How do you pronounce 'are' in stressed and unstressed forms?
Channel: Fiona Wattam
Date: 2023-02-11

In this short clip you'll hear the question form of 'are' (unstressed) and the answer (stressed).

Learners of English tend to pronounce them the same in stressed and unstressed forms.

This stressed/unstressed change happens a lot with auxiliary verbs e.g

Can you - /kn/ you? (Question, unstressed) 
Yes I can = Yes I /kæn/ (Answer, stressed).

It also happens with prepositions when they are in different positions in the sentence e.g. the 'at' in the question 1 is weak (sounds like 'ut'), but in Question 2 you'll hear the full form (sounds like 'at').

1. Are you looking at me? ə ju ˈlʊkɪn ət miː
2. What are you looking at? wɒt ə ju ˈlʊkɪŋ æt

Learn more about how to improve your Listening score by learning about the changes in fast, natural speech:

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/02/ielts-pronunciation-tips-listening-test/

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