Sound like a native speaker: Delete the 'H'!

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I've 'ad a long time to work on this lesson, and I bet what I just said went right by you.

Hi. James from engVid.

Today I want to talk about letter deletion.

In English we do this a lot, and I don't want you...

So I want you to understand: I don't want you to use it, but I'm going to teach you

how to hear it, how to understand it, where it is commonly used so you can quickly identify

when we're speaking quickly.

Like when I said to you: "I ave", I said: "I have", but I dropped the "h" and that's

today's lesson.

We'll do other ones where I'll drop a "t", but for right now I want you to concentrate

on the dropping of the "h", and we call it the "H deletion" or "H deletion" if you're American.

All right? Let's go to the board.

You'll notice over here, my man, Mr. E, he has: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, ?, I",

the deletion of H. Quick note.

When we want to be clear on what we are saying we say each word exactly and precisely.

However, when we say something regularly-okay?

This is the examples of why we delete it-or we speak quickly or fast, we drop sounds.

One letter we do this with is the letter "h".

So as you can see, that's going to be my quick explanation on that, but I'm doing this sort

of like a warning for you, this little part because you are not allowed to do this because

you have an accent and you haven't mastered the English sounds.

First you have to master the sounds, so it's better to say: "I have" instead of "ave",

"I have", right?

Master the sound.

The second thing is this lesson's more about helping you to comprehend or listen to English,

and understand English quickly.

Okay? Are you ready?

Time for me to do that magic board thing.

So let's talk about where the letter "h" is commonly deleted.

We know it's deleted, but I'm going to give you about five examples or six where you can

see the letter "h" is deleted often or quite commonly.

Remember I said we do it when we speak quickly or it's something we say regularly?

So it won't be a surprise when I show you the examples on the board, why this would happen.

The letter "h" is commonly dropped when we use the verb "to have" or when we use pronouns.

So, "have" in this case becomes "ave".

"Has" becomes "azz", and I'm putting the "z" sound because pronunciation, it's not "a-s".

I know you "ass" for some of you, I know people who speak Spanish or have a Latin background

will "ass", because they see the "s", but we say the "z" sound: "azz".

And "had" becomes "ad".

"E 'ad about five minutes before e 'ad to leave."

If you're really careful...

Well, you have to go over here to hear what I actually said, but I used two of them at

the same time and it commonly happens, so much so that we as English speakers don't

realize we're not actually speaking the language, but just sounds.

Let's go over to the pronoun side of the board.

Well, the pronouns you'll see we have "he" becomes "e".

"E's a really good guy", and I'm not talking about Mr. E. "E's a really good guy", instead

of: "He is a really good guy."

"Her", I don't know err very well.

I don't know err very well.

It's not "her".

"I don't know her very well.", "I don't know err very well."

Right? I know it's "iss", it looks like this, "his", but this makes this sound, the "iz" sound. Right?

"Iz brother iz a good friend of mine.

Iz brother is a good friend of mine."

Notice how I'm speaking quickly, and for some of you I always speak quickly.

But generally speaking: "I don't know iz schedule.

I don't know iz schedule."

It's not: "I don't know his schedule."

Now, once again, I need to repeat this: You do not use this when you're speaking.

I'm giving you this, I'm giving you these examples by saying them so as you hear me

say them you're like: "That sounds familiar", and that's why sometimes you think you know

what we're saying, but you're not too sure.

It's because we delete these sounds.

Now, if you saw what I did here I actually at the beginning played with you by I said:

"E ad about five minutes."

And I said: "E ad", so instead of: "He had five minutes to talk",

"E ad five minutes to talk to us, then E had to go.

I don't know if err brother's coming, err brother's coming." Right?

"Ave you finished that project I gave you?

Ave you...?"

So instead of: "have you"...

It's difficult for me. See?

"Ave you finished the work I gave you? Have".

Sometimes the words with the deleted "h" are added to other words to create a new compound word.

One example is: "What have".

You might say: "Waddave you done this evening?", "Waddave you done with David?"

, or "Waddave you done to my room?"

So that's an example of combining this deleted sound with another kind of slang sound.

Now, I did a video on that.

You'll go check that one out where we talk about things where words are brought together

or cut, or we say combined in English.

That's just one example.

Now what I want to do is go for a short quiz.

Now, remember what I said.

I keep saying it again and again, "reiterating" means to say again and again: This is not

for you to use, it's for you to understand.

And to understand that this kind of thing: "E", "err", and "iz" occurs with things we

say very regularly or we're speaking quickly.

But when we want to be clear, you will never hear somebody say something like:

"The police ave a warrant for you."

They'll say: "The police have a warrant for your arrest",

because they want you to clearly understand.

Keep that in mind.

For you it's important to say all of the sounds.

The reason why is you're learning the language and you need to change your mouth, because

a lot of the times one language will say "r", for instance, Japanese people say "r" differently.

For "arigatou", "arigatou" their tongue is at the front of the mouth.

Well, in English: "arr" is in the back.

We curl our tongue.

You can only do that with practice to notice the difference.

Right? You got it?

So for you this is a lesson more on comprehending or understanding what English people speak,

not a lesson for you to copy.

So, let's go to the board, do the quiz, a short one, and let's see if you really understood

Okay, quiz time.

Here's a little hint.

A "hint" means a suggestion or some advice for you.

Look for the letter deletion in movies, TV, and music. Okay?

Notice when it happens.

Right? That'll be important.

Notice when it happens, like: "E az", like pay attention, right?

But more importantly, notice when it doesn't.

You remember what I said before, okay?

We do not do letter deletion when it's very important.

I want to be clear and I want to be precise, I will not delete the letter at all.

However, on regular speech or quick speech that happens.

Keep that in mind at all times, and if you understand what I said just now, then when

we do the quiz it'll be easy for you.

And one more note before I go, you're going to notice on the quiz I have:

"have, ave, es, ave".

This isn't a real word. Right?

As I told you, when we're clear we say the whole word.

This is just to remind you that you never write this down on paper.

It's what we say. Okay?

So this will help you understanding, better listening skills, but it's not something to

copy and put down and say: "E az!"

They'll go: "What is that?

This isn't English.

Maybe it's Spanish, but it's definitely not English."

Do not write it on paper, do not try to speak it.

Just learn it so you can get better at listening to real English.

Listen like a native, basically.

So, first question on the board: "I _______ ONLY one minute to talk to you!"

What would that be?

Do you notice how: "I ONLY", "ONLY" was emphasized here, right?

"I only have one minute to talk to you."

Be very specific.

Remember I told you about being specific or being clear?

That person is going to be very clear with you: "I only have one minute to speak to you",

Not another second or 10 seconds more.

It's very clear.

They won't use the contraction.

What about number two?

"How _______ you been doing?"

Well, usually we say: "How are you doing?

What's going on? What's up?"

This one would be: "ave".

"How 'ave you been doing?

How 'ave you been doing?"

It's casual, regular speech.

You say this 20 times a day to about 20 or 30 people. Right?

Let's try the next one:

"You _______ to tell me the truth, RIGHT NOW!!"

What do you think?

If you were paying attention, here and it said: "RIGHT NOW!!"

I'm being specific.

"You have to tell me the truth, RIGHT NOW!!

I'm not playing with you."

Specific, deliberate, exact.

You're starting to see a pattern here, aren't you?

If someone's angry, if someone wants exact information - they're going to use the exact word.

Commonly or regularly used, or speaking really, really quickly, we'll delete the "h".

Let's try number four.

"It's a great day _______ gotta be relaxing outside."

That's my stomach.

I'm hungry, so get to the answer quickly.

You can hear that rumbling?

Okay, I've given you enough time.

You can hear my belly rumbling.

"It's a great day e's gotta be outside relaxing."

Right? Why is it "e's gotta be"?

Look at this, what is that?

Is that a regular word?

This is a slang term, it's a word that's been put together.

"Have to be", right?

"Have got to be", so: "E's gotta be", so you know it's not going to be: "He has gotta be",

even this one's contracted.

This is the one that's the best one. Right?

"E's gotta be outside.

E's gotta be with his friends.

E's gotta be having a beer."

Casual, regular talk.

And finally, the last one.

Think carefully on this one, all right?

"The police _______ a warrant to ARREST YOU."

What would that be?

Okay, a couple things to think about.

The police, that's kind of serious, isn't it?

And arresting you, going to jail?

Yeah, I know you got it right.

"The police have a warrant to ARREST YOU."

They don't: "The police 'ave a warrant", no, it's not friendly.

You're going to jail, this is some serious business. Okay?

So, my time is up.

They're not coming to arrest me, luckily.

But I do want you to go to www.engvid.com, okay?

You know "eng" and then video, yeah, my old shtick.

Don't forget to click, tap, punch on the screen to do the quiz at engVid.