CONFUSING PRONUNCIATION / taught, thought, fought, caught, bought / LEARN WITH COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

[00:00:01]Hello. Welcome to English for everyone, where we practice everyday American English.

[00:00:07]Today we're going to talk about some difficult pronunciations for some common words.

[00:00:12]Let's take a look.

[00:00:14]Today we're going to practice with these past verbs.

[00:00:17]They all have a similar pronunciation.

[00:00:20]So let's get started and make sure we're pronouncing them correctly.

[00:00:24]Our first example is buy, in the past bought.

[00:00:28]We see o u g h t.

[00:00:31]The sound is aw.

[00:00:34]The g h is silent. So the pronunciation is b aw, the sound aw like ball and call.

[00:00:42]baw And you finish with a stop t.

[00:00:45]bought We don't say bought.

[00:00:48]We stop the air.

[00:00:50]bought with our tongue up a stop t, bought.

[00:00:55]Buy, in the past bought. Example, he bought some new shoes yesterday. If I ask a question, I say what did he buy? I use the helper did and the action is in the present, buy.

[00:01:08]What did he buy? Answer, he bought some new shoes.

[00:01:12]Let's practice. What did he buy?

[00:01:17]That's right, he bought some new shoes.

[00:01:19]Another example, he bought a new car.

[00:01:23]Now we hear the pronunciation change. If you have the word bought plus a vowel, then the t changes to a d sound, a fast d.

[00:01:32]bought a bought a He bought a new car.

[00:01:37]He bought a new car. If I ask a question, did he buy a new car? You answer yes, he bought a new car.

[00:01:46]If I ask a question, did he buy a motorcycle?

[00:01:49]The answer is no, he didn't buy a motorcycle. When we use the negative didn't, we use the action in present, buy.

[00:01:58]He didn't buy a motorcycle.

[00:02:00]He bought a new car. Let's practice.

[00:02:03]Did he buy a motorcycle?

[00:02:08]That's right. He didn't buy a motorcycle.

[00:02:11]Did he buy a new car?

[00:02:15]That's right. He bought a new car. Now let's practice with the action bring. In the past, brought. So it's the same sound. We see the same spelling, o u g h t.

[00:02:27]O u here makes the sound aw, like ball and call, and the t is a stop t.

[00:02:34]brought brought Example.

[00:02:38]What did he bring?

[00:02:40]He brought some coffee to his grandpa.

[00:02:44]He brought some coffee. You hear the stop t at the end of the word. He brought some coffee.

[00:02:52]We use the stop t because it's before a consonant.

[00:02:56]s- some coffee. He brought some coffee to his grandpa.

[00:03:02]But if I use a vowel after the word brought, example, he brought a cup of coffee, he brought a, the t changes to a d. He brought a, he brought a. He brought a cup of coffee to his grandfather.

[00:03:16]Let's practice.

[00:03:18]Did he bring some coffee to his grandpa?

[00:03:24]That's right. He brought some coffee to his grandpa.

[00:03:28]Did he bring a cup of coffee to his grandpa?

[00:03:35]That's right. He brought a cup of coffee to his grandpa. Our next action is fight.

[00:03:40]Fight in the present, in the past, fought.

[00:03:44]We're using the same spelling, o u g h t, and we have the same pronunciation, aw, like ball and call.

[00:03:53]Fought.

[00:03:54]The T is a stop T.

[00:03:56]Fought.

[00:03:58]Fought. Example, she fought with her brother when she was younger.

[00:04:04]She fought with her brother.

[00:04:08]After fought, we have a consonant w w with. So, we use the stop T. She fought with her brother when she was younger.

[00:04:17]But, if I have a vowel, they fought a lot.

[00:04:22]After fought, if we have a vowel, the T is pronounced with a fast D.

[00:04:27]Fought-a. Fought-a. Fought-a.

[00:04:29]They fought a lot when they were younger.

[00:04:32]They fought a lot when they were younger. Let's practice. Did she fight with her brother when she was younger?

[00:04:42]That's right. She fought with her brother when she was younger.

[00:04:47]Did they fight a lot when they were younger?

[00:04:53]That's right. They fought a lot when they were younger.

[00:04:56]Now, let's practice with the action think.

[00:04:59]In the present, think.

[00:05:01]In the past, thought.

[00:05:04]We have the same spelling and the same pronunciation.

[00:05:08]O U G H T. The O U makes the aw sound like ball and call. The G H is silent and we finish with a stop T.

[00:05:19]Thought. So, we start with a T H that makes the air sound with our teeth.

[00:05:24]>> [snorts] >> Th-aw.

[00:05:27]And we finish with a stop T. Stopping the air with our tongue up at the roof of our mouth.

[00:05:33]Thought.

[00:05:35]Thought.

[00:05:37]In the present, think. In the past, thought. After think and thought, we can use different prepositions. Sometimes we say of and sometimes we say about.

[00:05:48]What's the difference?

[00:05:50]Think of, or in the past thought of, is when you do it in the moment.

[00:05:55]In the moment, you think of an idea.

[00:05:58]You think of a solution to the problem.

[00:06:01]Example, he thought of an idea.

[00:06:05]He just thought of an idea.

[00:06:07]We see that thought of, we have a vowel with of, so that T changes to a D, a fast D.

[00:06:16]thought of thought of thought of thought of He just thought of an idea. Or you can use think about. In the past, thought about. Again, about starts with a vowel, so thought about, the T changes to a D, and you hear thought of thought of thought about.

[00:06:39]She thought about what to draw.

[00:06:41]She thought about it for a long time.

[00:06:44]About is used when you think for some time.

[00:06:48]We use about.

[00:06:50]She thought about what to draw.

[00:06:53]She thought about it for a long time.

[00:06:56]Pronunciation, she thought about it.

[00:07:01]About it, again, the T in about is between vowels, so it changes to to a fast D. She thought about it. about it She thought about it for a long time.

[00:07:15]Let's practice.

[00:07:17]Did he just think of an idea?

[00:07:22]That's right. He just thought of an idea. Remember, thought of thought of an idea. He just thought of an idea. Let's practice.

[00:07:32]Did she think about what to draw?

[00:07:37]That's right. She thought about what to draw.

[00:07:41]Pronunciation, thought of thought about.

[00:07:43]She thought about what to draw. Let's practice. Did she think about it for a long time?

[00:07:53]That's right. She thought about it for a long time.

[00:07:56]Pronunciation, thought about it.

[00:08:00]She thought about it for a long time.

[00:08:02]So, now we see all the words we practiced had the same spelling. o u g h t And they all had the same sound.

[00:08:13]But, we have two more.

[00:08:15]We also have teach, in the past, taught.

[00:08:19]And catch, in the past, caught.

[00:08:23]We have to be careful with these because they're spelled a little different.

[00:08:27]They're spelled a u g h t.

[00:08:30]But, they have the same pronunciation.

[00:08:33]It's the sound aw, like ball and call.

[00:08:38]First, let's practice with catch.

[00:08:41]You catch the ball, in the past, caught.

[00:08:45]Pronunciation, caught.

[00:08:47]With a stop t at the end, caught.

[00:08:50]He caught the ball.

[00:08:53]After caught, if you have a consonant, you use a stop t. He caught the ball.

[00:08:58]Let's practice. Did he catch the ball?

[00:09:03]That's right. He caught the ball. And now, let's practice with teach.

[00:09:08]Teach in the present, taught in the past.

[00:09:12]We start with a t sound, clear t t t t sound with our tongue back touching the roof of our mouth. t t Teach, in the past, t t taught.

[00:09:26]We're using the aw sound, like ball and call, and we finish with a stop t.

[00:09:31]Taught. Taught. So, it starts with t and it ends with t.

[00:09:37]Taught.

[00:09:39]Now, we need to compare the pronunciation of these two words. The past of teach is taught and the past of think think is thought.

[00:09:50]The pronunciation difference is only the first sound.

[00:09:55]Thought has a th, so we make a little air with our teeth.

[00:10:01]Thought.

[00:10:02]But we end with a stop T.

[00:10:04]So, we pull the tongue inside. Thought.

[00:10:09]Thought.

[00:10:10]And teach in the past is taught.

[00:10:14]Taught.

[00:10:15]You start with a real T, ta, and you finish with a stop T.

[00:10:21]Taught. Taught. Example.

[00:10:24]He taught his daughter how to ride a bike.

[00:10:28]He taught her how to ride a bike.

[00:10:30]When I say taught her, her is not a stressed word. So, the H is silent.

[00:10:38]If the H is silent, that means it's a vowel after taught. So, the T changes to a D and you hear taught her, taught her.

[00:10:50]He taught her how to ride a bike.

[00:10:53]If I say he taught his daughter, his is also not an important word, so it's not stressed in the sentence. So, the H in his is silent.

[00:11:04]So, again, that means phonetically it's a vowel. So, you hear the fast D. Taught is taught is taught is. He taught his daughter. He taught his daughter how to ride a bike. Let's practice.

[00:11:19]Did he teach his daughter how to ride a bike?

[00:11:26]That's right. He taught his daughter how to ride a bike. Remember our pronunciation, how to sounds like "how to" "how to".

[00:11:35]How to ride a bike.

[00:11:37]He taught his daughter how to ride a bike. Let's practice. Did he teach her how to ride a bike?

[00:11:46]That's right. He taught her how to ride a bike.

[00:11:49]He taught her how to He taught her how to ride a bike.

[00:11:54]Very good. So, let's review.

[00:11:57]We look at all these verbs in the past.

[00:11:59]Bought, brought, fought, thought, caught, and taught.

[00:12:08]They all have the same vowel pronunciation. Aw, and they all end with a stop T.

[00:12:15]But, remember if there's a vowel after any of these words, change the T to a D, a fast D. Thank you for watching. And if you like this video, subscribe to our channel.

[00:12:27]And if you want to become a member, click the join button. And we'll see you next time.