Hadar Shemesh breaks down how to pronounce coffee and cafe. Coffee starts with an aspirated k sound and a longer first syllable. Cafe has a short a like in cat, then stretches the final vowel like the sound in day.
Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar, and this is how to Pronounce Friday, where we take a confusing word or word pair. We learn how to pronounce it and how to use it with confidence. Let's get started.
Hey, guys, it's Hadar. Today we're going to talk about the words coffee and and cafe. Two of my favorite concepts in this world. Coffee and cafe. Now, the word coffee starts with a k sound, and then the O that is usually associated with this neutral o sound by non native speakers is pronounced as ah. Ah. It's actually the ah as in father. Okay? So to make this sound, you want to drop your jaw, relax your lips, pull the tongue back a bit, create a lot of space inside your mout. Okay? Caw. Coffee. Coffee. One more thing. The k sound at the beginning of words before a vowel, since it's a stop sound that is voiceless, is aspirated. So it feels like there is a little h after coffee. Coffee. So it's not coffee, Coffee, coffee. And the first syllable is longer than the second one. Coffee. Let's get some coffee. Okay, now some speakers may pronounce it with a more rounded sound. Coffee. Caw. Okay, so you see that I round my lips just a bit. But what I usually tell my students is that try to make a pure ah, as in father sound if your immediate intention is to make a neutral o sound. And the result is probably going to be something between an ah and an o, because we can, like, merge the two sounds and then the result would be a perfect as in daughter. Right. Coffee. Coffee. Now, the word cafe has a very unique rhythm. Okay? And this is what I want you to focus on when pronouncing this word cafe. This word is very common and exists in many languages, usually pronounced with a neutral and e, Cafe.
Right.
But in American English, the beginning syllable is the a as in cat. So you want to take the time and drop your jaw a lot when you're making it. Ca, as in cat. Okay. The second syllable is a as in day. It's not a pure sound. No, actually, in English, you don't have words that end with this pure e sound sound. It has to close into this nice diphthong. A as in day. Cafe. Cafe. Now, to be able to make those two sounds, you have to stretch the syllables a little more than you're used to. Okay? Because if you're trying to fit it into the rhythm of the word, the way you say it in your own language, let's assume that you're saying something like cafe. Okay. I'm talking about most Latin languages, like French and Italian and Spanish and portugues. Portuguese. So if you try to fit it into the rhythm of the neutral pronunciation, then you'll never be able to make the actual sound because you have to open your mouth wide and to make a long diphthong at the end. Okay? So it's about stretching the two syllables. It's like you're saying it in slow motion. Cafe. Now, since you have time for yourself when you go to a cafe, you want to have time for yourself when you say this word. Let's go to a cafe and get some coffee. Cafe. Coffee. Okay, good. So go get some coffee and practice these two words with your friends and your family and your kids, if you have kids. And don't forget to subscribe as you're practicing.
Bye. Okay, that was your how to Pronounce Friday episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you like the podcast, then consider subscribing to the podcast. And if you feel really crazy, you can even rate and review the podcast. And you can find me at Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, where you can DM me and ask for all the crazy, fancy, confusing words that you'd like to know how to pronounce. Have a beautiful day, and I'll see you next time.
