Hello and welcome back to Pronunciation with Emma or welcome if you're brand new to my channel.
In today's English pronunciation lesson, you're going to learn how to pronounce can and can't in English.
You will learn how to pronounce the difference between can and can't in sentences, as well as the two ways how you can pronounce can.
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By the way, make sure you stay until the end of the video, because there'll be a little quiz for you to test your listening skills.
Now let's get started with the lesson on how to pronounce can and can't in English.
Let's start firstly with the word can't, as this only has one way to pronounce it.
To pronounce it, make sure that the vowel is really long.
Can't, and notice that I drop the jaw for this sound.
Can't, can't.
Now what may be confusing is some native speakers, particularly from the UK, may glottalize that T.
What does that mean Emma, if they glottalize the T, it basically means that instead of saying can't, they say can't.
Can't, so they're not removing the t.
It's not khan, but it's khan, so instead of pronouncing it here, they're pronouncing it here.
If you'd like to learn how to pronounce the glottal stop and when the glottal stop is used, because we use it a lot in the UK then I will leave a video down below for you to watch after this one.
So you have can't and can't can't, can't.
So you decide whether you want to pronounce it with the t or with the glottal stop.
It's up to you, but you will hear native speakers using both, and a lot of the time they will probably use the glottal stop.
Now we have can.
Can has two ways to pronounce it.
The strong form of can is used when you want to emphasize the word.
And this is can.
Notice that the vowel is shorter and it's more open.
Can.
Can.
So, to compare, we have can can't can can't, so the vowel length is different, but also this one is more open in can.
Now, as i said, can is the strong form and we don't usually use a strong form in sentences.
Instead, what you will hear in sentences is the weak form.
Notice that this one is very quick and very weak.
So you have can't can can can't, can.
In this lesson, we're going to practice pronouncing the weak form in sentences, because this is the one that you are more likely to hear and it sounds more natural when you use it in sentences.
So let's compare in some sentences.
She can't swim very well.
She can't swim very well.
She can swim very well.
She can swim very well.
So notice the key difference here is can't is very strong.
She can't swim very well.
It's strong because we're emphasizing it more, but can is very weak.
She can swim.
It's really, really quick.
I can't finish the project by tomorrow.
I can't finish the project by tomorrow.
You can't call me later.
We can't visit the museum this weekend.
He can't eat spicy food.
He can eat spicy food.
So notice that every time we use the positive can, we're using the weak form in sentences.
Can, he can, he can eat spicy food.
While can't is always stronger.
So usually, if you can hear the word can't very clearly, probably the negative.
But if you're not sure, there is absolutely no shame in asking.
Native speakers all the time get confused with this.
So it's completely fine to say you can or you can't.
Now it's time for the quiz.
I'm going to read a sentence to you and you need to decide if i'm saying can couldn't, the weak form or can't.
There will be four questions in total, so let me know in the comments how many you get correct.
Number one she can play the piano.
Well done.
Number two i can't watch scary films.
I can't watch.
Well done.
Number three.
This is a bit of a tricky one.
I can't eat fish.
This is can't.
This time I'm using the glottal stop.
Can't eat fish.
Let's compare.
I can't eat fish.
I can eat fish.
Notice that can't is with a longer vowel.
Can't.
And it also is more stressed.
I don't know what happened to my brain then.
It's more stressed.
There's more emphasis.
I can't eat fish.
I can eat fish.
Here, there's more stress on eat than can't.
So keep that in mind.
Number four, I can help you.
I can help you.
Well done.
This is the positive.
I can't help you.
I can help you.
And that's the end of today's English pronunciation lesson.
Tell me in the comments how many out of four did you get correct in the quiz?
As always, like and subscribe if you'd like to see more British English pronunciation videos, and I will see you in the next lesson.
Bye-bye!
