Impara Questi Verbi Irregolari | Miriam Romeo English Coach

[00:00:00]Today I want to help you understand and fix the pronunciation of these irregular verbs once and for all. So, keep watching. Welcome to my channel then I would love to be your English coach. Make the sound of your English smoother and more convincing with the five tips I share in my free pronunciation class. Click on the link in the description box below to watch it.

[00:00:22]English irregular verbs are a nightmare for everyone, not just Italian speakers, because you just need to know them. But today I'm going to tell you about a mini category of irregular verbs that follow the same pattern. I'm talking about these seven modern English verbs and I promise you that after watching this video you will have no more doubts about the past tense and participle forms of these verbs. The first piece of good news is that they all have the same form for the past tense and the past participle. So, that's one less thing to remember. Now, what they all have in common is the phonetic pattern. Think becomes thought.

[00:01:00]Buy becomes bought.

[00:01:02]Bring becomes brought.

[00:01:05]Fight becomes fought.

[00:01:08]Seek becomes sought.

[00:01:11]Teach becomes taught.

[00:01:14]Catch becomes caught.

[00:01:17]So, ignore the spelling. What happens is that they all keep the initial consonant or consonants and then they all have the same ought sound. Thought. Bought.

[00:01:29]Brought. Fought. Sought. Taught. Caught.

[00:01:36]In all seven, the gh is completely silent. It doesn't exist. It has no sound. Erase it. So, think starts with a voiceless th.

[00:01:48]>> [snorts] >> And then you say ought. Thought. Buy starts with a b and then you add ought.

[00:01:55]Bought.

[00:01:56]Bring starts with a br, br, and then you add ought, brought, and so on.

[00:02:03]And in modern English, you only have these seven verbs that follow this pattern. And this vowel, ought, so the vowel sound between the initial consonant sound and the final t can be more or less open depending on the specific regional accent. For instance, in American English it's a little bit more open, so caught rhymes with hot for most American English speakers. But in British English, this vowel is a little bit more closed. But the important thing is that regardless of which accent you choose, British English, American same for all seven irregular verbs in their past tense and participle forms. I pronounce them like this: thought, bought, brought, fought, sought, taught, caught.

[00:02:53]And this is a standard American English pronunciation. So I keep the initial consonant sound, and then I add ought for all seven. And as you may have noticed, the first five are spelled o u g h t, and the last two are spelled a u g h t. You might be wondering, how do I know? How do I remember which ones are spelled o u g h t and which ones are spelled a u g h t? Well, I told you at the beginning that after watching the video you would have no more doubts about these verbs, and I always keep my promises. So here's a great tip for you.

[00:03:28]The two verbs that are spelled a u g h t in their past tense and past participle forms are the only two that already contain an a in their original base form present form spelling. Teach already contains an a, and it becomes taught, t a u g h t.

[00:03:50]Catch already contains an A and then it becomes caught c a u g h t. All the others don't have an A in the original spelling in the present form. So, they all keep the initial consonant or consonants plus o u g h t.

[00:04:08]Now, let's pronounce all of them together one last time.

[00:04:13]Think, thought.

[00:04:17]Buy, bought.

[00:04:21]Bring, brought.

[00:04:26]Fight, fought.

[00:04:30]Seek, sought.

[00:04:34]Teach, taught.

[00:04:38]Catch, caught.

[00:04:42]I hope this was useful and interesting.

[00:04:45]Let me know in the comments below if you already knew about this mini category of irregular verbs. Now, don't forget to click on the link in the description box below to watch your free pronunciation class. And if you want to work with me and you would like to have me as your personal English coach, you can contact me at this email address right here.

[00:05:01]Thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next video. Bye.