STRONG AND WEAK FORMS

Function (or grammatical) words are those words which have more than one realization. One of these
realizations is known as the ‘strong’ form and the other or others are known as the ‘weak’ forms.

In connected speech we normally use weak forms. Strong forms are only used in the following
situations:

 Whenever the word is stressed (e.g. auxiliaries in questions):

Can I?
Do they?
Have you?
You must choose us or them.

 Whenever the word is final in the group

John has. I don’t want to.
Mary will. What’s that for?
You are.

NB:
The words he, him, his, her, them, us may take weak forms in final position (unless they are
stressed):
I told her. We called for him.
She likes them. They laughed at us.
Unless contrast is implied, when object pronouns are preceded by prepositions, the preposition is
stressed and the object pronoun takes weak form:
I’m fond of her. /aɪm fɒnd ˈɒv hə/
I’m fond of her not him. /aɪm fɒnd əv ˈhɜː nɒt ˈhɪm/

 For reasons of meaning, distinguishing the word from another one (i.e. words are being contrasted):
I said “a” sun, not “the” sun.
I said “and”, not “end”.
I threw it “to” him, not “at” him.

 When hesitating
He came in and, euh, and… I forget what happened.

 In isolation
“I saw her yesterday.” “And… ?”
‘And,’ he said, wagging an angry finger, ‘you told a lie.’

 When using coordinated prepositions:

I travel to and from London.

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 When emphasizing
I didn’t meet “a” girl at the disco; I met “the” girl… my future wife.
He likes her but does she like him?

 When using the following contractions:

Aren’t Can’t (/kɑːnt/ is BrE - /kænt/ is AmE)
Isn’t Mustn’t
He’s Couldn’t
Haven’t Shouldn’t
Hasn’t Shan’t (/ʃɑːnt/ is BrE - /ʃænt/ is AmE)
Hadn’t Wouldn’t

LIST OF STRONG AND WEAK FORMS FOR FUNCTION (OR GRAMMATICAL) WORDS

A
Strong: /eɪ/ We are going to study the article ‘a’.
Weak: /ə/ What a lot of flowers!

An
Strong: /æn/ We are going to study the article ‘an’.
Weak: /ən/ It’s an interesting idea.

The
Strong: /ðiː/ We are going to study the article ‘the’.
/ðiː/ After looking and looking, I found the dress. (emphatic use)
Weak: /ðɪ/ The apple is off. (followed by a vowel sound)
/ðə/ The lift is out of order. (followed by a consonantal sound)

You
Strong: /juː/ Yes, it was you.
Weak: /jʊ/jə/ You play tennis.

Your
Strong: /jɔː/ This is your umbrella, not hers.
Weak: /jər/ Your umbrella is beautiful.

He
Strong: /hiː/ Is it a ‘he’ or a ‘she’?
Weak: /hɪ/ He studies English. (only initially)
/iː/hɪ/ When he was in Paris, he studied French. (in mid-position)

She
Strong: /ʃiː/ Is it a ‘he’ or a ‘she’?
Weak: /ʃɪ/ She studies English.

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His
Strong: /hɪz/ I said ‘his’, not ‘her’.
Weak: /hɪz/ɪz/ This is his sister.

Her
Strong: /hɜː/ I said ‘his’, not ‘her’.
Weak: /ɜː/hə/ə/ Take her to a hospital.

Him
Strong: /hɪm/ I saw him, not her.
Weak: /hɪm/ɪm/ Take him to a hospital.

Me
Strong: /miː/ She doesn’t like you; she likes me.
Weak: /mɪ/ She likes me.

Us
Strong: /ʌs/ Come with us, not with them.
Weak: /əs/ Come with us.
/s/: Let’s go. (only in “let’s”)

Them
Strong: /ðem/ No, it wasn’t them.
Weak: /ðəm/əm/ðm/ We’ll take them.

Be
Strong: /biː/ To be or not to be, that is the question.
Weak: /bɪ/ I want to be millionaire.

Am
Strong: /æm/ Yes, I am.
Weak: /əm/ I am a teacher.
/m/ I’m a teacher. (only after “I”)

Is
Strong: /ɪz/ Tell me what it is.
Weak: /s/ It’s a big problem. (only in contractions with final V- sounds)

Are
Strong: /ɑːr/ Yes, you are.
Weak: /ər/ You are a good person.
NB:
You’re: strong: /jɔː/ - weak: /jʊə/ They’re: /ðeɪə/
We’re: /wɪə/

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Was
Strong: /wɒz/ Complete the sentence with ‘was’ or ‘were’
Weak: /wəz/ He was the president then.

Were
Strong: /wɜː/ Complete the sentence with ‘was’ or ‘were’
Weak: /wə/ We were very happy about the news.

Have (auxiliary verb)

Strong: /hæv/ Yes, they have.
Weak: /həv/əv/ It must have been difficult.
/v/ It must’ve been difficult. (only in contractions)

Has (auxiliary verb)

Strong: /hæz/ Yes, she has.
Weak: /həz/əz He has worked all day long.
/z/ Peter’s been studying. (only in contractions with final V+ sounds)
/s/ The cat’s played with the ball. (only in contractions with final V- sounds)

Had (auxiliary verb)

Strong: /hæd/ Yes, I had.
Weak: /həd/əd/ I had bought a laptop.
/d/ I’d bought a laptop. (only in contractions)

Can
Strong: /kæn/ Obviously you can.
Weak: /kən/kn/ You can stay longer.

Shall
Strong: /ʃæl/ We shall.
Weak: /ʃəl/ We shall be home soon.
/l/ I’ll go.

Will
Strong: /wɪl/ They will.
Weak: /wəl/wl/ They will be home soon.
/əl/ it’ll be night soon.

Could
Strong: /kʊd/ Certainly, I could.
Weak: /kəd/kd/ I could be right with you.

Should
Strong: /ʃʊd/ Yes, you should.
Weak: /ʃəd/ʃd/ He should see a doctor.

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Would
Strong: /wʊd/ Of course, I would.
Weak: /wəd/ I would do it.
/əd/ It’d eat a lot.

Must
Strong: /mʌst/ You really must.
Weak: /m(ə)s(t)/ It must be late.

Do (auxiliary verb)
Strong: /duː/ I do think you should go.

Does (auxiliary verb)

Strong: /dʌz/ Yes, she does.

At
Strong: /æt/ What are you looking at?
Weak: /ət/ I saw it at the station.

For
strong: /fɔː/ What’s that for?
weak: /fər/ I need it for a couple of minutes.

From
Strong: /frɒm/ Where are you from?
Weak: /frəm/ I come from London.

Of
Strong: /ɒv/ Use the preposition ‘of’.
Weak: /əv/ I am fond of cats.

To
Strong: /tuː/ Complete the sentence with ‘to’ or ‘at’
Weak: /tʊ/ I need to get used to it. (followed by a vowel sound)
/tə/ I’m going to Paris. (followed by a consonantal sound)

And
Strong: /ænd/ I saw a bird… and… a pig.
Weak: /ən(d)/ Mother and father (followed by a consonantal sound)
/ənd/ A boy and a girl (followed by a vowel sound)

As
Strong: /æz/ How do you pronounce ‘as’?
Weak: /əz/ She was brilliant as Cleopatra.

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 NB: The conjunction ‘as’ is strong (/æz/) when initially: As I was saying…
But
Strong: /bʌt/ I know, but… I don’t like it.
Weak: /bət/ I know, but I don’t like it.

Or
Strong: /ɔː/ Did you say ‘if’ or ‘or’?
Weak: /ər/ Did you say ‘if’ or ‘or’?

Than
Strong: /ðæn/ Is ‘than’ a conjunction?
Weak: /ðən/ I’m feeling better than I was.

Some
Strong: /sʌm/ Complete with ‘some’ or ‘any’.
/sʌm/ Some help you gave me! (when not speaking about quantity)
Weak: /səm/ I need some advice (when speaking about quantity)

That
Conjunction: /ðæt/ I think that she’s nice.
Demonstrative: /ðət/ That phone isn’t mine.

There
Existential ‘there’: /ðər/ There is a book on the table.
‘There’ as place adverb: /ðeə/ I saw the book there.

Who
Strong: /huː/ Who are they?
Weak: /hʊ/ The man who is there is my brother. (only as a relative pronoun)

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