In English, the T's and D's are pronounced just with the tip of the tongue.
Why am I saying that? Because in many other languages, the T and D are pronounced with this part of the tongue, the blade.
And then the consonants sound heavy. Still clear, but if you are wondering why it sounds a little different or lighter when you listen to her, this is why.
It's the placement of the tongue. You're listening to the Influency Podcast.
I'm Hadar, your host, a pronunciation expert, fluency coach, and a proud non-native speaker.
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Are you ready? Let's do it. Hey, everyone.
Thank you so much for joining me. Today, we're going to practice pronunciation with Olivia Rodrigo.
Olivia Rodrigo is one of my daughter's favorite singer.
We hear her songs all the time at home. And because of that, I decided to use one of her songs, Traitor, to teach you pronunciation, specifically the different Ts and even more specifically the flap T as in the word trader.
In American English, the flap T actually sounds a little bit like a D, a little bit like an R. So today we're going to figure that out.
We're going to talk about it. No more confusion about the Ts.
And also it's a great way to learn and practice.
And after reviewing the first verse and the chorus, you'll be able to sing along with Olivia the song Traitor.
You're welcome. If you're new to my channel, then hi, my name is Hadar.
I'm a non-native speaker of English, a proud one, and I am here to help you speak English with clarity, confidence, and freedom.
If you want to learn more about... pronunciation, fluency, and mindset, definitely go check out my website for a lot of free content at Hadarchemesh.com.
You can also follow me on social media, where I share daily content to help you thrive in English.
Back to Olivia. Let's get started with the first line of the song.
We're going to listen to it, talk about the pronunciation, maybe even sing along.
I don't know. I don't know how it's going to go.
Brown guilty eyes and little white lies.
Okay? Brown guilty eyes. Notice the T here is like a regular T. Guilty.
Guilty. That's because it comes right after a consonant.
So we hear it nice and crisp. Brown guilty eyes and little white lies.
So little, little, little, flap T, little.
It sounds like your tongue goes up, touches the upper palate really quickly.
It sounds like a very light D, little, then a dark L, little.
And that R sound exists in many other languages, in many cases as the R, like in Japanese or in Spanish, the short R. Ra, ra, ra.
Pero, pero, pero. Ra, ra. It's the same.
Little, little. So a light tap and then the dark out.
Little. So brown guilty I's and little white lies.
Here the T is held before an L, so a T when it's before another consonant, it's held.
Listen. White lies. So keep the tongue up there and then transition to the L. White lies.
Let's do it together again. I'm going to play it and then you're going to sing along or just speak along.
Okay, good. Next sentence. Okay, I played dumb, but I always knew.
But I, but I, but I, another flap T. I played dumb.
So it's played in the past, and then we have dumb, but the two Ds connect.
I played dumb. You don't pronounce a D twice.
It's just a little longer. Dumb, no B. Dumb.
Close it with an M. I play dumb, but I, but I, but I always.
The L is kind of like hidden there. Okay.
That you talk to her maybe did even worse, right?
That you talk to her. My daughters are going to kill me that I don't remember it by heart.
By the way, I have to look. Do not tell them.
That you talked to her, maybe did even worse.
So now I want you to listen to her D's here.
I'm going to pick on it a little bit because listen to how sharp and crisp the D's are.
Listen. So I want to speak specifically about the talk and did.
In English, the T's and D's are pronounced just with the tip of the tongue. this part.
Why am I saying that? Because in many other languages, the T and D are pronounced with this part of the tongue, the blade.
And then the consonants sound heavy. Still clear, but if you are wondering why it sounds a little different or lighter when you listen to her, this is why.
It's the placement of the tongue. So I'm going to play it again, and this is what you're going to pay attention to. you talk to her maybe did even worse worse worse not wars worse worse did even worse i kept quiet so i Listen to the rhythm.
I kept quiet so I could keep, could keep.
Could is a function word, reduced, very short beat here.
She doesn't sing, so I could keep you, because we don't stress that word when we speak, so we wouldn't stress it in a song.
So I could keep you. Something with a D and K, the k sound of keep, merge.
Listen again. Almost like the D is not pronounced.
And almost like the T of kept quiet is not pronounced.
Listen. Kept quiet, kept quiet. I hear it, but a lot of times you won't hear the T. You'll hear I kept quiet.
Because the T when it's between two consonants is often reduced.
Just something to think about. And... Ain't it funny how you ran the herd?
Ain't it funny, funny, funny. Ain't it, ain't it, ain't it, isn't it?
Ain't it, ain't it, isn't it? That's the meaning.
Ain't it funny how you ran to her? She's not even saying ran to her, she's saying ran a her, ran a her, ran a her.
So the to is reduced, but it's not a flap T. It's like a D that blends with the N, ran a her, ran a her.
So almost like there is just a schwa there, ran a her.
Even in a song, it is that reduced. So definitely when people speak, this is what you might hear.
The second that we called it quits. The second that we called it quits.
Can you tell what the stress words are? Second, we, quits.
The second that we called it quits. Connected speech, called it, called it, called it.
The second that we called it quits. Sing along.
The second that we called it quits. ain't it funny how you said you were friends how you said you were friends she actually does not pronounce the r how she's how you said you were friends were friends so a lot of times when there is a schwa r like a reduced syllable with the r at the end people might just drop the r how you said you were friends moving on Something is off here with the content and the melody, and she does it deliberately.
And I really like it. Let's listen to it again.
Yeah, because she puts emphasis on don't.
Also, it's supposed to be doesn't. So it's a deliberate choice of words.
Don't instead of doesn't. Maybe that's why it was strange to me.
I've never noticed it. Now, this is colloquial English.
It's not a mistake, okay? I mean, it's a mistake if it were written in a book, in an academic essay or something.
But in a song, just like with ain't it, perfectly acceptable.
Permission to make mistakes, you guys? One more thing about this line.
Look, not look, look like it. It. Help T, you barely hear the T. Let's go to the chorus.
You betrayed me And I know that you'll never feel sorry You betrayed me.
I don't have anything interesting to say about this.
And I know that you'll never feel, high E, feel, and dark L, feel sorry.
Open Oz and Father, sorry. You betrayed me.
And I know that you'll never feel sorry.
And I know that you'll never feel sorry.
Another thing that I want you to notice is that you, that you, that you.
When the T and the Y connect, especially in colloquial American English, it often sounds like a ch sound as in chicken.
That you, get you, I bet you, right? That you, that you'll, that you'll never feel, dark L, sorry.
Do it again. Say the line. You don't have to sing.
For the way I hurt, for the way I hurt. Again, usually if I were to speak it, I would say for the way I hurt.
And it's kind of like a broken way to say, for the way I felt hurt or I got hurt.
Okay. I was hurt. For the way I hurt. For the way I hurt.
But again, she puts the emphasis on the, to almost like emphasize every single word here.
For the way I hurt. Let's practice the word hurt.
Her, her, her. Hurt. You talked to her when we were together.
So again, the T of together changes a little bit.
Okay? When we were together. It doesn't always happen when the T is at the beginning of the word.
So be mindful of that. Only for a specific word, like tonight, tomorrow, together.
Or like the T becomes like a D. Together.
It's not even a flap T. When we were together.
Okay, I'll see you tonight. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
So there are some words where you have to something, to gather, to night, to morrow.
And... The to is not stressed, so the T could be kind of like manipulated a little bit like we, like she did here.
Let's listen to it. When you talk to her, listen to those strong Ts.
Talk to, talk to her when we were together.
And. Did you hear at cheer? At cheer? Can you start hearing it now that we talked about it?
At cheer. Worst. Worst. Again, no O. Worst.
Loved you at your worst. Loved you at your worst.
But that didn't matter. As in cat. Flap T. Matter.
Matter. But that didn't healthy, but healthy, but that didn't matter.
Didn't, didn't. The T is not even pronounced here, but that didn't matter.
Listen to it again. It took you two weeks.
Again, aspirated T, took, took. Strong, crisp, feels like there is a little H there.
It took you. So the first T is held, it, the second T is exploded.
Took, it took, it took. It took you two weeks.
Again, aspirated T. Two weeks. It took you two weeks.
What took you so long? It took you two weeks.
It took you two weeks. To go off. To go off.
To go out there. To go off. And dater. Flap T. And dater.
It took you two weeks to go off and dater.
Listen. Okay. Now say it. And now the last line.
Yes, you did cheat, but you're still a traitor.
Guess you didn't cheat, but you're still a traitor.
Traitor. Traitor. Flap T and a soft R. We practiced it at the beginning.
Traitor. Let's listen to it again. Guess you didn't cheat, but you're still a traitor.
Guess you didn't... She does pronounce the D slightly, the second D. Guess you didn't...
Didn't, which is totally fine. A lot of people, when they speak, will just do, will just say, didn't, didn't.
Guess you didn't cheat. Tense E, cheat. But you're still a traitor.
The word you're, When it's unstressed, it's usually pronounced as yer, yer, yer.
But she is stressing it. But you're, but you're, but you're, but you're.
Technically, the ye is a consonant. So the T is supposed to be a held T, and then you're.
But you're, but you're, but you're still lacks e, not steel.
It's a different word. But you're still a traitor.
Now let's do the whole thing from the beginning.
I'm going to play a line and then you're either going to sing along or you're going to speak along, whatever you choose.
Just put into practice all the things that we learned.
Ready? Brown guilty eyes and little white lies, yeah Played dumb but I always knew That you'd talk to her maybe did even worse I kept quiet so I could keep you And ain't it funny how you ran to her The second that we called it quits And ain't it funny how you said you were friends?
You betrayed me, and I know that you'll never feel sorry For the way I hurt you You would talk to her, and we would kiss Loved you at your worst But that didn't matter It took you two weeks To go off and date her Guess you didn't cheat But you're still a traitor Heartbroken.
The T is held in heartbroken. By the way, heart broken.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this practice.
There is more of this song, so I'm going to link the lyrics and the YouTube video, the clip, in the description below so you can practice along and enjoy the Ts and the Ds and the flaps and pronunciation in general and listening to the rhythm of English.
Have a beautiful, beautiful day. Have a beautiful week.
Thank you for practicing with me. If you want more shadowing or speech analysis or all the things that we did today, I'm going to add a playlist in the description so you can check it out, practice along and explore more on my website at Hadar Shemesh.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode and you know of someone who might enjoy it as well, please share it with them.
Have a beautiful day and I'll see you next week in the next video.
Bye.
