In this Pronunciation episode I teach you guys how to contract “Are” onto the words “These”, “Those”, “Things” and “There”.

Pronunciation: Contracting ARE onto the words These, Those, Things, There.

Welcome to this episode of Aussie English guys. Today we’re going to be contracting the word “Are” onto the words “These”, “Those”, “Things” and “There”. And so, it’s going to be “These are”, “These’re”, “Those are”, “Those’re”, “Things are”, “Things’re”, and “There are”, “There’re”. So, “Are” is the plural form of the verb “To be” in the present tense. And to start with as usual we’ll dive into doing a listen and repeat exercise. So, listen and repeat after me, or if you want to make things advanced, as I’ve said previously, treat this as a mini substitution exercise. So, try and anticipate the contractions before I say them. Otherwise, just listen and repeat after me guys, and try and say it exactly as I say it.

Listen and repeat:

These are – These’re x 5

Those are – Those’re x 5

Things are – Things’re x 5

There are – There’re x 5

So, you’ll notice in some cases the contracted form is only really subtle here. So, instead of “You are” and “You’re”, how that vowel kind of changes in there, in these cases it’s just that the word “Are” becomes more of an “Ah” sound at the end. “These’AH”, “Those’AH”, “Things’AH”, “There’AH”. So, as usual, let’s dive into the substitution exercises guys. I want you to listen to the sentences that I say and try and repeat the first sentence in the contracted form. So, if I say “These are” I want you to say “These’re”, if I say “Those are” I want you to say “Those’re”, if I say “Things are” I want you to say “Things’re”, and if I say “There are” I want you to say “There’re”. So, again, if this exercise is a bit difficult treat it as a listen and repeat exercise until it becomes easy enough for you to do as a substitution exercise. And I might give you a side-note here before we get started guys. In formal English when it’s written you wouldn’t contract the word “Are” onto any of these words. You would always separate the two when it’s written. However, if you’re writing informally like on the internet to a friend on Facebook or you’re writing on Reddit or some kind of website most of the time people aren’t going to worry about whether or not these things are contracted. They’ll either do it or they won’t. It doesn’t really matter. So, let’s get started.

Substitution exercise:

Those are mine.

Those’re mine.

These are my pets.

These’re my pets.

There are too many.

There’re too many.

Things are going as planned.

Things’re going as planned.

These are my favourite movies.

These’re my favourite movies.

Those are some angry customers.

Those’re some angry customers.

Things are lying all over the floor.

Things’re lying all over the floor.

Those are all the books that I have.

Those’re all the books that I have.

Things are only going to get better.

Things’re only going to get better.

Those are exactly what I am looking for.

Those’re exactly what I’m looking for.

There are lots of kids in the classroom.

There’re lots of kids in the classroom

These are going to be my parents-in-law.

These’re going to be my parents-in-law.

Things are becoming impossible to handle.

Things’re becoming impossible to handle.

There are still some ice-cubes in the freezer.

There’re still some ice-cubes in the freezer.

Do you know what these are doing on the table?

Do you know what these’re doing on the table?

So, that’s it for this episode guys. Keep practicing it. Keep repeating it until these exercises and no longer difficult for you, and these contractions become natural. And I’ll speak to you in the next episode. See you soon!