不要小看它，听错毁所有

小白老师说：有同学抱怨美语里面 can 和 can’t 的发音听起来迷之接近，特别是在老外说得很快的情况下，总是分不清对方到底是说的 can 还是 can’t。确实，美语里面的 can’t 词尾的 / t / 因为弱读，听起来 can’t 和 can 几乎一样，而这两个地方往往是说话人要表达的重点，一旦把意思搞反就悲剧了。个中奥秘其实很简单，今天就教大家轻松破解。

好的，接下来请大家听音频。这个音频是中英文双语的。为了便于大家学习，给大家附上了英文部分的文本。

Welcome to Daily tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on distinguishing “can” and “cannot” in spoken American English.

“Cannot” is usually contracted to “can’t”. So many learners of English assume that in order to distinguish between “can” and “can’t”, one must listen for the final “t” sound /t/. And when speaking, one must pronounce final ‘t’ sound /t/ clearly.

However, this is not in fact how native speakers distinguish “can” and “can’t”. People do not say " I `can drive a car, but I can’t drive a motorcycle.’ People say ‘I can `drive a car’, but I `can’t drive a motorcycle.’ The difference between “can” and “can’t” is in stress. “Can” is not stressed, the verb after it is. “Can’t” is stressed. The verb after it is not.

Also since ‘can’ is not stressed, the vowel is reduced to /a/, so “can” is actually pronounced “can”. Listen to another example.:

“I `can’t go on Saturday, but I can `go on Sunday.”

Did you hear the ‘t’ sound? Did you notice the difference words being stressed? Listening again.

“I `can’t go on Saturday, but I can `go on Sunday.”

If you want to understand whether someone is saying he can or can’t do something, you have to be listening for a stressed “can’t” or a verb stressed after “can”. What does this mean?

“I can `speak Japanese, but I `can’t speak Taiwanese.”

That’s right, I can speak Japanese, but I cannot speak Taiwanese. When you are speaking it is very important that you follow this rule too.

When learners of English say I `can help you, native speakers often unsure what is meant because of improper stress. So remember, you can stress “can’t”, but you `can’t stress “can”.

This has been today’s tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.