Hey there! It’s Michael here - and welcome back to Speak Naturally in a Minute from Happy English. I’m here every Sunday with a quick one-point lesson to help you improve your pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.

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Now, in everyday spoken American English, we often use reduction - that means we shorten or soften sounds when we speak. Today’s example is the word “didn’t.” 

First, most native speakers drop the D in the middle.  So instead of “didn’t,” we say “dih-n’t.” “dih-n’t.” The reason is if you pronounce the final D of did, and the next sound is N, D followed by N makes the sound stop. Did-n’t. Dropping the D makes the sound smoother: “dih-n’t.” Like, “I didn’t see your message.” becomes “I din’t see your message.” OR “She didn’t call me back.” becomes “She dih-n’t call me back.” “dih-n’t.”

And there’s one more thing. The final T in this word also tends to get very soft… or disappears.  So “dih-n’t ” becomes “dih-n.”  That’s right - both the D and the T get reduced. I’m sure you hear this all the time, like,  “I didn’t hear you.” becomes “I dih-n hear you.”  “She didn’t call me back.” becomes “She dih-n call me back.” and  “They didn’t do it.” becomes “They dih-n do it.”

This is not slang and it’s not lazy. It’s just how real American English flows. So next time you say didn’t, try relaxing your tongue a bit:  “I dih-n know.”  “I dih-n get it.”  That’s the rhythm of natural American speech.

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