Lux
How "asks" and "asked" are pronounced in real life conversation? Hello! How does a native speaker pronounce the words "asks" and "asked" in real life conversation? I already know that "asks" will have the final sound /s/ and /t/ for "asked". But this sounds disruptive and unnatural in real conversation where people tend to speed up their talk. For example: She asks Tom to go on a date. If I pronounce the final sound /s/, the sentence seems to be disrupted because I have to stop awhile, which makes it's quite unnatural, in my opinion. So, how does a native speaker pronounce these words in long sentences and in real life conversation?
Aug 14, 2015 12:00 PM
Answers · 10
3
Are you asking whether it's OK to miss off the final 's' from the word 'asks'? If so, the answer is most definitely 'no'. Native speakers never omit the 's' at the end of words, however quickly we're speaking. As native speakers of English, we've grown up pronouncing consonant clusters such a 'sks', and they don't feel 'unnatural' to us. Nor is there any need to 'disrupt' the sentence by pronouncing this group of consonants, as the 't' of 'Tom' flows quite naturally on from the 's' of 'asked'. If you're breaking the flow of the sentence to make these sounds you are probably over-enunciating them. And in the case of the past tense, the 't' sound at the end of 'asked' is merged into the 't' of 'Tom', so there's no problem there, either. In fact, if any sound is dropped in connected speech, it's the 'k' in 'asked' or 'asks'. It's not uncommon for a native British English speaker, for example, to pronounce 'asked' as /ɑːst/ when speaking in a relaxed manner. So, the second and third words of 'She asked Tom to go on a date' might run together as /ɑːstɒm/ .
August 14, 2015
1
I am not sure I see any problem. If you don't pronounce the "s" in the third person singular of "to ask" your sentence will be ungrammatical. "Whenever I see my aunt, she asks about my brother". "I was asked about you yesterday when I saw aunt Jane". All sounds perfectly natural!
August 14, 2015
Ahh, but it seems Su.ki has answered the question and I'm quite satisfied with it :D. Thank you for your suggestion Peachey ^^
August 14, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04WAGCnk3Ro This is the clip that teaches how to pronounce the word. The problem is that, I've never heard an actor or actress pronounced it like that or maybe because they speak too fast (esp. the *hiss* sound and the speaker stops for awhile). Anyway, if the word is pronounced in this way, then how can you say it in a quick conversation? :) just curious
August 14, 2015
Lux, may I suggest that you record yourself saying the problem sentence? We may be able to help you better instead of just theorising about it. You can use vocaroo.com and post the link here. :)
August 14, 2015
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