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Hello, English learners! Welcome back to the English with Michael YouTube channel. I, of course, being Michael.
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I'm your teacher, so great to have you here, and I've got a simple, little pronunciation video for you today.
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It's simple, but it is confusing.
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Many people get this wrong, and this is the silent B, the silent /b/. Except it's not a /b/, because we do not say it.
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And this is really common in words that end in "bt" or "mb".
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And I often hear people pronouncing the "b", but we actually don't say it at all.
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So, hopefully, that's a little bit easier for you.
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Let's look at the first type with "bt"; a really common one is the word "debt".
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Now, it looks like it's supposed to be /dɛbɪt/, something like that.
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But as you can tell, it's really, really difficult to pronounce a /b/ and a /t/ together.
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So, we simply don't; we just say /dɛt/, I have do much debt.
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Another one, doubt /daʊt/.
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I have some doubts. Doubt.
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And the final one, which is a little bit different, is "subtle", /sʌt(ə)l/. We do not say /sʌbt(ə)l/, we say, /sʌt(ə)l/, /sʌt(ə)l/.
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Um, so, it kind of sounds like s-u-t-t-l-e, /sʌt(ə)l/.
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Okay, and onto the second type, which is the ones that end in "m-b", "mb".
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So many examples of these; one of them would be "bomb", /bɒm/.
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We don't say /bɒmb/, we say /bɒm/; ignore that "b" completely.
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Another one is "climb" /klaɪm/. I want to climb the mountain. Climb.
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Here are some more: lamb, /lam/, a baby sheep, a lamb.
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And another one with a "er" ending, plumber, /plʌmə/.
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A plumber is someone who works with water and pipes; not someone who eats plums. Plumber.
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So, have some practice yourself and remember this rule with the "bt" and the "mb"; usually the "b" is silent.
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Hope this little video was useful. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time!