# pronunciation - can / can't



## epovo

Maybe this question does not belong to this forum. I humbly ask for the leniency of the moderators 

I'm always frustrated, after so many years of practicing English, not to be able to tell "can" and "can't" apart in spoken English when the pronunciation is not perfect, or in many songs when you can't hear the final "t". 
Most people change the vowel quite clearly and so you have
can    /kan/ 
can't  /keint/ (mostly American) or /ka:nt/ mostly British

... but not always. In Tracy Chapman's "Baby can I hold you tonight" she's singing softly the verse:

" 'Sorry',
  it's all that you can't say"...

I figured it was "can't" by the context, but no by my ears.
I'd like to ask natives: is it something that may happen to you occasionally? 

Thank you all in advance


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## Mirlo

Una cosa que me ayudo a mi es que mi profesora de universidad me dijo que pronunciara la "t" casi parecido a una "d" asi le puedes poner el acento al Can't (d).
espero te ayude,
Saludos


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## andym

There are whole websites devoted to misheard lyrics. I think it maybe just poor diction, but maybe singers change the normal stresses to fit with the music.

The difference between 'can' and 'can't' is pretty important and would often not be obvious from the context so someone who consistently pronounced the two in the same way would have major problems.

The film 'Singing in the Rain' has fun with the pronunciation of 'can't' - a good excuse to watch it again.


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## epovo

Thank you  ... But is it the stress of the sentence, or the vowel, that are supposed to be different or you just have to strain your ears to hear that 't' sound? 
The t sound would never be heard in 'I can't talk now' at normal speed.


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## andym

epovo said:


> Thank you  ... But is it the stress of the sentence, or the vowel, that are supposed to be different or you just have to strain your ears to hear that 't' sound?
> The t sound would never be heard in 'I can't talk now' at normal speed.



Aiee. Now I'm talking to myself! 

I think there are two possibilities: either there is a very slight pause between the two t's or I change the pronunciation of 'can't'. Even if I run the two words together 'I can't talk now' sounds different from 'I can talk now'. Maybe someone else will be able to explain bettr than I can.


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## epovo

Ok, so I guess it's as subtle as all that. Thank you Andym. I'll train my ear some more.


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## greenpoison

I think she is singing "sorry ...is that all that you can say" because any other way dosen´t make sense. The phrase is muched used in england; when somebody dosen´t explain themselves fully, in this case "wheres the explanation, mate"


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## Soy Yo

Creo que "I can't talk now." tiene un "stop" después de la n (quizas sea una pausa). (Creo que siento que mi lengua se eleva un poco a los lados."

"I can talk now." (No siento que los lados de la lengua se involucran sino que la punta de la lengua hace el trabajo.)

¿Estoy loco o qué?

Otra cosa: creí que ibas a preguntar si can't se pronuncia como "can" con "t" o si se pronuncia como "cane" con "t".  En ciertas partes se dice "can" pero la contracción se pronuncia "cane't" ("long a").


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## Gymclasscow

I've tried to say can't and I guess I'm used to saying something along the lines of 'I carn talk' but then again maybe the t is lost in other words. But I have to agree with you I have to strain my ears listening to our (English) music and I have to wait impatiently for the last letter that will differentiate between different words  i.e. can't or can, or further and farther. I guess word are so slurred and mixed up in chat these days and they aren't made for the amatuer ear. Also it could be something to do with accents. For example the name Catherine is pronouced Cath-Rin instead of it's spelling Cath-Er-Rin. Sorry I've rambled on for so long but it's better than waiting for someone to reply to my long over-due homework query. Ho-Hum. 
xx Cow


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## andym

I've been thinking about this (oh dear).

Maybe if there are two t's it's the second t that loses out 'I can't 'alk'?


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## Soy Yo

Creo que Andym tiene razón!!!!


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## andym

epovo

If it makes you feel any better I've just been listening to that track and even though I know the lyric is 'you can't say' it sounds to me like 'you can say' all. I _can_ say is that her pronunciation on that track is not at all typical of English speakers. Strange, because if she deliberately wrote 'can't in the lyric to make a point, why then sing it is as 'can'?


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## epovo

Greenpoison: She does say "can't" in the song (i've looked it up and it makes sense if you listen to the whole song).

Soy Yo: Yes I wanted to know if everybody pronounces cane't (that is /keint/) in the US and in the UK they make it rhyme with aren't (that is  /ka:nt/) or as GymClaacow says, something like carn't (of course without any trace of the r sound itself).
Andym: I don't think so. In "I can't stay" the t is practiaclaly impossible to pronounce at normal speed: it merely leaves a microsecond of silence between n and s.

Thank you alll guys. I love this place.


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## epovo

Yes, Andym. It makes me feel MUCH BETTER. thank you!!


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## Soy Yo

epovo said:


> Greenpoison: She does say "can't" in the song (i've looked it up and it makes sense if you listen to the whole song).
> 
> Soy Yo: Yes I wanted to know if everybody pronounces cane't (that is /keint/) in the US and in the UK they make it rhyme with aren't (that is /ka:nt/) or as GymClaacow says, something like carn't (of course without any trace of the r sound itself).
> Andym: I don't think so. In "I can't stay" the t is practiaclaly impossible to pronounce at normal speed: it merely leaves a microsecond of silence between n and s.
> 
> Thank you alll guys. I love this place.


 
En EE.UU., decimos principalmente /ken/ y /kent/ aunque existe en ciertos dialectos se dice /ken/ y /keint/.  Ninguno de estos dos /kant/ de Inglaterra ni /karnt/.


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## mazbook

Problems like this are why *enunciation *(clearly speaking each word separately) is still taught in *good* schools in the U.S.  English, as one of the many germanic languages (originally) is *supposed* to have a very slight hesitation between words (German actually has a glottal stop), but nowadays, particularly in British English, this is often not done in ordinary speech. ¡Qué lástima!  Of course, Spanish speakers have difficulty with this, since it is just the opposite of correct spoken Spanish, and many who learn/are learning English just don't hear (from friends, co-workers, etc.) correctly enuciated spoken English.  

Adding to the difficulty is the fact that English is not phonetic and can be pronounced many different, _*correct*_ ways.  Can't is a word that actually has three different, correct pronunciations that I know of:

kant
kawnt
kaynt

If any one of these is said before a verb beginning with t, and *isn't *enunciated properly, you get can'talk, which, especially to the ear of someone not accustomed to English speech, sounds exactly the same as cantalk.  

Believe me, even native English speakers often have problems when listening to this sort of (to *me*, uneducated) speech, so don't feel bad that you can't hear the difference. 

EDIT:  I actually had to turn off my air-conditioner yesterday to be able to understand a very well educated (tri-lingual) Canadian person (native English speaker, not French) with whom I was having a conversation in my business yesterday.  His *enunciation* was so poor that I just couldn't understand him with the slight noise interference from the air-conditioner.

Saludos desde Mazatlán


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## epovo

Muchas gracias Mazbook. Muy instructivo y reconfortante. Echo de menos el viejo "cannot", no obstante.


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## Soy Yo

Si prefieres "cannot" no hay por qué no usarlo.


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## mazbook

I always try to teach my family and friends who are learning English NOT to use the common English contractions when speaking...always use both words because then you won't be misunderstood.  I also stress enunciation (¡Habla cada palabra separada!) so they will speak English (regardless of accent or pronunciation!) more clearly.

Of course they have to learn to *recognize* those contractions when spoken to, and *that's* the hard part.

I love theatrical Spanish as spoken by actors and politicians (and good doctors).  It's MUCH easier to understand than normal Spanish, for me.  It's *enunciated!*

Saludos desde Mazatlán


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## timpeac

As a native BE speaker I can only tell in a song sung by an American if they mean "can" or "can't" by the sense of the song. I find the BE difference very clear, but perhaps that's because I'm English.


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## epovo

Thank you timpeac. My long suffered frustration officially ends today thanks to all of you.


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## angel101

After thinking about this for a while I have come to a conclusion about how I say 'can' and 'can't'. To me, there is a noticeable difference.
When I say 'can', it rhymes with 'pan' and 'ran' - the 'a' sound is like the 'a' in 'apple'. When I say 'can't', it rhymes with 'aren't' - particular emphasis on the 'arrrr' sound. Although I have to admit when I say 'can't' you don't really hear the 't'! 

Espero que esto te ayude - saludos


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## quarz

supongo que si no puedes percibir la t al final intenta fijarte en que *can´t* suena como si fuera un poco más larga la palabra que* can. *Pero supongo que para nosotros que no somos nativos es más difícil de percibir la diferencia dependiendo de quién hable. Yo ahora lo diferencio mejor pero también me ayudo del contexto que rodea a la palabra.
Para mi me funcionó con palabras como ship and sheep. Al principio no sabía como pronunciarlas para que no sonaran igual hasta que descubrí que la *ee* suena un poco más larga que una *i . *Como si dijeras dos *ii* juntas. Bueno no sé si te servirá para algo.


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## Soy Yo

Es que la calidad de las vocales en sheep y en ship son completamente diferentes.  Es posible que sheep sea más "prolongada" pero no es el mismo sonido que la i en ship.


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## andym

angel101 said:


> After thinking about this for a while I have come to a conclusion about how I say 'can' and 'can't'. To me, there is a noticeable difference.
> When I say 'can', it rhymes with 'pan' and 'ran' - the 'a' sound is like the 'a' in 'apple'. When I say 'can't', it rhymes with 'aren't' - particular emphasis on the 'arrrr' sound. Although I have to admit when I say 'can't' you don't really hear the 't'!
> 
> Espero que esto te ayude - saludos



I think that's right but as timepeac says it's only for British English. But it may help Mazbrook work out what some of us foreigners are saying ('sam u uz fawner r seng')


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## MCL

¿Qué quiere dicer?

If there is noise, or if we are speaking quickly, or are too far away from the person we are talking to - we do find it necessary to repeat what was said, or ask for confirmation of the meaning.


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## mazbook

andym said:


> I think that's right but as timepeac says it's only for British English. But it may help Mazbrook work out what some of us foreigners are saying ('sam u uz fawner r seng')


I'm pretty good at BE, but the English speaking mexican help that I have can barely, if that, understand the occasional Brit that comes in the bookstore.  Had a couple (from the north of England I THINK) in a week or so ago and even I had a difficult time understanding...and that's rare...the girl who works for me didn't stand a chance.

Saludos desde Mazatlán


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## andym

mazbook said:


> I'm pretty good at BE, but the English speaking mexican help that I have can barely, if that, understand the occasional Brit that comes in the bookstore.  Had a couple (from the north of England I THINK) in a week or so ago and even I had a difficult time understanding...and that's rare...the girl who works for me didn't stand a chance.
> 
> Saludos desde Mazatlán



Mazbrook - I was teasing (prompted by the remarks about lack of enunciation  in British English).

Saludos


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## araceli

Trasladado al foro de Gramática


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## caballosgirl

Hola!

Can and can't. BE es diferente del inglés americano porque se difieren sus "a"s cuándo pronuncian can y can't. En Inglaterra la a es como la a española en can't. La pronunciación de los "can"s en inglés americano es el mismo. Bueno. Vamos a ver la fonética. 

fonética: can't /kant/, (british) /kænt/ (american),  Can: /kæn/

/æ/ este sonido no existe en español.  http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# va a este página Web y va a inglés americano, y pues monopthongs y front.  puedes oír la a. 

a es una vocal, entonces, no hay obstrucción del aire en la boca. la t española es diferente que la t inglés. cuándo pronuncias la t en español el ápice de la lengua va a los dientes y hace contacto. En inglés el ápice de la lengua va a los aveolares, un poco más atrás de la boca como la n, l, r, rr, y s española. 

saludos


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## caballosgirl

MCL said:


> ¿Qué quiere dicer?
> 
> If there is noise, or if we are speaking quickly, or are too far away from the person we are talking to - we do find it necessary to repeat what was said, or ask for confirmation of the meaning.



yeah we do....people could hardly understand me when I had a "New England/New York/British/whatever you wanna call it accent" I got a lot of what did you say? and i repeated a lot of what I said.  I realized, in hind sight of course that when people didn't understand when i was spelling out a word "rubber" it sounded like ubbe to them.  then when i said "the letter after..." it sounded like "the lette afte"  So I can understand Brits better than the Avg american, but I have a pretty midwestern accent now that i've been through speech class.  Though that wasn't the intensive phonetics i'm going through now in Spanish, which is why I had to explain in Spanish.  Sorry for my horrendous grammar, but i gotta get going.  Correct me if you want to for practice, I don't care  then i'll see if you're correct in your corrections 

Saludos


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## Ana_Fi

Yo me vuelvo loca también con la pronunciación de can y can't, especialmente si va detrás una palabra que empieza por /t/.
A ver si este hilo te sirve


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## sniffrat

Epovo: You have my deepest sympathies. I am British and this sometimes confuses ME!!! Last week I had to ask a friend (from London) to repeat what he had said to me because I didn't understand. To make it even worse we have so many regional accents. 

I kn tell you (I CAN tell you)
I kaaaaaan tell you ( I CANNOT tell you)

Since I started learning Spanish I never realized how difficult English is. Hope this helps you.


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## singularity

Yeah, it is a problem with songs especially. Don't worry about it


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## geostan

epovo said:


> Maybe this question does not belong to this forum. I humbly ask for the leniency of the moderators
> 
> I'm always frustrated, after so many years of practicing English, not to be able to tell "can" and "can't" apart in spoken English when the pronunciation is not perfect, or in many songs when you can't hear the final "t".
> Most people change the vowel quite clearly and so you have
> can    /kan/
> can't  /keint/ (mostly American) or /ka:nt/ mostly British
> 
> ... but not always. In Tracy Chapman's "Baby can I hold you tonight" she's singing softly the verse:
> 
> " 'Sorry',
> it's all that you can't say"...
> 
> I figured it was "can't" by the context, but no by my ears.
> I'd like to ask natives: is it something that may happen to you occasionally?
> 
> Thank you all in advance



In your example: It's all that.., I don't know the song, butI would have thought it should be "can" from the context. And in central Canada, Ontario, at any rate, we pronounce the vowel the same way, whether it has a t at the end or not. But we hear the t.

One other point: sometimes we say can almost like "kn" with only the semblance of a vowel inside. But this does not happen with the negative form.


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## mikejl

hello, good morning 

I write you because I´v a lot of difilculties with the pronunciation of these word, I had thought to use "cannot" in order to avoid problems, but I don´t know how often to use this word in the speaking-english countries. Could you inform me or give me any suggestion?

thanks in advance. 

_________________________
please correct my mistakes, I´d the same for you.


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## la reine victoria

mikejl said:


> hello, good morning
> 
> I write you because I´v a lot of difilculties with the pronunciation of these word, I had thought to use "cannot" in order to avoid problems, but I don´t know how often to use this word in the speaking-english countries. Could you inform me or give me any suggestion?
> 
> thanks in advance.
> 
> _________________________
> please correct my mistakes, I´d the same for you.


 
Hello mikejl,

Can is pronounced in the same way as ban, van, ran.

Can't rhymes with aunt.  Try saying c-ah-n't.

LRV


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## Rudie

Hi Mikejl,
As a linguist, I can try to tell you what the phonetic differences are, it might help:

In the word "can't" the vowel is actually lengthened (and why LRV suggested that you say "c-ah-n't".  She's right, it does sound a bit longer.

I find that I (as a native speaker of English) don't actually say a /t/ sound at the end of "can't", that is often the confusion among non-native speakers.  The difference is NOT only the /t/ at the end. It actually has what's called a "glottal stop" in which one abruptly "stops" the air from coming out in the middle of a sound.  

"can" is short, end's with an /n/
"can't" is longer, end's with a glottal stop

Hope that helps 
Rudie


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## mikejl

you who live in USA, UK, Canada and go on, Do you use never cannot? 

_________________________________
Please correct my english if I´m wrong


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## Rudie

We definitely use "cannot", however, we use it in either a very formal setting, or to emphasize that we really can't do something:

"The government *cannot* be untruthful to it's citizens."
"I *cannot* believe that you just did that to me!"

Most non-native speakers use it in an everyday, informal sense.  This isn't wrong, but it is very non-native-like!


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## Rudie

By the way,
you who live in USA, UK, Canada and go on, Do you use never cannot?

*Those of you  *who live in *the *USA, UK, Canada and *so forth/etc.*, do you *never use* cannot?


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## mariposita

I use cannot--usually for emphasis:

I can*not *believe what she said!


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## pcplus

I think the American pronunciation is quite different than the English one in those words

I leave here my attempt of either pronunciations (British and American- Can and Can't). 
http://download.yousendit.com/EC057FEC2FE561F1


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## sound shift

I am a BE speaker and have never worked alongside native AE speakers. A German colleague used AE with me, and I couldn't tell his "can" from his "can't" on the 'phone.  He, perhaps unaware of the AE/BE difference in the matter, thought that I was taking the p*** when I asked him for clarification. I am used to the fact that the vowel in BE "can't" differs from the vowel in BE "can" in quality as well as length, but I am sure that over time my ear would have adjusted to the AE version.


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## Chava

hi all

I do not recognize any difference when listening people. It sounds almost the same (most of the times)
Looks like native people do not pronounce the "t" for me !


Can I have any explanation? 

Thank you


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## nortonk

You are correct.  At least in the United States, the 't' is often times not pronounced at the end of 'can't'.  The difference in pronunciation is subtle.
When you say "can," the tongue will close up to the top of the mouth on the 'n' as in "no".  Try saying "can" and put a definite "n" on the end.
For "can't," it should technically be prounounced with a definite 'n' followed by a hard 't', however as you observed, the 't' is often left off.  In this case, the tongue remains in the bottom of the mouth and does not even make the 'n' sound.  The back of the tongue instead raises up slightly, but overall the mouth remains open in the vowel position.
It's really hard to explain pronunciation with being able to hear, but I hope this helped a little.


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## nortonk

Note: when people are angry, diction sometimes improves.  I know when I am yelling, I put the "t"s on the end of "can't", "don't", "won't", "want", et cetera.  Also, when emphasizing a point, one will emphasize the "t".


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## Brandee

I think what words you emphasize gives more of a clue than the actual pronunciation.

When you say "can", you usually emphasize the verb that follows.
For example:  I can swim.  (You would quickly say can and arrive at swim).

When saying they "can't" do something, people tend to emphasize the word "can't"

I can't dance.  

Maybe this will help!


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## Chava

oh !
all the explanations are so good.
Thank you people, now it's clear.


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## Outsider

Mire este hilo en otro foro.


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## eventer289

American pronunciation of "can´t" has the "t" sound placed more in the middle of the tongue and mouth than towards the teeth which would have a more pronounced "t" sound (help me linguistics people).


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