so, today we're going to study

the Friends Thanksgiving episode

where Rachel famously makes an English trifle.

It's the Rachel's English trifle.

We're going to take a little scene from this episode

and we're going to do a full pronunciation analysis.

So, by the end of this video,

you're going to be able to speak English

just like Rachel Green.

Here's the scene.

So, if I mess this up,

there's nothing else for dessert?

You're not gonna mess it up.

Wow, Monica, I love that.

You really have faith in me.

Thank you. - Yeah.

Technical question,

how do you know when the butter's done?

Well, it's done about two minutes

before it looks like that.

Actually, next week, we're going to do another scene

from this same episode.

It's where Rachel is describing the trifle to Joey and Ross.

So, be sure to come back and check that out.

Now, let's do the full analysis.

What makes American English sound American?

It has a lot to do with the stress

and we'll talk about that.

So, if I, if I mess this up

In this first phrase, she repeats herself.

She repeats if I, and these two words are linked together

and said so quickly both times.

If I, If I.

If I, If I, If I, If I, If I, If I.

So, if I, if I.

So, if I, if I.

So, if I, if I.

So, the words are unstressed,

they're flatter in pitch.

If I, If I, If I, If I.

And they link together with that F consonant.

So, we have the ih vowel, which we barely hear,

the F consonant, which links right into the I diphthong,

f'I, f'I, f'I, f'I.

So, if I, if I.

So, if I, if I.

So, if I, if I mess this up.

The word so is longer, it's more stressed.

So, f'I, f'I.

And then, we have mess this up.

And the pitch goes up.

That's to show that she is not done talking.

This is the first part of what she wants to say.

So, if I, if I mess this up.

So, if I, if I mess this up.

So, if I, if I mess this up.

If I, if I,

unstressed links together, no break.

And then, the word this also unstressed.

Listen to the words mess this up.

Mess this up,

Mess this up,

Mess this up.

Mess this up, mess this up.

Mess up, more stressed.

This, said very quickly, flatter and lower in pitch.

Mess this up.

Mess this up,

Mess this up

Mess this up.

And everything links together very smoothly.

No breaks between words.

Mess this up,

Mess this up,

Mess this up,2

there's nothing else for dessert?

The P in up is not released.

It's not up there's.

But it's up there's.

Up, lips come together for the P,

but there's no puff of air, no release.

That's because the next word begins with a consonant,

and that's fairly common for stop consonants.

Up there's.

Up there's, up there's.

- Mess this up, there's,

mess this up, there's,

mess this up, there's nothing else for dessert?

Let's listen to the rest of the sentence.

What are our stressed words?

- There's nothing else for dessert?

There's nothing else for dessert?

There's nothing else for dessert?

Nothing, else, dessert.

And again, dessert, pitch goes up, just like it did here.

Now, here at the end of up,

it went up because she was continuing her thought.

Here it's goes up because it's a yes-no question.

There's nothing else for dessert?

- There's nothing else for dessert?

There's nothing else for dessert?

There's nothing else for dessert?

No, there's nothing else for dessert.

So, noth, else and ssert are our stressed syllables.

Let's look at the word there's.

There's nothing,

There's nothing,

There's nothing.

It's not fully pronounced

with the eh vowel, is it?

It's more like there's, there's, there's.

I would write that with a TH, schwa, R, Z.

There's, there's.

There's nothing, there's nothing.

There's nothing,

there's nothing,

there's nothing.

This is a common way to pronounce this word.

It can reduce here.

It's not one of the more important words in the sentence.

There's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing.

The word nothing, we have an unvoiced TH,

that sound can me tricky.

Tongue tip does have to come through the teeth for that.

Nothing, nothing.

And even though we have the letter O here,

it's not an O sound, it's the uh as in butter sound, nuh.

Noth, nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing else.

Nothing else, nothing else, nothing else for dessert?

What do you notice about the word for?

Nothing else for dessert?

Nothing else for dessert?

Nothing else for dessert?

It's not for, is it?

For dessert, it's for dessert.

For, for, for.

That word reduces.

The vowel changes to the schwa.

And schwa gets absorbed by the R.

So, we try not to even make a vowel there.

For, for, for.

For dessert?

- For dessert?

For dessert?

For dessert?

And you might be noticing

the double S in this word, dessert, is pronounced as a Z.

Dessert?

- Dessert?

Dessert?

Dessert?

What happens to the T

at the end of this word?

Do you hear it?

- Dessert?

Dessert?

Dessert?

No, we don't hear it.

She makes that a stop.

Dessert, dessert.

It's not dessert.

- Dessert?

Dessert?

Dessert?

You're not gonna mess it up.

So, Monica gives her

a very friendly, kind response.

What are her most stressed words?

- You're not gonna mess it up.

You're not gonna mess it up.

You're not gonna mess it up.

You're not.

Little bit more up-down shape there.

Little more length, little more stress.

You're not, mess it up.

And then, up has the most stress.

It's part of that phrasal verb.