English Pronunciation Practice: Linking Sounds
Learn how to link words together when you speak
Native English speakers can be so frustrating.
Rather than pronounce each word on its own, they do something called linking; they push the ends and beginnings of words together, forming a giant blend of sounds rather than clear, separated words. And yet, they insist on having so many different words to describe similar things. How can an ESL speaker learn a single darn thing???
Luckily, I have an answer; linking. American speakers do this when a word ends in a consonant sound and the next begins with a vowel, creating that one-giant-word effect. The trick is to only do it in this direction, from consonant to vowel, and not the other way. Once you master this, you’ll sound ten times more fluent.
Click the play button on the video to see me break down how to link and how you can include it in your speech. Then scroll down to see more exercises for you to practice and some examples of how to say them with confidence.
Examples from the video to practice
Here’s a quick breakdown of linked speech so you can practice on your own and check out some additional resources.
1. “I have a pen.”
Remember – the E at the end of HAVE is silent. So, this appears to end with a vowel, but it’s the consonant sound of the V that helps you link into the “uh” sound of the A.
So you pronounce it like this, “I HAVEUH pen.”
The combo of HAVE and A is extremely common. Click here to listen to lots more examples.
2. “I visited the Big Apple on Wednesday.”
The words I and VISITED look like they might link, but that’s the wrong order of sounds – we want to link from a consonant to a vowel, not the other direction.
So, where’s the link?
It’s between BIG and APPLE and ON. As I explain the video, the three different words essentially become one big word. BIGAPPLEON. Again, we see the silent E in APPLE which marks a Dark L, but all we hear is that soft “uhl” sound at the end of APPLE. So, it links perfectly with ON.
You can hear more examples of how to pronounce the linked version of “the Big Apple” in this video.
3. “Nice weather we’re having, right?”
This is a tricky one because the link is a bit less obvious. Here, it happens between NICE and WEATHER.
Again, we have the silent E at the end of NICE, giving the end of the word a soft S sound. Then, it links NICE with the word WEATHER and we get “NICE SWEATHER”. This link takes some practice, so make sure to position your lips and tongue properly as I demonstrate at 3:48 in the video.
If you need to hear more examples, check them out here.
4. “I eat toast with an egg and some vegetables like broccoli as well. Usually, I have some tea or coffee in addition.”
There’s a lot of connected speech going on but let’s focus on the six linking opportunities there. The first one is I EAT TOAST WITH. take that WITH and go to your A in AN and you can hear the link as the N leads into the E, “ANEGG.”
Remember that the American accent also insists that we reduce words. So when I describe my breakfast, it goes from “toast with an egg” to “TOAST WITH A NEGAN,” almost a completely different sentence.
You can really hear the link between AS and WELL. That’s a voiced S in AS, or an S that sounds like a Z. So again, we almost create a new word; AZWELL. You can see me break this down in minute 6:13 in the video.
The words IN and ADDITION create a similar link, “INA DITION”. Click for a few more examples of how native speakers say “in addition,” with that spoken link.
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