http://www.engvid.com/ How do you pronounce "often"? Is the
/t/ silent or pronounced? What about words like "soften", "moisten", "mostly",
"lastly", and other words with /t/ in them? In this video, I will teach you how
to pronounce these words and more. If you say the word "often" often, this video
is for you! Take a quiz on this lesson here: http://www.engvid.com/silent-t/
TRANSCRIPT
Hi
there. My name is Emma, and in today's video, we are going to learn about
pronunciation. I'm going to teach you how to pronounce "often". Is it with a T
or with a silent T? What about words like "listen"? Is it "listen" or "lissen"?
"Soften": "soften", "soffen"? Okay? So this video is about Ts in the middle of
words. Do we pronounce them, or do we keep them silent? Okay, so let's get
started on how to pronounce these words.
So I have a rule here. It's not
always the rule, but for the most part this will help you. If you see "-sten",
"-ften", "-stle", usually -- okay, and that's a big word. Usually -- not always
-- usually, we do not pronounce the T. So what are some examples of this? This,
how do we say it? "Lissen", "lissen", so you cannot hear a T. I do not say it
"listen", I say it with an S but no T, "lissen". "Soffen", "soffen", okay? And
again, you see "-ften", "-sten". "Cassle", "cassle". "Fassen", "fassen". Okay?
Last one: "moissen", "moissen". So even though you see "-ten", "-tle", "-ten",
you do not pronounce the T in these words.
But what about "often"? Did
you hear how I said that? Did I say it with a T or without a T? "Often". Okay,
so "often" is when it gets a little complicated because of the history of this
word. Originally, in the 1700s, "often" was pronounced with a T, and then they
stopped pronouncing it with a T. They pronounced it "offen". And then, people
started to pronounce it with T again. So nowadays, how do we pronounce it? Both
ways. Some people say, "often" -- that's good. Other people say "offen" with a
silent T. Both ways are acceptable, okay? Both ways are now the standard. You
can say either way. So if you look here, if you know the International Phonetic
Alphabet, I have the different spellings that the dictionary says are okay for
the pronunciation of this word, okay? And if you don't know the International
Phonetic Alphabet, that's okay. Pretty much what this means is you can have it
without it T, "offen" or with the T, "often". So even though we have a rule up
here, "-ften", usually, it's a silent T, but in the case of "often", it's your
choice. If you like the way the T sounds, great. If you hate the way the T
sounds, "offen" is also good, okay?
Now, let's look at some words where
we actually have to pronounce the T. So if you see "-stl", "-ftl", these are
signs that you usually pronounce the T. What are some examples? Well, you can
pronounce the T. "Lassly", you could also say, "lastly". It's okay either way.
"Justly", "mostly", "softly": You can say it with or without depending on where
you're from. So the main thing I want to say in this video is "offen", "often"
are both okay. Our pronunciation is different depending on where we're from. So
you might hear someone pronounce a word one way, but it could be their accent.
It could be where they're from.
And also, a final point -- language is
always changing. "Often" -- before there was a rule, no T. Now, it has changed
to where you can have a T, or you can do it without a T. So language doesn't
stay the same; it changes. Until next time -- oh, I forgot one thing. I want
today invite you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com, and there you can
take our test on pronunciation with words with silent T. So until next time,
take care.
English
한국어
