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I watched a video on Youtube about the pronunciation of the phrase "It's up to you": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZrkhCqWbk and it says that "up" is the stressed word.

I think that "It's" can be reduce to "ts" in fast speech. I noticed this in American movie especially with phrases such as "It's okay" (pronounced as: tsokay).

I would like to know if we need any stress on the last word the pronoun "you" or not? The video doesn't mention anything about the word "you" for me it seems that it doesn't require stress in a normal conversation.

Any suggestion appreciated. Thank you!

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  • Actually, if a native speaker is going to "reduce" the initial vowel, they'll almost always discard the /t/ as well, giving something like SUP CHEW (or "S'ok", which is a common "eye dialect" form for that one).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Apr 6, 2015 at 12:31
  • @FumbleFingers You know, that’s one of those cases where I never affricate (maybe it chewy). I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard it done, either.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Apr 6, 2015 at 12:33
  • @FumbleFingers: I agree with tchrist here, but this may be a difference between AmE and BrE.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Apr 6, 2015 at 12:38
  • @tchrist: So it your case I guess it would be sup t'you - or would you also articulate the initial /t/ and say t'sup t'you? That would seem somewhat odd to me (but in the land of the free, anything is possible! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Apr 6, 2015 at 12:39
  • @FumbleFingers Dunno if I say the first t, but I do say the second one.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Apr 6, 2015 at 12:47

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It depends on the shade of meaning that you want to deliver.

"It's up to you" indicates that it is your decision to make or action to take.

"It's up to you", on the other hand, means that the person or people being addressed are the only ones who can decide or act in this case.

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