The Value of Friendship

ɪf ju ˈlen ˈsʌmwʌn ˈtweni ˈpaʊnz | ən ju ˈnevə ˈsiː ðəm əˈɡen | ɪt wəz ˈprɒbəbli ˈwɜːθ ɪt

Key at bottom of page:

Commentary

if: Although if is monosyllabic function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t have a weak form.

you: The symbol u represents the same vowel phoneme as the symbol uː. We use u in unstressed syllables and uː in stressed syllables. This distinction isn't very helpful for TEFL purposes and learners should simply treat the two symbols as the same. Because we are using two different symbols for one phoneme, this means our transcription isn't truly phonemic (phonemic transcription = one symbol for each phoneme).

lend: When /d/ is at the end of a word (more specifically, in a syllable coda) and is immediately preceded by a consonant, it is commonly elided/deleted when another consonant immediately follows (i.e. without a pause) in another word or in a suffix.

twenty: The word twenty can be pronounced with or without the second /t/.

pounds: See lend above.

and: When unstressed, as it usually is, and has the weak form /ən/ or /ənd/. Some books say that /ən/ is used before consonants and /ənd/ before vowels, but this is not true. While both forms can be heard before consonants and vowels, /ən/ is much more common than /ənd/. Learners can safely use only /ən/ for the weak form of and because it will never be wrong to do so.

them: When the pronoun them is unstressed, as it usually is, it has the weak form /ðəm/.

again: The word again can be pronounced /əˈɡeɪn/ or /əˈɡen/.

it: Although it is a monosyllabic function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t have a weak form.

was: When unstressed, as it usually is, was has the weak form /wəz/.

If you lend someone twenty pounds and you never see them again, it was probably worth it.