Weak and Strong Forms of Pronunciation
The rhythm of utterances in English is determined by the combination of syllables which stand
out from the rest, because they are prominent (lexical words) and others which do not stand out,
because they are non-prominent (function words). A great number of these syllables are reduced
or weakened.
As mentioned before, function words are pronounced with weak forms. As Roach (2001) states,
such words “do not have a dictionary meaning in the way we normally expect nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs to have” (pp. 112-113). They are used to comply with the grammatical
structures of English sentences. Therefore, as they do not carry much information, if they were
not said, it would not be so complicated to recover them from the context in which they are used.
In order to test the foregoing, read the following example and try to add the missing items.
…. few years ago, my family …. I went …. …. most beautiful place in …. world: Hawaii. I would
like …. go there again …. this time with my friends.
It must not be assumed that reduced or weakened forms represent uneducated or non-standard
speech. On the contrary, the correct pronunciation of English involves the use of weak forms
unless these words have a special emphasis and are, consequently, made prominent.
Weakening involves making words shorter for the sake of fluency. Speed of delivery is generally
a determining factor, as it has been proved that the more rapidly people speak, the more weak
forms they may produce.
In general terms, “[i]t 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” (Roach,
2001, p.113).
Following is a list of words which can take weak forms. The words have been sorted by
grammatical class. Learners must be made aware that, for some words, the form must be
restrictive in the sense that that the phonetic context may constrain the use of certain weak form.
You are strongly advised to study the context where structure words are used and make your
choices accordingly.
Chart of strong and weak forms
Structure words Strong forms Weak forms
Conjunctions
And / ænd / / ənd, ən, n /
As / æz / / əz /
But / bʌt / / bət /
That / ðæt / / ðət /
Than / ðæn / / ðn /
Determiners
A / eɪ / / ə / before consonants or
semivowels.
An / æn / / ən , n / before vowels.
The / ðiː / / ðɪ, ði / before vowels.
/ ðə / before consonants.
Some / sʌm / / səm, sm /
His / hiz / / ɪz /
Her / hɜː(r) / / hə(r), ɜː(r), ə (r) /
Your / jɔː (r) / / jər, jə /
1
Their / ðeə(r) / / ðər, ðr /
Prepositions
At / æt / / ət /
For / fɔː(r) / / fər, fə /
From / frɒm / / frəm, frm /
Of / ɒv / / əv, v, ə /
To / tuː / / tʊ, tu / before vowels.
/ tə / before consonants.
Pronouns
He / hiː / / hɪ, hi, / Initially in a
sentence.
/ ɪ , i / Elsewhere.
Her / hɜː(r) / / hə(r), ɜː(r), ə (r) /
Him / hɪm / / ɪm /
That / ðæt / / ðət /
Them / ðem / / ðəm, ðm /
Us / ʌs / / əs, s /
You / juː / / jʊ, ju, jə /
Auxiliary verbs / Modals
Am /æm / / əm, m /
Is / ɪz / / s, z /
Are / ɑː(r) / / ər, ə /
Was / wɒz / / wəz /
Were / wɜː(r) / / wər, wə /
been / biːn / / bɪn /
Have / hæv / / həv, əv, v /
Has /hæz / / həz, əz, z, s /
Had / hæd / / həd, əd, d /
Do / duː / / dʊ, du, də, d /
Does / dʌz / / dəz /
Shall / ʃæl / / ʃəl, ʃl /
Will / wɪl / /l/
Can / kæn / / kən, kn /
Must / mʌst / / məst, məs /
Could / kʊd / / kəd, d /
Would / wʊd / / wəd, əd, d /
Should / ʃʊd / / ʃəd /
Other Words
Adjectival Words
Saint / seɪnt / / sənt, snt /
Sir / sɜː(r) / / sər, sə /
Miscellaneous
Just (adverb) / dʒʌst / / dʒəst /
There (existential) -------------- / ðər, ðə /
That (demonstrative) / ðæt / --------------
2
Some extra notes:
a) The strong forms of the modal auxiliaries could, would and should can also be used when these
words are not prominent.
b) All the words with initial / h / (him, his, her, has, had, etc.) commonly lose their / h / when they
occur unstressed in a sentence. But they retain the / h / when they occur initially in a sentence or
when they are stressed (strong form).
c) In almost all the cases, weakening is affected by the replacement of a vowel phoneme by either
/ ə /, / ɪ /, / ʊ / according to the following pattern:
There are also some cases in which the previous listed words are used with their strong form.
Below you will find the most common cases of strong pronunciation. Notice that prominent
syllables can never be rendered with weak forms of pronunciation.
1) The function word occurs in utterance-final position. This applies mainly to auxiliary verbs
and preposition. Examples:
- Can anybody do me a favor? -Nobody can. / kæn /
- Who likes the opera? -I do! / duː /
- That’s what we’ve been searching for. / fɔːr /
- She didn’t say where she came from. / frɒm /
2) The function word is made prominent in order to make a contrast. Examples:
- I think you got it all wrong: I want to talk to him / hɪm /, not her / hɜːr /.
- The options are just two. You must choose between us / ʌs / or them / ðem /
3) The function word is made prominent for the sake of emphasis. Examples:
- If you liked it, do / duː / take another slice of cake.
- In retrospect, it can be said thet D-day was the / ðiː / day.
3
4) The auxiliary verb is used in a question tag. Examples:
- They wouldn’t have done it, would / wʊd / they?
- We’re not coming, are / ɑːr / we?
5) The function word is quoted. Examples:
- The author uses “he” / hiː /instead of the person’s name.
- The preposition “of” / ɒv / can be used after the verb “dream”.
6) When prepositions occur before a final element which is a non-prominent pronoun, these items
may optionally take a weak or a strong form (Gimson & Crutenden, 1994). Example:
- As you may know, I did it for you. / fɔːr, / or / fər /
- They were looking at me. / æt / or / ət /.
7) If an auxiliary verb is contracted in a negative sentence, the auxiliary verb is always pronounced
with strong vowels. Examples:
- She wasn’t / ´wɒznt /as sly as you think.
- Tom wouldn’t / wʊdnt / let you go.
8) In the case of coordinated use of prepositions, they take strong form. Examples:
- I travel to / tuː /and from / frɒm / Paris a lot.
- A word of / ɒv /and about / əˈbaʊt / Biology.
Activities
1) Read the following sentences and transcribe the words which are used with weak forms.
a) I can come.
b) I saw them walking to the police-station.
c) I’ve had enough.
d) She is not a girl; she is the girl.
e) Did you have a good day?
2) Read these sentences again. Transcribe the underlined function words with strong forms. Think
of possible contexts in which the sentences have been used.
a) I can come.
b) I saw them walking to the police-station.
4
c) I’ve had enough.
d) She is not a girl; she is the girl.
e) Did you have a good day?
3) Read the given sentences and do the tasks:
✓ Circle the content words which are always stressed.
✓ Underline the function words.
✓ Decide whether the underlined function words must be used with strong or weak form
(rely on the context in which they are used). Justify your choices.
✓ Transcribe the function words accordingly.
a) I do know what I am looking for.
b) His cat has been bothering me.
c) Bring them a cup of coffee.
d) have you ever jumped from a plane?
e) There are some nuts over there.
f) Could you see him from your window?
g) I think he has to say “can”, not “shall”.
I case you need extra explanation of “strong and weak forms” I recommend you watch the
following video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31-xVBwGNDY
Endings
In English there are phonological rules which govern how we say the plural forms of most words,
the 3rd person singular of verbs in the Simple Present, the genitive case of singular nouns, the
contracted forms of “has” and “is” and the past forms of the regular verbs.
Native speakers and many non-native ones use these rules correctly without ever giving them a
conscious thought when they speak. But, for some reason, our mother-tongue may be the culprit:
some Spanish speakers learning as a foreign language do not say these words correctly and drop
endings. These unwanted elisions often result in a foreign accent or, what is worse, in serious
misunderstandings. It is for this reason that future professionals of the language need to be aware
of these rules so as not to make undesired mistakes.
In this lesson we are going to deal with the basic rules that govern word endings and we will have
some practice in which you will have to apply these rules. Remember that the information
contained here should go hand in hand with oral practice in which you actually use what you have
learnt because your ultimate objective should always be to improve oral production.
5
1. Plural forms, 3rd person singular Simple Present, Genitive case and contracted form of
“is” and “has”
These basic rules apply to the plural forms of most nouns in English.
Rule 1 - Words which in singular form end in these five voiceless consonant sounds / p, t, k, f, θ
/ form their plurals with the sound / s /. These examples will demonstrate how the rule works:
- “lips” → / lɪps /
- “coats” → / kəʊts /
- “walks” → / wɔːks /
- “staffs” → / stɑːfs /
- “breaths” → / breθs /
Rule 2 – Words which in their singular form end in these voiced consonant sounds / b, d, ɡ, v, ð,
l, m, n, ŋ / or end in vowel sounds form their plural with the sound / z /. A few examples will
demonstrate how the rule works:
- “bibs” → / bɪbz /
- “deeds” → / diːdz /
- “legs” → / leɡz /
- “waves” → / weɪvz /
- “clothes” → / kləʊðz /
- “dolls” → / dɒlz /
- “lambs” → / læmz /
- “hens” → / henz /
- “songs” → / sɒŋz /
- “flies” → / flaɪz /
- “beez” → / biːz /
Rule 3 – Words which in their singular form end in “sibilant” sounds such as / s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ /,
form their plurals adding another syllable / ɪz /. A few examples will demonstrate the rule:
- “glass” → / ˈɡlɑːsɪz /
- “breeze” → / ˈbriːzɪz /
- “wish” → / ˈwɪʃɪz /
- “garage” → / ɡəˈrɑːʒɪz /
- “witch” → / ˈwɪtʃɪz /
- “cage” → / ˈkeɪdʒɪz /
✓ The same three rules above apply to the third person singular of verbs in the Simple Present.
Example: “Allan wishes…” - / ˈælən ˈwɪʃɪz /.
✓ The same three rules work even for the possessives of singular nouns. Example: “Bob’s bike”
- / ˈbɒbz ˈbaɪk /.
✓ The same three rules are also used in the contracted form of “is” and “has”. “It is” becomes
“it’s”, “He has got” becomes “He’s got”. But “is” and “has” do not really contract at all in
terms of pronunciation with words ending in / s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ /, although they may appear
contracted in a written text. Examples:
- “It’s a nice day” - / ɪts ə ˈnaɪs ˈdeɪ /.
6
- “Lunch’s overs” - / ˈlʌntʃɪz ˈəʊvər /. In this case the word “is” is contracted in the written
text, but the ’s is still pronounced fully as / ɪz / because of the previous / tʃ / sound.
Rule 4 - Silent Genitive. In some cases, the possessive form (or genitive case) is not pronounced.
It occurs when the possessive case is added to a plural noun such as “Dogs’ food” (we only add
an apostrophe) or to classical or Biblical names such as “Augustus, Jesus, Moses” like in “Jesus’
teachings”.
While the difference between plural possessives can be shown in written English it can be
ambiguous in the spoken language. For example, the pronunciation of (2) would be the same if it
were:
• The athlete's representative ...
or
• The athletes’ representative ...
In practice, however, context usually makes things clear.
Lack of consensus
There is no consensus on how to use it with surnames ending in "s", for example "Davis". By way
of example, until its 15th edition (2003), the Chicago Manual of Style recommended Davis', but
in its 16th edition (2010), recommends Davis's. On the other hand, Oxford Dictionaries
recommends the former.
Writers are recommended to spell as they pronounce. Davids’ is pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪdz/ and
Davids’s is pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪdzɪz/.
2. Past forms of regular verbs
Three basic rules to the past forms of regular verbs.
Rule 1 – the past form of regular verbs ending in voiceless consonants such as / p, k, tʃ, f, θ, s, ʃ /
is pronounced / t /. Here you have some examples:
- picked → / pɪkt /
- marched → / mɑːrtʃt /
- laughed → / lɑːft /
- smashed → / smæʃt /
Rule 2 – the past form of regular verbs ending in vowel sounds or voiced consonants such as / b,
ɡ, dʒ, v, ð, z, ʒ, m, n, l / is pronounced / d /. Here are some examples:
- bathed → / beɪðd /
- moved → / muːvd /
- answered → / ˈɑːnsərd /
- phoned → / fəʊnd /
7
Rule 3 – the past form of regular verbs ending in / t / or / d / is pronounced / ɪd /. Here are some
examples:
- visited → / ˈvɪzɪtɪd /
- loaded → / ˈləʊdɪd /
- minded → / ˈmaɪndɪd /
Activities
a) Read the following set of words or phrases and transcribed them phonemically. Try to spot the
rule that is being applied in each case.
1) Tom begs 15) boosted
2) Cat’s 16) Emma guesses
3) smoked 17) fence’s
4) listed 18) The bird flies
5) Jill kicks 19) George’s
6) smelled 20) cooked
7) mimed 21) Bill’s
8) gated 22) He lunches
9) cleaned 23) missed
10) looked 24) Mike dashes
11) It hurts 25) Horse’s
12) serenaded 26) touched
13) listened 27) Dog’s
14) shocked
b) How do you pronounce the final “-s” in the following words? Transcribe each word in the
corresponding column.
Word /s/ /z/ / ɪz /
1) trees
2) watches
3) stays
4) fixes
5) cards
6) clothes
7) prices
8) Wife’s
9) Marcus’s
10) It’s
11) misses
12) Liz’s
13) learns
14) quizzes
15) decides
16) ages
17) stops
18) lasts
8
19) washes
20) Pat’s
C) Read the following text silently. Extract the nouns in the plural and the verbs in the Simple
Present, 3rd person singular and transcribe them phonemically.
At home I do all the housework and all the cooking except on weekends when my kids do it
for me. My husband never cleans of fixes food because he works all the in a big company. But
he takes the kids to the school every day and pays taxes at the beginning of the month. We
both love doing the gardening. So, in the summer, we take turns to do it. We generally spend
hours cutting the grass and watering the plants and flowers.
