“Whaddya” (what + do + you) Pronunciation in English
"Whaddya" (what + do + you)
English Pronunciation Lesson
Introduction
Many people think that native English speakers speak fast, but actually, what can make us difficult to understand is how we transform language. We do this by connecting our speech, deleting sounds, and de-stressing vowels.
A common phrase that is transformed by [American] native English speakers is the beginning of the wh-question:
“What do you….?”
which we sometimes casually say as:
*“whaddya?”
*Note: we do not write “whaddya”. It is written here for explanatory purposes.
Example
“What do you want to do today?”
Notice how:
“what do you” → “whaddya“
“want to” → “wanna“
Listen again.
“What do you want to do today?”
So, why is “What do you…?” pronounced as “whaddya”?
What + do + you
To pronounce and understand this phrase like a native English speaker:
1) whatdoyou – connect speech (consonant + consonant)
2) whatdəyou – de-stress the vowel sound in “do”. So, the [uw] in “do” → [ə] [də]
3) whadyou – combining the /t/ and /d/ causes you to delete the [t] in “what” and just say the [d] from “do”.
4) whadya – de-stress the vowel sound in “you“. So, the [uw] in “you” → [ə] [yə]
• whaddya [wʌdyə]
• what + do + you → *whaddya [wʌdyə]
Got it? Let’s practice.
Notice how in these “wh”-questions, my intonation goes down at the end of each question.
Listen and Repeat
“What do you think of this shirt?”
“What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“What do you prefer — vanilla or chocolate?”
“What do you typically eat on Thanksgiving?”
ElementalEnglish.com is your resource for free English language and pronunciation lessons, 無料オンライン英語教材, 免费在线英文课程, 免費在線英文課程, मुफ़्त ऑनलाइन अंग्रेज़ी, آنلائن مفت میں انگریزی سیکھئے, Kostenloser Englisch-Unterricht Online, Język angielski online, Học tiếng anh miễn phí, Libreng Pag-aaral ng Wikang Ingles sa Internet, Libreng Pag-aaral ng Wikang Ingles Online, دروس في اللغة الانجليزية على الانترنت مجانا, American English pronunciation, アメリカ英語の発音, 纯正美语发音, 純正美語發音, अमरीकी अंग्रेज़ी, امریکی انگریزی کا تلفّظ سیکھئے, Amerikanisches Englisch Aussprache, wymowa język angielski, Học tiếng anh miễn phí, Wastong Pagbigkas ng American English sa Internet, astong Pagbigkas ng, تعلم اللهجة الامريكية على الانترنت, American English Online
