Learn Australian English in this Pronunciation episode of Aussie English where I teach contracting WILL onto the personal pronouns I, YOU, HE, SHE, WE, THEY & IT.

Pronunciation: Contracting WILL onto I, YOU, HE, SHE, WE, THEY & IT

G’day guys. Welcome to this episode where we’re going to be practicing our pronunciation of the word WILL when it’s contracted. So, we’re going to be contracting the auxiliary verb or modal verb, depending on how you want to call it, onto all of the different personal pronouns in English. So, I’m sure by now you guys are getting the hang of this. We’re going to be contracting WILL onto the pronouns I, YOU, HE, SHE, WE, THEY and IT.

So, first, we’ll just go through what the word WILL is. WILL is an auxiliary verb that is used to talk about a few different things.

Firstly, to talk about the future. So, when saying what we believe will happen or is going to happen. For example, “I WILL have to take the train tomorrow.”

Secondly, to talk about what people want to do or are willing to do. For example, “I WILL help you if you need.” So, “if you need my help I WILL help you.”

And thirdly, to make promises or offers, for example, “I WILL come and see you this weekend.” So, I’m offering to come and see you or I’m promising to come and see you.

So, most basically, I would just worry about using the word WILL in terms of talking about something that is going to happen in the future. So, talking about the future tense.

So, as usual guys, let’s practice our pronunciation first by going through a listen and repeat exercise. So, you know the drill by now. First, we’re going to say the uncontracted form. So, for example, “I WILL”, and then after that we’re going to say the contracted form, for example, “I’LL”.

So, listen and repeat after me guys. Practice your pronunciation. Say things exactly as I say them. And let’s go.

Listen and repeat exercise:

I will – I’ll x 5
You will – You’ll x 5
He will – He’ll x 5
She will – She’ll x 5
We will – We’ll x 5
They will – They’ll x 5
It will – It’ll x 5

So, just as a side note, guys, you may or may not know this but when “T” in English is followed by and preceded by a vowel it’s often turned into a “D”. And so, that’s why “It will” turns into “ID’LL” where the “T” sounds like a “D”, “ID’LL”. And so, this is an incredibly common way that you’re going to hear natives pronounce “T’s” when they’re followed by and preceded by a vowel sound. So, when there’s a vowel before and after the “T” it often turns into a “D” sound when spoken more informally. So, that’s why you’re going to hear “IT WILL” turn into “ID’LL”.

So, in the following substitution exercises that we’ll go through as usual, guys, I want you to substitute the uncontracted form WILL in all of these sentences with the contracted form of “‘LL”, that “’-L-L”, “’LL”. So, I’ve added in a lot of time-related words and phrases in order to help you get used to thinking about using the word WILL. So, for example, because we’re talking about the future I’ve tried to incorporate things like “Next week”, “Tomorrow”, “In the morning”, all of these things that are referring to the future, so, a period of time in the future to help you think about using that word WILL. And so, obviously, if you’re talking about tomorrow, you’re talking about next week, you’re talking about in the morning that’s about to come and doing something then you’re going to be talking about the future. And so, more often than not you’re going to be using the word WILL.

Anyway, so yeah, as you guys know I’m a massive proponent of using nice organic context-based sentences where you can really infer the meaning of the sentence and of the words within the sentence, and it really allows you to learn and practice your comprehension a lot more organically. So, you can do it more naturally and you can get a sense of what everything means.

Anyway, let’s start this substitution exercise, guys, and as usual remember I’m going to say the first sentence uncontracted and then the second sentence contracted. So, in the case of all these sentences WILL is going to turn into ‘LL on the different pronouns.

And remember if it’s difficult just treat it as a listen and repeat exercise where you guys copy exactly what I say and how I say it if you want to practice my pronunciation. Or, if you want to up the difficulty, so turn it up a notch, make things a little bit more difficult then treat it as a substitution exercise where after I say the first sentence instead of copying that first sentence exactly you anticipate the contraction and say the contracted form, and then listen for me to say the second sentence to check you were correct. And then you can always repeat the second sentence as a listen and repeat exercise, whether or not your got it right or wrong, in order to just practice your pronunciation.

So, let’s go guys!

Substitution exercise:

I will send you the information when I get it
I’ll send you the information when I get it.

You will make her angry.
You’ll make her angry.

He will buy a new car next week.
He’ll buy a new car next week.

She will call you tomorrow.
She’ll call you tomorrow.

We will never give in to the enemy.
We’ll never give in to the enemy.

They will change their minds in the morning.
They’ll change their minds in the morning.

It will always be this way.
It’ll always be this way.

I will never see him again.
I’ll never see him again.

You will get a new job soon.
You’ll get a new job soon.

He will start his own business one day.
He’ll start his own business one day.

She will never solve this difficult puzzle.
She’ll never solve this difficult puzzle.

We will send you a message later.
We’ll send you a message later.

They will tell him everything they know.
They’ll tell him everything they know.

It will only get worse in the future.
It’ll only get worse in the future.

I will have to remind him again later.
I’ll have to remind him again later.

I think you will be very successful one day.
I think you’ll be very successful one day.

Do you think he will see her this week?
Do you think he’ll see her this week?

She hopes she will win the lottery this month.
She hopes she’ll win the lottery this month.

We will never see each other again.
We’ll never see each other again.

She said they will arrive tonight.
She said they’ll arrive tonight.

It will happen when it happens.
It’ll happen when it happens.

So, one more thing you guys can do if you want to get a little more out of this episode is to go back and listen to me speaking and try and see where I’ve said words that have a “T” in them with a vowel each side of that “T”, a vowel sound, like in the word “LaTer” and I turn it into a “D” sound, like “LaDer”. So, again you’re going to hear this each time that I say “IT WILL”, it’ll become “ID’LL”. And there’s a few other words in there that also have “T’s” surrounded by vowels, so with a vowel afterwards and a vowel beforehand that may also have been turned into a “D” sound. So, this is just something extra for you guys to go back and listen to, be aware of, draw attention to, so that you yourself when you’re speaking English and you notice these words, and you want to mimic, you want to sound exactly like a native speaker, you can practice these pronunciation tips.

Anyway, that’s probably long enough for this episode guys. I’m sure you guys are getting the picture. I’m sure you’re understanding, and I really hope these episodes are helping. Keep practicing them. Keep working on these contractions because you’re going to be using them sooner or later, you’re going to be saying them day in day out when you’re speaking with natives, and you’re going to be hearing them all the time when natives speak, and they’re not going to know they’re saying them. So, keep at it and I’ll see you in the next episode guys.