Do "you're" and "your" sound the same?

Question

Once and again I see native speakers mistaking "you're" for "your" and vice-versa, and I don't undestand why. At English courses - at least in Brazil -, we're taught that "you're" and "your" have a different pronounciation. But after seeing so many native speakers mistaking one word for the other, I guess they must sound the same. Am I right?

Answer 1

I was always taught that they're pronounced the same way but have a different meaning.

Answer 2

this is often reckoned to be because of the fact the 1st sounds uttered via toddlers (aside from crying!) contain a bilabial (2 lips mutually) observed via a back vowel, that's 'slack', meaning that is undemanding to make - this produces a valid like 'ma' or 'mama' while repeated. As this grow to be the 1st sound that mothers heard, they reckoned the child grow to be calling them. for this reason, ma, mama, maman, and so on.

Answer 3

They sound the same. One is a contraction--You + are. The other is possession. (your coat.) How is the pronunciation different. I tried saying them and I didn't hear a real difference. (a slightly different stress perhaps but for all purposes negligible) Perhaps it was to help you differentiate them when you were learning them.
(This could also be affected by the place the English is spoken-- depending on where you are there are different accents--different accents throughout parts of the United States, Canada, England.....)
Also the dictionary doesn't always represent the actual usage and will vary according to the time it was printed. (over time things change)

Answer 4

In casual speech (and most careful speech that I've heard, actually), you're and your sound exactly the same. And it's not laziness; it's expediency. In any language, words will tend to be pronounced in ways that are easiest for its speakers; in English, it just so happens that most unstressed vowels tend towards becoming a schwa (that vague vowel that sounds like "uh").

Answer 5

Actually you are correct - they used to be pronounced as follows: "You're" was You-er and "your" was yower (o as in oh not ow). But through the decades and laziness most native speaking English users have lost that distinction, much the same that "Threw" used to be pronounced :"Throoo" and "Through" used to be pronounced as if you were clearing your throat on the gh, much the same way the Gaelic-speaking Scottish people still prounounce light as Liisht (soft i not hard).

Answer 6

Actually, taivo, any linguist should know that generalities are always incorrect (hardy har).

From past experience, you're and your are pronounced the same in conversation, but they do have different dictionary pronunciations.

Personally, I've always pronounced "you're" just like how Eve said: like I'm saying "you" with "er" attached. "Your" is a very strong "yor", ryhming with "bore" and "tore". My friends themselves tell me I pronounce it funny, even though technically that's how its supposed to be said.

Law of minimum effort, though. "yor" is easier to say than "you""er", so "yor" takes over.

Answer 7

I guess I pronounce them differently but it's just a regional thing. When I say it:
you're sounds like yore
your sounds like yur/yer

*Oh wait. I interchange those pronucations though! Depends on how fast I'm talking.

Answer 8

They are pronounced identically. I guarantee that if I tape recorded the people who say they are different they would be pronounced EXACTLY the same in a normal sentence. Sure you can MAKE yourself say them differently in isolation when you are thinking about it, but in normal speech you would NEVER pronounce them differently.

Answer 9

They ARE pronounced the same, the difference being their context. Since 'you're' is a contraction of 'you are', it falls into a completely different word group than 'your' does.

Answer 10

Yes. You're sounds the same as your.

You're is the contraction of you are.
EXAMPLE: You're going to town.

Your is a pronoun.
EXAMPLE: These are your shoes.