Weak forms

We discussed the difference between strong and weak syllables in English. We have now moved on from looking at syllables to looking at words, and we will consider certain well-known English words that can be pronounced in two different ways; these are called strong forms and weak forms. As an example, the word 'that' can be pronounced ðæt (strong form) or ðət (weak form). The sentence 'I like that' is pronounced aɪ laɪk  ðæt (strong form); the sentence 'I hope that she will' is pronounced aɪ  həʊp dət  ʃi wɪl (weak form). There are roughly forty such words in English. It is possible to use only strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this. Usually they can still be understood by other speakers of English, so why is it important to learn how weak forms are used? There are two main reasons: first, most native speakers of English find an "all-strong form" pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding, something that most learners would wish to avoid. Second, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help them to understand what they hear.

We must distinguish between weak forms and contracted forms. Certain English words are shortened so severely (usually to a single phoneme) and so consistently that they are represented differently in informal writing (e.g. 'it is' → 'it's'; 'we have' → 'we've'; 'do not' → 'don't').

Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a category that may be called function words - words that do not have a dictionary meaning in the way that we normally expect nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to have. These function words are words such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, etc., all of which are in certain circumstances pronounced in their strong forms but which are more frequently pronounced in their weak forms. It is important to remember that there are certain contexts where only the strong form is acceptable, and others where the weak form is the normal pronunciation. There are some fairly simple rules; we can say that the strong form is used in the following cases:

i) For many weak-form words, when they occur at the end of a sentence; for example, the word 'of has the weak form əv in the following sentence:

'I'm fond of chips' aɪm 'fɒnd əv 'tʃɪps

However, when it comes at the end of the sentence, as in the following example, it has the strong form ɒv:

'Chips are what I'm fond of' ‘tʃɪps  ə 'wɒt aim 'fɒnd  ɒv

Many of the words given below (particularly 1-9) never occur at the end of a sentence (e.g. 'the', 'your'). Some words (particularly the pronouns numbered 10-14 below) do occur in their weak forms in final position.

ii) When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word; for example:

'The letter's from him, not to him' ðə 'letəz 'frɒm ɪm nɒt 'tu: ɪm

A similar case is what we might call a co-ordinated use of prepositions:

'I travel to and from London a lot'           aɪ 'trævḷ 'tu: an 'from 'lΛndən ə 'lɒt

'A work of and about literature'               ə 'wз:k 'ɒv  ən  ə'baʊt 'lɪtrətʃə

iii) When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis; for example:

'You must give me more money'              ju 'mΛst 'gɪv mi 'mɔ: 'mΛni

iv) When a weak-form word is being "cited" or "quoted"; for example:

'You shouldn't put "and" at the end of a sentence'

ju 'ʃʊdṇt pʊt 'ænd ət ði 'end əv ə 'sentəns

Another point to remember is that when weak-form words whose spelling begins with 'h' (e.g. 'her', 'have') occur at the beginning of a sentence, the pronunciation is with initial h, even though this is usually omitted in other contexts.

The most common weak-form words will be introduced.

1 'the'

Weak forms:     ðə (before consonants)

                           'Shut the door' 'ʃΛt  ðə  'dɔ:

                           di (before vowels)

                           'Wait for the end' 'weɪt fə ði 'end

2 'a','an'

Weak forms:    ə (before consonants)

                           'Read a book' 'ri:d ə 'bʊk

                           ən (before vowels)

                           'Eat an apple' 'i:t ən 'æpl

3 'and'

Weak form:     ən (sometimes ṇ after t, d, s, z, ʃ)

                          'Come and see' 'kΛm  ən 'si:  

                          'Fish and chips' 'fɪʃ   ṇ  'tʃɪps

4 'but'

Weak form:     bət

                          'It's good but expensive'             ɪts 'gʊd bət ɪk'spensɪv

5 'that'

This word only has a weak form when used in a relative clause; when used with a demonstrative sense it is always pronounced in its strong form.

Weak form:       ðət

                            'The price is the thing that annoys me'   ðə 'praɪs  iz  ðə 'θɪŋ ðət  ə'nɔɪz mi

6  'than'

Weak form:       ðən

                           'Better than ever'                'betə  ðən 'evə

7 'his' (when it occurs before a noun)

Weak form:       Iz (hɪz at the beginning of a sentence)

                            'Take his name'                   'teɪk ɪz 'neɪm

                            (Another sense of 'his', as in 'it was his', or 'his was late', always has the strong form)

8 'her'

When used with a possessive sense, preceding a noun; as an object pronoun, this can also occur at the end of a sentence.

Weak forms:      ə (before consonants)

                             'Take her home'                          'teɪk ə 'həʊm

                              ər (before vowels)

                              'Take her out'                              'teɪk ər 'aʊt

9 'your'

Weak forms:       jə (before consonants)

                             'Take your time'                           'teɪk jə 'taɪm

                             jər (before vowels)

                             'On your own'                              'ɒn jər 'əʊn

10 'she', 'he', 'we', 'you'

This group of pronouns has weak forms pronounced with weaker vowels than the i:, u: of their strong forms. I use the symbols i, u (in preference to ɪ, ʊ) to represent them. There is little difference in the pronunciation in different places in the sentence, except in the case of 'he'.

Weak forms:

a) 'she'                  Si

                               'Why did she read it?'                      'waɪ dɪd ʃi 'ri:d ɪt

                               'Who is she?'                                     'hu: 'ɪz ʃi

b) 'he'                    i (the weak form is usually pronounced without h except at the beginning of a sentence)

                              'Which did he choose?'                     'witʃ  dɪd i 'tʃu:z

                              'He was late, wasn't he?'                   hi wəz 'leɪt 'wɒzṇt i

c) 'we'                   wi

                              'How can we get there?'                  'haʊ kən wi 'get ðeə  

                              'We need that, don't we?'                wi 'ni:d dæt 'daunt wi

d) 'you'                ju

                             'What do you think?'                         'wɒt də ju 'θɪŋk  

                             'You like it, do you?'                           ju 'laɪk ɪt 'du; ju

11 'him'

Weak form:        ɪm

                             'Leave him alone'                                'li:v ɪm ə'ləʊn

                             'I've seen him'                                     aɪv 'si:n ɪm

12 'her'

Weak form:         ə (hə when sentence-initial)

                              'Ask her to come'                               'ɑ:sk  ə tə 'kΛm

                              'I've met her'                                       aɪv 'met  ə

13 'them'

Weak form:          ðem

                               'Leave them here'                              'li:v  ðem 'hɪə    

                               'Eat them'                                           'i:t  ðem

14 'us'

Weak form:            əs

                                 'Write us a letter'                        'rat as ə  'letə

                                 'They invited all of us'                 ðeɪ in'vaɪtɪd ' ɔ:l  əv əs

The next group of words (some prepositions and other function words) occur in their strong forms when they are in final position in a sentence; examples of this are given. Number 19, 'to', is a partial exception.

15 'at'

Weak form:             ət

                                  'I'll see you at lunch'                  aɪl' si: ju ət 'lΛnʃ

In final position: æt

                                  'What's he shooting at?'           'wɒts i 'ʃu:tɪŋ æt

16 'for'

Weak form:             fə (before consonants)

                                  'Tea for two'                                 'ti: fə 'tu:

                                  fər (before vowels)

                                  'Thanks for asking'                      'θæŋks fər 'ɑ:skɪŋ

In final position: fɔ:

                                   'What's that for?’                        'wɒts  'ðæt fɔ:

17 'from'

Weak form:             frəm

                                  'I'm home from work'                   aɪm 'həʊm frəm 'wз:k

In final position: frɒm

                                 'Here's where it came from' 'hɪəz wear ɪt 'keɪm frɒm

18 'of'

Weak form:              əv

                                   'Most of all'                                  'məʊst əv 'ɔ:l

In final position: ɒv

                                  'Someone I've heard of’                'sΛmwΛn aɪv 'hз:d ɒv

19 'to'

Weak forms:               tə (before consonants)

                                     'Try to stop'                                         'traɪ tə 'stɒp

                                      tu (before vowels)

                                      'Time to eat'                                       'taɪm tu 'i:t

In final position: tu (it is not usual to use the strong form tu:; the pre-consonantal weak form tə is never used)

                                       'I don't want to'                                 aɪ 'dəʊnt 'wɒnt tu

20 'as'

Weak form:                 əz

                                     'As much as possible'                         əz 'mΛtʃ əz 'pɒsəbḷ

In final position: æz

                                     'That's what it was sold as'                'ðæts 'wɒt ɪt wəz 'səʊld æz

21 'some'

This word is used in two different ways. In one sense (typically, when it occurs before a countable noun, meaning "an unknown individual") it has the strong form:

                                    'I think some animal broke it' aɪ 'θɪŋk sΛm 'ænɪməl 'brəʊk ɪt  

It is also used before uncountable nouns (meaning "an unspecified amount of") and before other nouns in the plural (meaning "an unspecified number of"); in such uses it has the weak form s@m

                                      'Have some more tea'                         'həv səm 'mɔ: 'ti:

In final position: sΛm

                                      'I've got some'                                     aɪv 'gɒt sΛm

22 'there'

When this word has a demonstrative function, it always occurs in its strong form De@ (dear before vowels); for example:

                                      'There it is'                                            'ðeər ɪt ɪz

                                      'Put it there'                                         'pʊt ɪt 'ðeə

Weak forms:               də (before consonants)

                                      'There should be a rule'                       ðə 'ʃʊd bi a 'ru:l  

                                      ðər (before vowels)

                                       'There is'                                             Dər 'ɪz

In final position: the pronunciation may be da or ðeə.

                                      'There isn't any, is there?'                   ðər 'ɪzṇt eni ɪz da

                                                                                                  or ðər 'izṇt eni ɪz ðeə

The remaining weak-form words are all auxiliary verbs, which are always used in conjunction with (or at least implying) another ("full") verb. It is important to remember that in their negative form (i.e. combined with 'not') they never have the weak pronunciation, and some (e.g. 'don't', 'can't') have different vowels from their non-negative strong forms.

23 'can', 'could'

Weak forms:                    kən, kəd

                                           'They can wait'                                'ðeɪ kən 'weɪt

                                           'He could do it'                                'hi: kəd 'du: ɪt

In final position: kæn, kʊd

                                            'I think we can'                                aɪ 'θɪŋk wi 'kæn

                                            'Most of them could'                     'məʊst əv ðəm 'kʊd

24 'have', 'has', 'had'

Weak forms:                     əv, əz, əd (with initial h in initial position)

                                           'Which have you seen?'                   'wɪtʃ əv ju 'si:n

                                           'Which has been best?'                    'wɪtʃ əz bi:n 'best

                                            'Most had gone home'                    'məʊst ad gɒn 'həʊm

In final position: hæv, hæz, hæd

                                           'Yes, we have'                                    'jes wi 'hæv

                                           'I think she has'                                  aɪ 'θɪŋk ʃi 'hæz

                                            'I thought we had'                            aɪ 'θɔ:t wi 'hæd

25 'shall', 'should'

Weak forms:                   ʃəl or ʃỊ; ʃəd

                                         'We shall need to hurry'                           wi ʃỊ  'ni:d tə 'hΛri

                                         'I should forget it'                                    'aɪ  ɑəd fə'get ɪt

In final position:             ʃæl, ʃʊd

                                          'I think we shall'                                      aɪ 'θɪŋk wi 'ʃæl

                                         'So you should'                                        'səʊ ju 'ʃʊd

26 'must'

This word is sometimes used with the sense of forming a conclusion or deduction (e.g. 'she left at eight o'clock, so she must have arrived by now'); when 'must' is used in this way, it is less likely to occur in its weak form than when it is being used in its more familiar sense of obligation.

Weak forms:         məs (before consonants)

                                        'You must try harder'                                 ju məs 'traɪ^j hɑ:də

                                        məst (before vowels)

                                       'He must eat more'                                     hi məst 'i:t 'mɔ:

In final position: mΛst

                                        'She certainly must'                                    ʃi 'sз:tṇli 'mΛst

27 'do', 'does'

Weak forms:

'do'                                 də (before consonants)

                                       'Why do they like it?'                                  'waɪ də ðeɪ 'laɪk ɪt

                                       du (before vowels)

                                      'Why do all the cars stop?'                         'waI du 'O:I D@ 'ka:z 'stQp

'does'                           d@z

                                      'When does it arrive?'                                 'wen d@z It @'raIv

In final position: du:, dVz

                                      'We don't smoke, but some people do' 'wi: daunt 'sm@Uk bat 'sVm pi:pl□ 'du:

                                      'I think John does'                                         aI 'TINk 'dZQn dVz

28 'am', 'are', 'was', 'were'

Weak forms:              @m

                                     'Why am I here?'                                               'waI @m aI 'hI@

                                     @ (before consonants)

                                     'Here are the plates'                                         'hI@r @ D@ 'pleIts

                                    @r (before vowels)

                                     'The coats are in there'                                     D@ 'k@Uts @r In 'De@

                                    w@z

                                    'He was here a minute ago'                              hi w@z 'hI@r a 'mInIt @ 'g@U

                                    w@ (before consonants)

                                    'The papers were late'                                       D@ 'peIp@z w@ 'leIt

                                   w@r (before vowels)

                                   'The questions were easy'                                  D@ 'kwestS@nz w@r 'i:zi

In final position: {m, A:, WQZ, W³:

                                   'She's not as old as I am'                                    SIz 'not @z '@UId @z 'aI {m

                                   'I know the Smiths are'                                       aI 'n@U D@ 'smITs A:

                                   'The last record was'                                           D@ 'lA:st 'rekO:d WQZ

                                   'They weren't as cold as we were'                      DeI 'w³:nt @z 'k@Uld @z 'wi: W³: