Lesson Transcript

Hi everybody, my name is Alisha. In this video, I'm going to talk about sound reduction in everyday questions. In this lesson, I have chosen a few very, very common questions that we use all the time. And I'm going to break down how we make these sounds different in casual speech.
So let's go through one by one and see what the difference is between kind of the textbook language and the actual life language. So let's begin. The first question I want to look at is, how's it going? How's it going? So this is a very casual way to say, how are you? We like to say, how's it going? This apostrophe S means how is.
How is it going means like, how is your life going? So let's begin with this very common greeting question. How do we make this more casual? So we change how's it going to something that sounds like, how's it going? How's it going? So what's happening here? When we change this to a more casual style of speech, we make a Z sound out of how's. So it becomes how's and this connects to it. So not how's it going, but how's it. So it sounds like we're saying the word zit if you know that word.
How's it going? In this word, you'll notice we have this apostrophe after the N and we remove the G sound.
So not going, but going, going. So at native speed, this sounds like, how's it going? How's it going? Instead of, how's it going? It sounds like, how's it going? So this is a pattern we are going to see a few times in this lesson, this kind of removal of the ending G sound. And we're also going to see a lot of sounds that connect in this way.
So this is our first one. How's it going? So you can use this the next time you want to ask how someone is. And now you can recognize this when someone asks you this question. Okay, so let's go to the second question. The second question, also very common, a greeting question. How have you been? How have you been? So let's take a look at the first change that we make when we say this in a more casual setting. So first we say, how of, how of. This is the reduced form of how have. How have becomes how of. So when we use this, we connect it to the next word. How of you, how of you. So it doesn't sound like how have you, but how of you. So you can kind of hear the V sound connects to the y in you.
How of you, how of you. The next big change is in the you. We don't typically say you. We change this OU to an A sound. It sounds more like ya, ya. So this becomes how've ya been, how've ya been. At native speed, this sounds like how've you been? How've you been? So you can see this is much shorter than how have you been. We typically say how've you been? So we reduce it with this change here and the you becomes a ya. This makes it very quick and easy to say how've you been.
Okay, great, let's continue to the next question. The next one is what have you been up to? What have you been up to? This is a question about your recent activities, your recent work perhaps. What have you been up to? So how do we change this? How do we reduce the sounds in this question? So again, you can see that we have this what have pattern here. Yeah, this have is here. So just like we did in the previous example, our first change is using this v ending, yeah? So what have becomes what've, what've, yeah? And just as we saw in the previous example, we connect this sound to the you which follows and this you becomes a ya sound. So we have what've you which becomes what've ya, what've ya, yeah? What've ya? Then next is been and up to. So the sounds here don't get removed really, but we tend to connect this been and up a lot.
This sounds like what have you been up to? So the been up, been up sounds like one word, not been up to, but been up, been up to. There's typically kind of a little pause here. So at native speed, again, this sounds like what have you been up to? What have you been up to? So this is the fast paced, casual, common way of saying what have you been up to? So I have one more point about this one, which is we can reduce this even further to make this sound, whatcha, whatcha.
This is very, very common. This whatcha is the what have you part. This often gets reduced even more to whatcha, whatcha. So as a question, this becomes whatcha been up to? Whatcha been up to? You might see people use this word. This is not an official word.
This is like something that people use in very casual text messages or maybe in social media.
You might see people using whatcha. This means what have you, what have you. And then the ending is the same, whatcha been up to, whatcha been up to. So you can see there are a few different levels to reducing this question.
What have you been up to becomes what have you been up to becomes what have you been up to, very fast, or whatcha been up to.
So these are all different ways to express correctly the same question. Okay, great. So let's continue to our next question and the next sound reduction.
First, what do you think? I want to make a very quick note. This is a pronunciation point, think here. So don't forget this think is the T-H sound you need to put your tongue between your teeth to produce. What do you think? Not what do you sink? Nope, what do you think? So don't forget that.
So make sure to say the correct T-H sound here.
So how do we reduce what do you think? Let's take a look. So what do you think? We have a few interesting changes in this question. So first, maybe you can see I've taken out the T in what.
Yeah, we connect this wha and the duh and the yuh all together here.
So it sounds like we remove this T, we focus on the duh as our kind of connecting sound and we kind of remove this O in do and connect this to the yuh in you. So we change this U again to a yuh sound just as we saw in the other examples.
This sounds like what do ya, what do ya. So wha duh ya, what do ya. Not what do you or what do ya but wha duh ya is what it sounds like. And native speed, what do ya, what do ya. And then we have think at the end. Make sure again that T-H sound with the tongue between the teeth, think.
So another kind of hint with this one, you might also see people very, very casually using this kind of spelling to express this. What do you think can look like what do ya, what do you think, what do you think.
Again, this is not an official word but this is a way that people can express this what do you in a very casual way. So if it helps you, you can look at this and remember what do ya, what do ya.
You can try to read this out loud to remember the reduced sound version of this question. So what do you think which sounds kind of stiff becomes what do you think, what do you think. This sounds very, very natural and it's much more common to say it like this than the very stiff what do you think. So make sure to keep this one in mind because it's a super common question. Okay, let's go to the next one.
So the next question is where are you going? Where are you going? So I included an example here. You could use for maybe your coworkers or your classmates or something like that. In this case, where are you going for lunch or maybe for dinner, this kind of thing, right? So how do we reduce where are you going? I want to focus on this part of the question and then you can put whatever you want at the end of the question.
So like where are you going to see the movie or whatever. You can use other things at the end of this question. This is just a sample. We're going to focus here. Where are you going? Okay, so how do we change this one? So where are you? Maybe you can guess one change is going to be you again.
This becomes ya. But we connect these sounds. So the where connects to the r which connects to the ya, okay? You can maybe also see I have a slash through the a here. So we connect where and r and ya by removing this kind of vowel sound in the middle.
So not where are ya going, but where are ya going is what it sounds like. Where are you going? Where are you going? And again, as we saw in the first example, this going has the g at the end removed and I have an apostrophe here.
So it sounds like going, going. So where are you going becomes where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going? So this sounds really hard to pronounce perhaps.
So I've written an example here. This one is not really used so much, but it might help you to break down the sounds as I'm saying them. So it's like where with an extra r sound. So like where are ya going is what it sounds like. Where are you going? Where are you going? You can use this anytime someone leaves the room and you don't know the place they are going.
You can say, where are you going? Where are you going? So again, this r sound represents the r, a-r-e, but we just use the er, where er, where er.
So this is a little bit tricky to say, but this is what it means. So if you hear someone ask that and you think, that sounded strange, that's what they're asking. What is your destination? Where are you going becomes where are you going? The next one is, do you have a minute? Do you have a minute? So this question is an interruption question, right? You want to ask someone for a moment of time.
Do you have a minute? Okay, so how do we reduce these sounds? Again, we'll have this u to ya sound reduction here.
Then, as we have seen in this one, this what do you think, we're gonna reduce this do sound again.
And in this case, when we use these do you kind of questions, the do and the ya connect and we kind of remove this o sound.
So it's not do you, but it becomes diya, diya, okay? Then the next word have, so do you have, sounds like a very, very light h sound here.
Like do you have, diya have, yeah? Diya have, so it's not a very strong h sound, but it's like the a sound almost extends.
There's a very, very slight h sound. Do you have a minute? Do you have a minute? So this part doesn't really change.
Do you have a minute? But diya have a minute, okay? So again, another way to kind of understand this sound is like diya, diya. We use this with do you question patterns.
So do you want something something or do you like something something? You can use this do you like, do you want and so on.
Do you becomes diya in these everyday kind of question patterns. So do you have a minute? This sounds very, very soft and it sounds very natural. So diya, do you becomes diya. Do you have a minute? Okay, great.
All right, last one then. Let's take a look at our last question. Are you doing anything on Saturday in this case? So this is a question about your plans for the future, right? In this case, again, I have included on Saturday, you could use a different day, on Sunday, on Monday or vacation, like are you doing anything for summer vacation? That's up to you. I want to focus on this section.
Are you doing anything? This is a question about plans, right? So let's look at how we change the sounds in this question.
Are you doing anything? This question, these questions that use is or are at the beginning, these like yes or no questions, the first change you might notice is that sometimes we drop the is or the are at the beginning.
That's why I have parentheses around are. Sometimes we just remove it completely. So it sounds like you doing anything, you doing anything? So again, we have this you which becomes yeah, you doing anything? And again, we have an ing doing right here.
We remove the G sound and I have this apostrophe after the N to mark that, it ends there doing anything.
Again, this anything has that same ing ending so we tend to remove that ing, that clear ing sound and make it an n instead.
So you doing anything, you doing anything? Is a very casual and very common way to ask this question.
You doing anything on Saturday? You doing anything on Sunday? Do anything tonight? So we might remove this are at the beginning.
Of course, this changes to an is like is he or is she doing anything? We might just say she, is she? So it becomes very, very light. In this case with are, if we choose to include this sound, it might be a very, very light uh at the beginning.
Are you doing anything? Are you doing anything? So it doesn't really sound like are you doing anything, right? But more like are ya, yeah? Are you doing anything? Are you doing anything on Saturday? So if you decide you want to use this at the beginning of your sentence, it's completely up to you. You can use this very light uh, are you doing anything? And with an is question like is he or is she doing anything, we use a very light uh sound.
Is he doing anything? Is she doing anything? So it's very, very short as you can hear. But again, these are very, very common reductions in sound.
So you can identify now, I hope, the different kinds of questions when people ask them, do you? But you can also use these yourself.
So I would definitely recommend that you try to use this style in your spoken English. We don't use these kind of interesting spellings very much except in very casual text messages. But if you want to sound more natural, please practice these reduced sound patterns. If you use these very like textbook patterns, it's very clear.
Yes, your question is very, very clear. But this doesn't sound so natural. It sounds very natural to reduce the sounds in these ways. And also, it makes your speech more efficient.
So it might feel a little bit strange when you practice. It might feel a little bit funny, maybe. But over time, you will start to notice that you feel more comfortable with this.
So this is a way that you can really take your speaking to the next level is by using these sound reductions more in your own speech.
So these are just a few examples of some sound reductions in everyday questions. Of course, there are many other ways to reduce sounds in English. But I wanted to start with some very, very common ones that we hear all the time and that you can use all the time as well.
Also, come check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other things that can help you with your English studies. Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon.
Bye.

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