Strong and Weak forms

Personal pronouns –
Possessive adjectives
Personal pronouns
STRONG FORM WEAK FORM
I / aɪ / it / ɪt / they / ðeɪ /
He / hiː / / hɪ / iː /
She / ʃiː / / ʃɪ /
We / wiː / / wɪ /
You / juː / / jʊ /

me / miː / / mɪ /
him / hɪm / / hɪm / ɪm /
her / hɜːʳ / / hə / ɜːʳ / in very rapid speech / əʳ /
us / ʌs / / əs / s / as in Let’s …
them / ðem / / ðəm /

- in isolation
- in connected speech (in contexts), if there is no
- reference contrast (as is usually the case), we use the weak
We is a personal pronoun. forms
/wiː/
Personal pronouns
STRONG FORM WEAK FORM
- contrast between personal pronouns (either He comes from England.
explicit or implicit) /hɪ/
I invited her to the party.
A: Did the Smiths go? /hə/
B: He did. (but she didn´t) Can we go?
/hi:/ /ʃi:/ /wɪ/

A: Did you see the Smiths? Note: “he” can be pronounced without /h/, only in mid position in the
B: I saw him. (but I didn’t see her) sentence; in initial position /h/ is never omitted.
/hɪm/ /hɜː/ He went to the party. Did he like it?
/hɪ/ /hɪ/ or /i:/
- when the verb that follows is contracted: Note: if the delivery of speech is not too fast, even if the pronoun him is
He’s here. You’ll see. unaccented, it is usually pronounced /hɪm/, i.e. /h/ is not omitted.
/hi:z/ /ju:l/ I phoned him yesterday.
/hɪm/ or /ɪm/
Note: when the verb “are” is contracted, if
preceded by a pronoun, this takes the weak The same applies for “her”
form) I phoned her yesterday.
/hər/ or /3:r/
We’re here / wɪ əʳ / You’re here / jʊ əʳ /
Personal pronouns
STRONG FORM WEAK FORM
Compare:
Listen to me. (not to him) Listen to me. (There is no one else to
listen to)
/ lɪsn tə miː / / lɪsn tə mɪ /
weak form; strong form

That letter is for me. (Someone wants to That letter is for me. (You are saying who
take it) the letter is for)
/ðæt letər ɪz fə miː / / ðæt letər ɪz fɔː mɪ /
weak form; strong form strong form; weak form
Possessive Adjectives
STRONG FORM WEAK FORM
my / maɪ / your / jɔːʳ / its / ɪts / our / ɑʊəʳ / (/ ɑːəʳ / in rapid speech) their / ðeəʳ /
his / hɪz / / hɪz / ɪz /
her / hɜːʳ / / həʳ / ɜːʳ / əʳ / (in rapid speech)
- in isolation Note: “his” or “her” can be pronounced without /h/, only in
mid position in the sentence; in initial position /h/ is never
- reference omitted.
“His” is a possessive adjective.
/hɪz/ - The weak forms are usually used when there is no contrast:
His name’s Alan. What’s his name?
- contrast between possessive adjectives (either /hɪz/ /hɪz/ or /ɪz/
explicit or implicit) (Even if there is no contrast or emphasis, /hɪz/ is often
A: Did you like their songs? heard)
B: I liked his songs. (but her songs were terrible)
/hɪz/ /h3:r/ Her name’s Ann. What’s her name?
/hər/ /hər/ or /ɜːr/ or /ər/
(in very rapid speech)
It’s her book, not yours! (don’t take it)
/h3:r/
Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns have only one realization:

mine / maɪn /
yours / jɔːz /
his / hɪz /
hers / hɜːz /
ours / ɑʊəz / (/ ɑːəz / in rapid speech)
theirs / ðeəz/