YouTube lesson (Hadar Shemesh) teaching how to pronounce the phrase "figure it out" in American English. The instructor breaks the three-word phrase into its phonetic parts, demonstrates connected speech (reduction, flap T, linking), gives tips on vowel placement, and assigns a brief practice task for learners to use the phrase in context.
Chapters
Hey, guys, it's hadar. And this is the accent's way, your way to finding clarity, confidence and freedom in English. Today. I want to talk about the phrase figure it out. Figure it out. So it's basically three words, but we are going to treat it as if it's one word because that's how you say it. Figure it out. It feels like it's one word. But first, let's break it down. The first word is figure. And basically it sounds like you're saying figure your yer as in your house. So the fig begins with an F sound and then it's I as in sit fig. So it's not fig, fig. It's more relaxed. Drop your jaw. There should be a space of about one finger between your top and bottom teeth and then a G sound, fig. Then you switch to J. So although you don't have any indication in the space that there is a Y sound there, because it's as in. Yes, there is no Y, but it's there in pronunciation. Listen. Figure. So it's a Y sound, a schwa and an r. So basically it's a Y and an r. Yer, yer, figure, figure. And then we have the two words it and out, but we connect it together so. So the word it reduces to a schwa and a t since it's a function word. And function words are usually reduced when they're not stressed, to a schwa. And if I connect the two words together, it sounds like figure because the R in the word figure becomes the beginning of the word. So basically you're saying fig ya r. Now the T at the end of the word, it becomes the beginning of the next word and then the T becomes a flap T because it's between two vowels. So I'm not saying figure it out. Okay? I don't pronounce it as a real T. I pronounce it as a flap T, which sounds like a D or a very light D. Listen, figure it out. You can check out the session on the flap T. Figure out. Okay, so see how I break it down. Figure R. Doubt. The out sound is basically the A as in cat and then an U and a T. Listen. Now, most non native speakers pronounce it with ah with a back ah sound. Out, out. It's totally okay and it's still going to be super clear. But if you want to sound closer to American speakers, then you want to bring your tongue forward to the a sound. So it's not out, it's out, out. And when you connect the words together, it sounds like it. Out it out. The T at the end is just a held T or a very light T so you don't have to overly pronounce it. Figure it out. See, I just hold the ear at the end. Figure it out. I have to figure it out. Figure it out. Alright, so your task for this week is to find a situation where you have to use this phrase. For example, oh, I have this really big problem at work. I have to figure it out. And when you say it, make sure that you pronounce it just like the way we learned today. All right. Figure it out. As if it's one word. All right, that's it. Thank you for watching. Please share this video with your friends if you liked it and come on over to my website. Sign up to my newsletter letter to get me in your inbox every single week with great content and free stuff. That's it. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
