A short pronunciation tutorial by Hadar Shemesh (YouTube) explaining the difference between the words "woman" (singular) and "women" (plural). The speaker demonstrates articulatory features (lip rounding, jaw drop, tongue position) and contrasts the vowel quality of the first syllable (schwa-like in "woman" vs. the short "i" in "women"), framed around International Women's Day.
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Hey, it's hadar. Today is March 8, International Women's Day, and I figured it would be the perfect day to discuss the difference between a woman and women. One woman, a few women, or many women. And if you're watching it not on March 8, then it doesn't matter, because every day is Women's Day. So let's get started. Woman. Women. Let's begin with the singular form. We start with a W sound. So round your lips and then open it up to an as in good. You see? So my lips open up a little bit, but they're still a bit rounded. The jaw drops, the tongue pulls back, and it's kind of relaxed in the back. Think like you have hot potato in the back of your mouth and you don't have to touch anything. W. And then you move on to the second syllable, which is. It's an M sound, a schwa, a reduced vowel, and then an N. W, M, w, N. The plural form is different in the spelling at the end of the word, right? So instead of A, you have e, but it affects the pronunciation of the first syllable. Now, why is that? I have no idea, but that's just how it is. So instead of saying W, M, we now say we men, all right? It's the as in sit vowel sound. So from the W, you switch to the sound, and then again the ending is exactly the same. Woman, Women, one woman, a few women. All right, that's it. Now, at the end, I'd like to wish all of you, my women friends around the world, that you'll always give yourself the permission and space to express yourself in English and in your native tongue. That's it. Thank you for watching. Have a wonderful day and have a great year. I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
