak of stress. They’re lighting, they’re lighting. Slow it down and smooth it out. And then, as you practice it that way, you can really find the smoothness in the connection. They are becomes they’re.

they’re lighting—

They’re, they’re, they’re. So fast. Not they are, not they’re but they’re, they’re. That’s an unstressed word said very quickly. They’re lighting.

they’re lighting—

the big Christmas tree tonight.

The second half of lighting is also very fast and quick just like this unstressed syllable. They’re ligh-ting. Super minimal, low and pitch, quieter. Notice this is a flap T here, it’s not lighting but it’s lighting, a flap of the tongue. Lighting. They’re lighting, they’re lighting. Try that.

They’re lighting—

the big Christmas tree tonight.

The big Christmas tree tonight. The big Christmas tree tonight. So just like they’re lighting, we have one peak of stress. This one, the phrase is a little bit longer so we have a little bit more of a buildup, the big, and then this stressed syllable Chris-mas tree tonight. And then four syllables falling away from that peak of stress. The big, the big. So these two words say said very quickly, the big, the big, the big. Do you hear how it’s sort of quiet, a little bit mumbly? That’s the way unstressed syllables might be in American English. The big, the big, the big Chris. Then our stressed syllable, much clearer.

the big Christmas tree—

Christmas tree. Christmas tree. So the tea in Christmas, almost always dropped. Christmas. Also make sure this is schwa mas, mas. It’s not mas or mas but mus, mus. Christmas. Christmas tree tonight. So the TR cluster tree, is very often pronounced as a CHR, tree and that’s what’s happening here. Christmas tree. Christmas tree. So not only are the sounds in American English important but the melody, the connection is very important. Christmas tree. So as you imitate here, make sure you’re also imitating the melody, Christmas tree.

Christmas tree.

This is something we really do in our Free Mini Course, so follow the link in the video description to sign up for that Free Mini Course you’ll have some audio that will help you train and get this rhythmic contrast, this melody, this music of English into your voice. This will make you easier to understand when you’re speaking English.

Christmas tree—

Tonight.

Tonight or some people pronounce it tonight but it should always be a schwa, T, T, tonight. Here the t is not a T but again,   it’s a flap. Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight. And that first syllable as I said, schwa. It looks like it should be to, tonight but it’s tuh, tonight. Linked into a vowel, it’s tonight, ruh, ruh, flapping the T. Tree tonight, tree tonight, tree tonight. Really smooth, try that.

tree tonight.

And then it ends with a stop T so we don’t hear tonight. That would be a true T. That would be fully released, but it’s night, night, night. An abrupt stop.

Tree tonight.

Christmas tree tonight.

So, one long phrase, two peaks of stress, everything very smooth. Lots of words pronounced unclearly. With sounds changing, a little bit mumbly, lower in volume, that’s American English. That contrast of clear and unclear, that is American English.

Christmas tree tonight.

Um,

Um, um. Our thinking vowel in American English is the UH vowel. Uh, um.

Um,

that paper’s two weeks old.

That paper’s two weeks old. So again, two, up down shapes of stress. That papers two weeks old. And the other words falling into the line. Let’s look at the pronunciation of the word ‘that’. That—

Very fast, stop T, that, that papers, that papers. So not that, but that, that. Twice as fast as you might want to make it. That papers. The apostrophe S here, is the contraction is. That paper is two weeks old.

That paper’s two weeks old.

Old, old. You might find as you’re working with the phrases as you’re imitating that you don’t want to have as much up down as she has, it might feel strange but we need this. This change in pitch, this contrast is what makes English really easy to understand, it’s what makes it clear. So make sure you’re not going old, but you’re going old. Just like she does.

That paper’s two weeks old.

Alright all right all right this word said so quickly, just sort of a filler word. Alright, alright. Little bit of an up down shape of stress on the second syllable, stop T very abrupt, abrupt stop. Alright, alright. No L, I would think of that first syllable just being the schwa, uh, uh, uh, alright, alright, alright.

Alright,

who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?

Who keeps leaving. Two up down shapes of stress. Who keeps leaving.

Who keeps leaving–

Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?

Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash? This phrase is interesting because we have two up down shapes of stress, so we know that’s a stress syllable. But this is a question, he’s giving it the question intonation, which is pitch going up at the end. And because of that, instead of being trash with an up down shape of stress, it’s trash with a down up shape of stress.

in the trash?

Newspapers and this stress syllable is also going down and up. Newspapers. Because it’s the second half it’s heading toward the up shape of stress at the end. Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?

Who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?

When we have a question word like who, what, when, where, at the beginning of a question, those are almost always stressed. Who. Who keeps leaving?

Who keep keeps leaving—

old newspapers in the trash?

Now let’s talk about the word old. It’s said quickly, it’s not stressed, old, old, old. I want to make sure you don’t lift your tongue tip for this L. This is a dark L, uhl, uhl, uhl. That dark sound is made with the back of the tongue actually, not the front. The light L is made with the front of the tongue. So keep your tongue tip down here. Uhl, and press the back of the tongue, down and back a little bit. Try to shift it a little bit towards the back of your throat. Uhl, just the very back of your tongue. Uhl, that will help get that dark sound. Old, old, old, old, old, old newspapers, old newspapers. So it’s not old but old, old, old. Unstressed, said pretty quickly.

old

old newspapers in the trash?

Now, let’s look at our last three words here: In the trash?

‘In the’ said very quickly not very clearly. In the, in the, in the, in the. Can you do that quickly? In the, in the, in the trash? The trash is nice and long. In the trash? Also, the TR cluster again here, CHR, just like in tree. How that becomes tree. Trash is way more commonly pronounced. Trash with a CHR feel. Trash, trash.

In the trash?

I really wanted to take Kathy to this.

I really wanted to take Kathy to this. Okay, we have ‘to’, shapes of stress going up and down. I really wanted to take Kathy to this. And everything else so, so smooth, just floating up or floating down. Now we’ve talked about T’s quite a bit. We had a stop T here, we had a T dropped in the word at on the previous slide, we have the T turning into a CH sound. T is sort of an interesting sound, we change it a lot in American English. Let’s look at how these T’s are pronounced we have 1, 2, 3, 4 T sounds.

I really want to take Kathy to this.

Wanted, wanted. No T there, totally dropped. That’s pretty common. The Ed-ending here adds an extra quick little syllable, id, id, wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted. I would think of this vowel as the UH as in butter vowel. Very relaxed, uh uh, wuh, wanted, wanted, wanted.

I really wanted—

Alright let’s look at this T.

I really want to take Kathy—

I really wanted take. I mean, honestly, I almost don’t hear this word wanted take I almost just hear it going right into the word take but we can’t think of this as being a quick schwa, so the word to just like in the word tonight, you might want to pronounce this to but it’s almost always reduced to the schwa tuh, tuh, tonight. Now, when the sound before is a d like it is here, it’s pretty common to drop the T altogether and just link the schwa onto the D. Wanted to, wanted to. I really wanted to, wanted to.

I really wanted to take Kathy—

Here the schwa is so, so fast. I almost don’t even hear it. Wanted to take. It’s just a little bit sloppy right? Wan-, more clear but these two unstressed syllables, just way less clear. Want to take Kathy—

Take Kathy, take Kathy. So this T here is a true T, tt, tt, tt, tt, where we get that crisp release and that’s because it starts a stressed syllable. A T followed by a vowel or diphthong that starts a stressed syllable is always going to be a true T. Take.

Take Kathy—

to this.

Kathy to this. Ka-, that’s the A as in bat vowel. Kathy, tongue tip through the teeth for this unvoiced TH. Kathy to. Now again, the word to, not pronounced to. The vowel is the schwa and the T is actually a flap T, linking the ending e vowel of Cathy into the schwa. Kathy to, Kathy to, Kathy to, to, to, Kathy to this.

Kathy to this.

I really wanted to take Kathy to this. I can’t believe I missed it.

I can’t believe I missed it. I can’t believe I missed it. Two peaks of stress there. I can’t believe I missed it. The IH vowel of missed is our biggest up down shape of stress. Now remember, we want that pitch change mi-, not me, but more, mi-, missed it, I missed it.

I can’t believe I missed.

The Ed ending in missed makes a T sound. Missed it. And this T is a stop T, it’s not released. That would be missed it. Tt, tt, but ending T’s, we almost always make those stop T’s. I missed it.

I missed it.

I can’t believe,

So this T, also a stop. Little tiny lift there. I can’t believe, I can’t, I can’t believe.

I can’t believe–

I really wanted to take Kathy to this. I can’t believe I missed it.

Hey, you know, at least you have somebody to miss that stuff with.

Hey, hey. Up down shape of stress as always. Hey, a pitch change for our stressed syllables. Hey.

Hey,

you know,

You know, you know, you know. Okay, so this little two-word phrase, a filler phrase, pretty common in American English, said so quickly, the first word you is often pronounced yuh, which is exactly what’s happening here. You know, you know, and it links right into the n consonant, you know, you know, so don’t pronounce that too clearly, you know but rather you know, you know, just sort of thrown out. You know.

You know,

at least you have somebody to miss that stuff with.

The word at in the phrase ‘at least’ would be pronounced at, at, schwa, stop T and I don’t really hear it at all here. At, at least. I pretty much just hear least so even though I know it’s there because grammatically that’s what’s correct, I don’t really hear it. That’s how much it’s reduced.

You know, at least—

you have somebody to miss that stuff with.

Have somebody to miss that stuff with. So our two verbs are our stressed words here. Everything else is either leading up to or falling away from it.

Have somebody to miss that stuff with.

I’m trying to hear the T here, I think I would write that as a very, very light true T. Least you, least you, least you. That’s not too clear is it? Let me write that. A little bit better. Got to be able to read my handwriting for it to be clear, right?

But it’s soft, it’s not least, but it’s least you, least you, least you, least you have.

least you have—

somebody to miss that stuff with.

Have somebody to, have somebody to. So have, much longer, much clearer. Somebody to. Said really quickly. Somebody to, somebody to, somebody to. And we don’t have the pitch variation right? Have, we have a lot of pitch variation. Up and down. Somebody to, unstressed, much flatter. Somebody to. somebody to—

And again the word to pronounced [flap], flap T schwa. Somebody to, somebody to, somebody to.

somebody to—

miss that stuff with.

Miss that stuff with. I’m going to say there’s a little bit of up down shape stress here as well. Miss that stuff with. So that stuff flatter, not quite as loud, not quite as long as miss and with. And that ending TH, unvoiced, tongue tip comes through. miss that stuff with.

And we can see that in her mouth. We can see her tongue tip come through the teeth.

With.

Miss that stuff with.

That stuff, that stuff. Flat stop T, not released. That stuff, that stuff.

that stuff—

that stuff with.

Looking at this next phrase without having listened to it yet, I’m just going to guess that ‘hate’ has a lot of stress. That word has a lot of emotion in it, it’s a strong word and I bet it has a bunch of up down shape.

Hate being alone this time of year.

Hate. Hate being alone this time of year. Definitely, it’s the loudest. I would say the pitch is the highest, has the most contrast. Hate. Hate being alone. A little bit of stress there. This time of year, a little bit of stress there.

Hate being alone this time of year.

So here, I felt like she dropped the word at and here I feel like she’s dropping the word I. Hate being alone. We know it’s there, we know it’s what she means grammatically but I don’t hear it. Hate being alone. Now look at this, it’s not hate being alone. Even though the word is stressed, the T is still a stop T because the next word begins with a consonant. Hate being, hate being. That little abrupt stop. Hate being. That is the stop T. Hate being.

Hate being—

alone this time of year.

Being alone this time of. Being alone this time of, being alone this time of. Pretty different than hate, hate. So much more volume and emotion in that word. Being alone this time of, being alone this time of. Much flatter in pitch. Said much more quickly. Being a-, so the NG consonant links right into the schwa of alone. Being alone this time of. This. Voiced TH, unstressed word though, tongue tip doesn’t have to come through. Lone this time of. The S links right into a light true T. The word of, time of, becomes just the schwa, linking into the M. Time of, time of, time of year, time of year.

being alone this time of year.

This time of year, this time of year. And like we said, a little bit of up down shape of stress on the word year. Now, year versus ear, this word can be tricky especially for my Spanish speakers. Look it up here on YouTube, I have a video year versus ear, that I hope will help you hear this Y-glide consonant sound in the word year.

hate being alone

this time of year.

Hate being alone this time of year.

Next thing you know it’ll be Valentine’s Day.

Next thing it’ll be Valentine’s Day. Okay, so Val has so much stress she sort of holds on to the beginning consonant a little bit. Vv, vv, that makes the stress even clearer. Next thing you know it will be. Wow, all of those words said extremely quickly.

Next thing you know it’ll be—

So the word next, said very unclearly. Next thing you know. I hear the KS cluster of the X but that’s kind of it. I hardly hear the E vowel, don’t really hear the N. The T would be dropped here because it’s linking into a word that begins with a consonant.

Next thing you know–

You know becomes you, you know, you know, you know. Thing you know, thing you know, thing you know. So the NG consonant of thing linking right into the Y schwa of you. Thing you, thing you, thing you know, thing you know, thing you know. That links right into the N consonant for the word no and it’s flat unclear, thing you know, thing you know, thing you know, thing you know. You have to simplify your mouth movements a lot to say it this quickly and that will help relax into the sounds and let the placement be a little bit lower. Thing you know, thing you know. If you’ve never heard the word placement, look up my video, actually I have a playlist on placement. That’s going to really help you out. That lower placement will help you sound more natural speaking English.

Next thing you know—

it’ll be Valentine’s Day.

It will becomes it’ll, it’ll, it’ll, it’ll. So let me just write that out in IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet. IH as in sit, flap T schwa dark L.

It’ll

It’ll be—

Valentine’s Day,

Valentine’s Day. This is a true T. This syllable has secondary stress. Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day,

then my birthday,

Then my birthday. Then my, unstressed, said very quickly. Then my, then my, then my, then my birthday and then we have up down shape of stress on the first syllable of birthday. This word is tricky, it’s the IR vowel. Bir-, not bu, birth. And then again, that tricky unvoiced TH. Tongue has to come through the teeth.

Birthday. Birthday. So you want this up down shape on the IR sound. Bir, bir, birthday.

Birthday,

then bang.

I love this. Then bang. Then bang. So, we’re really seeing here the contrast between an unstressed syllable. Then, then, then, it’s flat, it’s short, bang. Then this is much louder. Higher in pitch, up down shape of stress. This would be written in IPA, B sound a vowel, NG consonant. But a gets changed by this ending consonant and it’s more like a, bang, bang. Bang.

then bang.

before you know it.

Before you know it. Before you know it. We’re going down and then up here. Know it. Know is our stressed word. The word before, she she’s sort of dropping the first syllable. For you, for you, for you, for you.

For you—

Flat, simple, the word you, reduced. Just like it was up here to you. It happens down here as well. You, for you, for you, for you, for you know it. Know it. Those two words glide together very smoothly. We’ve got the O diphthong gliding into the IH vowel, of course we have a stop T there. Know it. And you can think of going through the glide consonant W to connect those two words. Know it.

before you know it,

they’re lighting that damn tree again.

They’re lighting that, they’re lighten that. Peak of stress on light. Now, she turns the NG ending into just an N ending, lightin, lightin, lightin, making that a stop T. Lightin, lightin, they’re lighting.

Before you know it, they’re lighting the damn tree again.

They are, they’re, they’re, they’re, they’re. Unstressed, low in pitch, they’re lighting.

They’re lighting.

that damn tree again.

They’re lighting that. They’re lighting that. The word that, just falls away from the stressed syllable. Ligh, it’s got a stop T, lighting that, lighting that.

They’re lighting that—

damn tree again.

Damn tree again.  Now damn, definitely has stress, our adjective. Damn tree again. And so does the noun, tree. Damn tree. Those are both longer, they both have the UH shape of stress. Damn tree. The N in damn is silent, the TR becomes a CHR. Damn tree again. And then the word again just falls away from the stress syllable tree. Tree a-. So the word tree ends in the E vowel, the word again begins with a schwa. Tree a-, and in order to connect these two words, you can think of going through the glide consonant, the Y sound, tree again, tree again.

damn tree again.

So much smoothness here. We’re really seeing the contrast and pitch. We’re really seeing the contrast in stressed syllables versus unstressed syllables. So many key pronunciations to notice. All of these things come together to make the character of American English. These things like the rhythm, the pitch, the change in louder and quieter syllables. These things are actually more important than individual sounds for the overall feeling of American English.

damn tree again.

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

Hey, look at this. They’re lighting the big Christmas tree tonight. Um, that paper’s 2 weeks old.

Alright, who keeps leaving old newspapers in the trash?

I really wanted to take Kathy to this. I can’t believe I missed it.

Hey, you know, at least you have somebody to miss that stuff with. I hate being alone this time of year.

Next thing you know, it’ll be Valentine’s Day, then my birthday, then bang.

Before you know it, they’re lighting that damn tree again.

Don’t forget to visit rachelsenglish.com/free to get the Free Course, The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent. Keep your learning going now with this video and don’t forget to subscribe with notifications on, I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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