assimilation of /t/ and /j/

Hi, I’m Tim and this is my Pronunciation workshop. Here I’m going to show you how English is really spoken. Come on, let’s go inside. When you meet someone for the first time, there are several things you can say. If you want to be formal, you could say ‘How do you do? But there is another, less formal expression. Do you know what it is? Let’s meet some of the people of London.

It’s nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

It’s nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Well, it’s nice to meet you too. Now, the word ‘meet’ ends in the sound /t/, and the word ‘you’ begins with /j/, don’t they? Or do they? Listen again. What can you actually hear when these two sounds come together?

It’s nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

It’s nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

In fluent speech, when one word ends in /t/ and the next begins with a /j/ sound, like ‘you’ or ‘yours’, then the two sounds come together and change to /ʧ/. So ‘meet you’ becomes meet you . This is an example of assimilation. Now you might remember that in a previous video I mentioned that the /t/ sound can disappear in between two consonants. Well, this can still happen if the next word is ‘you’ or ‘your’, but it’s more usual for the /t/ to change to /ʧ/ in this case. Here are some more examples.

That shirt won’t suit you.

Don’ t you want to come to the party?

I bet your boss doesn’t know.

Can I get you anything?

Right, so you’ve heard the examples, and now it’s your turn. Are you ready to start? Listen and repeat.

That shirt won’t suit you.

Don’t you want to come to the party?

I bet your boss doesn’t know.

Can I get you anything?

Well done. Now remember, if you want to learn more about pronunciation, then please visit our website, bbclearningenglish.com. And that is about it from the pronunciation workshop for this week. I’ll see you soon. Bye bye!

Ugh. That is not right.

Hello.

Hello, is that Tim? It’s Tom.

Oh hi, Tom. Yeah it’s Tim.

So, did you enjoy your tea?

No. It was disgusting.

Ha ha, that’s because I put salt in, instead of sugar - gotcha!

Why, you little. I’m gonna get you. I have a very particular set of skills. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. I will hunt you down. I will find you. And I will put shaving cream on your pillow. Brothers, eh?! Well I guess that goes to show that you can’t always get what you want. Now, time to start plotting my revenge. Idiot.