and I can’t really describe how. Their is more like a they with an r on the end.

  • Rottcodd@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I hadn’t thought about it before, but on reflection, I do too. And I wouldn’t be surprised if most people do.

    Exaggerated a bit for effect, it would be more or less:

    There = thehr

    Their = thayr

    They’re = thay-r

    “There” is just simple and straightforward with a pure short ‘e’ sound and no particular stresses.

    “Their” has more of a long ‘a’ than a short ‘e’ sound, and a bit of stress on the vowel sound.

    “They’re” also has more of a long ‘a’ sound and it’s pronounced just a fraction longer than in “their”, and there’s a very slight pause between the vowel sound and the ‘r’.

    Huh… learn something new every day.