How to Pronounce DEFINITELY – Word of the Week – Rachel’s English

You’ll definitely want to know the exact pronunciation of this word.  Learn how to practice this word by breaking it down sound by sound, knowing what’s stressed and what’s not. Then put it all together to feel confident using this word in American English conversation.

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In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over the pronunciation of the word ‘definitely’.

This week’s Word of the Week is ‘definitely’.  Thanks to Mr. Ramirez from Colombia for the suggestion.  It’s a four-syllable word with stress on the first syllable.  Helpful, DA-da-da-da, helpful.

Whenever we have a longer word like this, I think it’s helpful to practice the unstressed syllables together.  So at the moment, I’m actually going to start with the second syllable, -fi-.  It begins with the F consonant where the bottom lip will come up and touch the bottom of the top front teeth.
ff.  Then we have the schwa/N.  You don’t really need to try to make the schwa, just go straight to the N.  For that the front part of the tongue has to go to the roof of the mouth, fn, fn, -finit-.  Now we have the IH vowel and a Stop T.  The T is a stop because the next sound is a consonant.  To make the IH vowel, you release your tongue.  To make the Stop T, you have to stop the air flow.  The tongue needs to be here, at the roof of the mouth again for the L, so just do a quick stop of the air with your throat as your moving your tongue back up.  After it touches the roof of the mouth for the L, it has to come back down again for the EE vowel.  So, the tongue has to go to the roof of the mouth twice in these unstressed syllables.  But since these are all unstressed syllables, we don’t want to take too much time with any of these sounds or positions, and the mouth shouldn’t move too much.  Practice them all together now:  -finitely.  (fast and slow).  Practice these syllables together and work on simplifying the movements.  That’s one of the greatest challenges for non-native speakers.

Now all we have to do to complete the word is add the beginning, stressed syllable.  De-.  It begins with the D sound.  The top front, flat part of the tongue is at the roof of the mouth, and the teeth are together.  Allow a little bit of pressure to build, then release by dropping the jaw and tongue.  For the EH vowel, the jaw needs to drop quite a bit, and the middle/front of the tongue will lift towards the roof of the mouth a bit.  De-, def-.  Then you’re moving into the F position.  Definitely.  (fast and slow).

I’ll definitely try to say it like that.

That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it out yourself. Make up a sentence with the word, record it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to watch it.

If there’s a word you find difficult to pronounce, suggest it as a Word of the Week in the comments.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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