#126 Two Ways to Pronounce "Probably"

The word "probably" changes its pronunciation depending on the confidence you're trying to inspire in a listener. Listen in as we work out how you can use these pronunciations for your own speech, and command the sound of your spoken English!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

Welcome to the Accent Training Podcast, a podcast where I teach you how to use the sounds of the American accent for yourself. My name is Pat, and I help English learners improve their confidence in their pronunciation. Now, there are many ways to go about doing this, and I work hard to develop the methods that'll ensure you the most progress in the least amount of time. Now, something wonderful about English is that there are patterns in our speech of, of course, as every English learner knows, these patterns and rules are indeed broken all of the time, even when speaking formally, But that doesn't leave the patterns completely useless. If you can learn to adapt your speech to some of the basic patterns of American English speakers, then you will be well on your way to developing an American accent. And today, I wanna point out one of these patterns with only one word, just one word alone. You're probably familiar with this word, and you've probably had at least a couple of instances where it was miscommunicated. I have a feeling that you probably know the one that I'm talking about because you've probably read the title of this episode. That's the word, probably, or probably sometimes we drop a syllable right out of there. Probably, probably. I'll probably make it, probably make it. Other times we stretch each syllable out more. Probably. I'll probably make it, I'll probably make it probably. Now, the key to pronouncing this nice and clearly is in the stress. The pattern that we wanna identify here is where the strong and weak syllables are. If you can identify the weak syllable or even the syllable that vanishes, then you'll be well on your way to improving your pronunciation with this word and recognizing this pattern. In many, many words, I'm talking hundreds, thousands of words. So I'm gonna break this down for you today. We'll get a good, clear, well-rounded view of this and give you some nice, clear examples to let you apply this in the real world right away and without any hesitation whatsoever. And we will get to that in just a moment. But I would just like to remind you that subscribing to this podcast is good for your health. It's very good for your health. Why is that? Because you don't have to sit around worrying all day about whether or not you're gonna learn something new. And I understand that this causes intense anxiety and all of my listeners and students around the world, Well, I'd like to set your mind at ease, my friend, by reminding you that if you hit subscribe to this podcast and if you allow for yourself to be notified whenever a new episode comes out, then all that you gotta do is sit back, relax, and allow me to notify you when there's a new lesson available for you. Hit subscribe and put your anxiety aside. And beyond that, I'd just like to remind everyone that if you are looking for guidance on developing an American accent for yourself, I would be honored to work with you. Get in contact with me through Instagram at Accent Training Club or Facebook, same name accent training club, or through email, which you can also find in the description. And allow me to show you how I can get you from point A to point B and set you on the path to developing an American accent that will last you a lifetime. All right, It's probably time I should get into this lesson. You're probably wondering how you can get a nice, clear, confident pronunciation of this word for yourself. Now, the key to getting this word, like I said, is identifying the strong and weak syllables. If you can keep an ear open for that, you'll probably get the hang of this quickly. So of course, the word probably, or probably is spelled P R O B A B L Y P R O B A B L Y. This is spelled as a three syllable word. There are three units of sound in this word. A unit of sound is this combination of one or two consonant sounds and a vowel sound. So when we look at this, P P R O, that's the first syllable, P R O B A, second syllable prob blah, and then b l y, ble, probably, probably. We have the three syllables of this word, the three units of sound. Prob, we can hear that. That first syllable is stressed. Pr. Pr. It's getting a short O sound, pr, the second syllable, the BA B is getting a schwa. The A is being replaced with a schwa sound pr. Now, notice the contrast in the strength between the stressed and unstressed syllable. Prob, prob. The first is real strong. It's stretched right out. The second goes flat and quiet, Prob, prob. And then the third syllable, ble ble. The B L Y probably is somewhere in the middle. It's not a probably, probably, it's not quite like that, but it's what we would call secondarily stressed. It's, it's like medium stressed. We do pronounce an E. It's not getting that schwa, uh, kind of sound, but neither is it raising in the tone. It's getting a proper true vowel sound, but it's not getting a strong one. It's kind of medium, probably. Now pronouncing a full probably all of the time will sound a little robotic. It'll sound like a robot speaking like you're pronouncing every syllable two, clearly, maybe even a little choppy. And so what can we do to reduce any choppiness? Well, we take that middle syllable out, we take it right outta there, and we pretend that it's only probably, probably in opposed to a full, probably, probably. Now, this is an informal reduction, but you can probably use this without sounding unprofessional. It doesn't sound professional. It doesn't sound unprofessional. It's just, uh, another common reduction, probably. Probably. So we're kind of taking the B in the middle right out of there. And we're not giving it a probably, but a probably, probably. We're pronouncing a word that's spelled with three syllables as a two syllable word, keeping it quick and quiet, probably. Now we pronounce a full word probably when we want to really stress that this is a likely possibility when the whole point of the sentence is saying, We can't be 100% sure, but we're like 80% sure we're probably right. Notice how in this context, I stretch out that pro, right? I'm probably right, probably right, exaggerated and a little cartoonish. But I encourage you to sound a little cartoonish when you're practicing. This is gonna help your muscles and your ears develop. So let's put it into that context. Repeat after me. You're probably right. You're probably right. Really peek your voice up. You're probably right, versus you're probably right. You're probably right. Yeah, you're probably right. The stress in this phrase is, is more on right, less on, probably more on, right. You're probably right. We still do peak our voice up on the PR probably, right? We maintain that stressed syllable. However, we also drop a syllable from the middle of the word. You're probably right. We're not emphasizing the possibility as much. If anything, this even sounds a little more confident in what you're saying. You're probably right. You're probably right. Sounds a little more, eh, maybe you're wrong. Maybe, maybe you're wrong. You're probably right, But we've got this little 20% chance that you're wrong. You're probably right though. Versus yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right. How about in another context here? I'll probably make it, I'll probably make it, This doesn't sound too confident. If somebody tells me like this, I'll probably make it, It kinda raises some doubts in my mind about whether or not they're, They're gonna come. Are you coming over for dinner this evening? Yeah, I'll, I'll probably make it. I'm a little busy, but I'll probably make it sounds like they're not too sure about themselves. Whereas I'll probably make it, Yeah, I'll probably make it probably, I'll probably make it again, contrasting the stress. The contrast in the stress is still there. Probably, probably strong week, strong week. We're just dropping out that middle syllable, and it sounds more confident if you say it like this. I'll probably make it, I'll probably make it for dinner tonight. I'll probably make it on time for dinner. I'll probably make it. People are gonna hear that and say, Okay, I'll save you a spot. I'll probably make it, I'll probably make it totally different. Implications. The same meaning, you know, the odds are that this will happen. The chances are greater that this will happen, but one of them casts a bit of a shadow of doubt on it. The other one is more confident. Now, I've got one more phrase for you today. This one's a bit of a, a proverb, a quick little piece of advice, and it's very true. When anything comes to money, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, like if the deal sounds so good and you can't believe what's offered to you, you probably shouldn't believe it. It probably is too good to be true. Maybe it's not, but it probably is. Again, we're casting it and there's a little 20% doubt on there when we say it like that, it probably is, and now we drop that vowel from the middle. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Now, once again, dropping that vowel from the middle sounds more confident. It probably is, eh, it, it probably is. Sounds like you have more faith in what you're saying. It probably is, and that's probably what you're looking for, right? You wanna speak confidently in a way that's gonna improve your communication with Americans. You probably wanna put this to work, Probably wanna put this to work again, Maybe you do, maybe you don't. You probably wanna put this to work versus, yeah, you probably wanna put this to work. You probably wanna put this to work. Dropping the syllable from the middle sounds more confident. Both of these sounds are necessary in your communication. And like I said at the beginning, practicing this word is going to help you better identify the patterns of syllable stress, the rise and fall, and rise and fall of regular English speech. Apply these concepts to your regular speech, and you'll see a big change in your English in no time. I noted, I'm not saying probably here, I'm saying, I assure you, if you apply these sounds and this stress and you consider the implications of applying this sound and stress, you'll be well on your way to developing the American accent that you're looking for. Now, syllable stress is a huge thing when it comes to learning the American accent. It's one of the pillars of our speech. We've got the sounds, we've got the stress, and we've got the way that we connect our words together. If you feel that what you've learned today is going to boost your spoken English, then I strongly encourage you to check out my video course where I break down some of the fundamentals of syllable stress to have an immense impact on that pillar of your spoken English. Once you start recognizing the change in this sound, not only will the sound of your speech be clearer for Americans to hear, but you as well will also understand American speech with more clarity. So check out the link in the description and allow me to guide you with the sounds, the stress, and the connections necessary to develop an American accent. Give your speech a strong foundation, my friend, and allow me to show you how to do it. Well, we're gonna wrap this one up for today. Thank you very much for your time. This is a great word to learn, a great word to practice, and I am certain that you'll have no difficulty applying this to your own life. I'm not just saying you'll probably work this in easily. No, I'm sure that if you try, you will find the opportunity to work this in. Even if you're not speaking English with Americans, if you're speaking English with people who speak your own language, use this. Hey, maybe they'll correct you. Maybe they'll say, No, no, no, it's not. Probably it's proby. And you can say, Ah, oh, you think So, check out episode number 126 of the Accent Training podcast and let my friend Pat tell you how it's done. So thank you very much for your time today. I very much appreciate having you as a student, and I look forward to teaching you many more things about harnessing your use of the American accent in the days to come. Have a good one, folks.