Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Leo-perd.

  • Le-prad.

  • Leopmmhm.

  • What's up guys? My name is Shane, and today we are talking about pronunciation.

  • English is a very funny language because we have letters which have sounds, but when you put those letters into words, sometimes the sounds change.

  • But don't worry, because today we are looking at five commonly mispronounced words.

  • Let's get started!

  • Okay, let's look at our first word.

  • How do we say that word?

  • It should be "com-for-ta-ble", right?

  • It looks like it has four syllables.

  • But it actually has three. We say it like this.

  • Comfortable.

  • Comfortable.

  • Comfortable.

  • Now you say it. Comfortable.

  • The O and the R are silent letters.

  • That means we don't pronounce them.

  • We don't make any sound for them.

  • English has many words which have silent letters.

  • For example, knife.

  • Lamb.

  • Write.

  • Okay, so what does comfortable mean?

  • Comfortable means a good feeling with no problems.

  • So, for example, I could say, "This chair is very comfortable."

  • When I sit in it, I have no problems. I feel good.

  • Now let's look at our second word.

  • How do we say this one?

  • It's photography.

  • Photography.

  • The stress, or the emphasis, is on the "tog", the T-O-G.

  • Photography.

  • Photography.

  • Now you try.

  • If you want to find out where the stress is on words, you can look at the Cambridge Online Learner's Dictionary.

  • And the little apostrophe will show you where the stress is.

  • So you can see here on photography, the little apostrophe is before the "tog".

  • So we know that we must stress "tog".

  • Photography.

  • Two other common words which often have stress mistakes are "desert" and "dessert".

  • Desert and dessert.

  • Now you try.

  • Desert.

  • Dessert.

  • Okay, so what does photography mean?

  • Photography means taking photos, and an example sentence is, "Do you like photography?"

  • Comment down below and let me know.

  • The third word for today is... [leopard].

  • How do we say that one?

  • Let's split it in half.

  • Should be leo pard, right?

  • Leo pard.

  • But we actually pronounce it "leopard".

  • Leopard.

  • Leopard.

  • Now you try.

  • Leopard.

  • Some words are funny like this; you have to hear them before you know how to pronounce them.

  • Some other common examples are "liaison", "queue", and "jeopardy".

  • Okay, and what does leopard mean?

  • Leopard is an animal, like this.

  • It's like a cheetah or like a tiger.

  • And an example sentence could be, "Have you ever seen a leopard before?"

  • Comment down below and let me know.

  • Have you ever seen a leopard before?

  • And the fourth word for today is... [health].

  • How do we pronounce that one?

  • It's "health".

  • Health.

  • Because there's a "th" at the end, we have to pronounce the "th (θ)".

  • Health.

  • Health.

  • Now you try, health.

  • Some other words which have "th" at the end are "bath", "both", and "earth".

  • Okay, so what does health mean?

  • Health normally means the condition of your body and your mind.

  • So, for example, if we use it in a sentence, we could say, "My health is very important to me."

  • That means the condition of my body and my mind is very important to me.

  • And the last word for today is... [overcooked].

  • How do we pronounce that one?

  • It's got "ed" at the end, so it should be "ed", right? Overcooked.

  • But we actually pronounce it "overcooked".

  • Overcooked.

  • When we have a "ked" at the end of a word, we always pronounce it with a "t".

  • Overcooked.

  • Now you try, overcooked.

  • Some other words with "ked" at the end are "walked", "talked", and "looked".

  • So what does overcooked mean?

  • Overcooked means you have cooked something for too long and an example sentence is, "You overcooked my food."

Leo-perd.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it