How to Say BE CAREFUL! American English Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video,
we're going to study the pronunciation of

the phrase: Be careful.

This is part of a sentence study series, where
we look at a short, common phrase, and discuss

its pronunciation.  First let's look at it
up close and in slow motion.

Let's look at the stress. da-DA-da, be careful.
This is a three-syllable phrase with stress

on the middle syllable. Click here to see
the video I made on three-syllable phrases,

or see the link in the description.

We start with the B consonant, so the lips
are together, and we're voicing it, bb, bb.

Then they part and we have the EE vowel. The
jaw doesn't really need to drop for that,

and the corners of the lips might pull a little
wide, be. The tongue tip is here, touching the

back of the bottom front teeth. Next we have
the K consonant sound. To transition into

that, simply lift the back of the tongue to
the soft palate, Be c-. Care-. The EH as in

BED vowel followed by the schwa/R sound here. The
jaw will drop a good bit for this vowel, especially

when it's in a stressed syllable. Ca-, ca-.
The tongue tip is forward, touching the back

of the bottom front teeth, but then it starts
to pull back for the schwa/R. So for the R, the

tongue has pulled back so it's fatter, and
the tip isn't touching anything. The tongue

will touch the roof of the mouth, or maybe
the teeth, about here. Care-. This is our

stressed syllable, so it will be longer, and
have that up/down shape of the voice. Care-ful.

Now we have the F so the bottom lip will come
up and make contact with the top front teeth.

The tongue will come back down again for that sound.
So it pulls back and moves forward again, it's

a quick motion to make the R. Caref-. Now
we have the schwa/Dark L sound. You can really

get by with just making the Dark sound, that's
what most Americans do. So, let your lip relax

down from the F. Keep your tongue tip where
it is, and pull the back part of the tongue

back, uhl, to make that dark sound, -ful,
-ful. You don't need to bring the tongue tip

up, just leave it down. Careful, careful.
Be careful! da-DA-da, be careful.

Let's watch one more time in slow motion.

This video is part of a series. Click here
to see other videos just like it.

If you have a phrase you'd like to suggest for
this series, please put it in the comments.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's
English.