- Sound more Cockney by using a glottal stop for "t," dropping the "h" at the beginning of words, and replacing "th" with an "f," "d," or "v" sound.
- Substitute "me" for "my" and add "innit" to the end of sentences when you're asking someone to agree with you.
- Incorporate rhyming slang, such as saying "boat" (for "boat race") instead of "face" or "bread" (for "bread and honey") instead of "money."
Cockney Pronunciation
Replace the "t" sound with a glottal stop. A glottal stop is something like a pause, which you make by closing the airflow from your throat (glottis) so that no air is being released at all. In practice, this basically sounds like a short, sharp break in the middle or at the end of a word, wherever the "t" sound is found. For example, the word "Scottish" would be pronounced "Sco'ish" and the word "fought" would be pronounced "fough'." You can hear the glottal stop better in a full sentence: "Me 'n' me mates fough' down the pub." ("My friends and I fought [while we were] down at the pub." Cockney speakers sometimes do this with "p" or "k" sounds as well, if they occur as the last letter of the word, although this pronunciation isn't common in 21st-century Cockney. Some Cockney speakers also replace the "t" with either a "d" or an "r," depending on the letter's location in the word and the other letters surrounding it.
Drop the "h" when it's the first letter of a word. If you've ever seen My Fair Lady, you're likely already familiar with this aspect of Cockney pronunciation. French does this too, although it's much more formalized in that language. For example, you'd pronounce "horse" as "'orse" or "hopefully" as "'opefully."
Add an "h" to the beginning of words that start with a vowel. This might seem a bit odd, since dropping an initial "h" means that the word now effectively starts with a vowel, but this is a pronunciation feature for many Cockney speakers. This rule applies generally to any word that begins with a vowel in standard British English, or Received Pronunciation (RP). For example, you would say "hair" instead of "air" or "hatmosphere" instead of "atmosphere."
Replace the "th" sound with an "f," "d," or "v" sound. The "th" sound can be changed to "f" regardless of where it occurs, but usually becomes a "v" sound when it occurs in the middle of a word. A "th" sound at the beginning of a word might also be replaced by a "d," as when "this and that" becomes "dis 'n' dat." Some of these words can be shortened even further, such as "bruv" for "brother" or "guv" for "governor." "Th" as "f" examples: fought (thought), fink (think), firsty (thirsty) "Th" as "v" examples: norvern (northern), bruver (brother), bover (bother)
Use a vowel sound for an "l" at the end of a word or syllable. This "l" sounds much different (and is formed in the mouth differently) than the "l" at the beginning of a word, such as in the word "light." Think of the difference between saying "la la la" and saying "ell." In the Cockney accent, it's realized more as a "w"—sounding almost like a small child who's still working on pronouncing words correctly. Here are some examples: Troubow (trouble) Pow (pal) Alright (owright) Milk (miwk)
Drop the "g" at the end of words ending in "ing." Cockney shares this feature with many other English dialects and accents and it's a really easy way to make your speech sound more Cockney. For example, you would pronounce "laughing" as "laughin'" or "starting" as "startin'."
Pronounce an "ou" or "ow" at the end of a word as a schwa sound. Linguists refer to this as a "weakening" of the vowel and it's a really easy adjustment to make if you want your accent to sound more Cockney. For example, instead of saying "window," you would say "winduh" and instead of "you," you'd say "yuh."
Use a long "e" sound for the "y" in words such as "city." In standard British English, you pronounce this "y" at the end of words with more of an "eh" sound. With the Cockney accent, however, it's a strong "ee" sound, so the word "city" sounds like "sitee" rather than "siteh."
Cockney Grammar and Syntax
Add "innit" to the end of your sentences as a tag question. Speakers use a tag question when they're looking for agreement from the person they're speaking to—like if you added "right" to the end of a sentence. "Innit" is short for "isn't it," but in Cockney slang, it's used regardless of the subject of the sentence, so it could mean any pronoun combined with verbs such as "to do" or "to be." For example, you might say, "West Ham really put it to Arsenal, innit?" ("West Ham really put it to Arsenal, didn't they?") While this phrase has become pretty standard British slang in many dialects, it started with Cockney.
Use "me" instead of "my." This is one of those grammatical tics that can make you almost instantly sound Cockney, assuming you have the basics of the accent down. For example, you might say, "I'm goin' up me mum's." ("I'm going up to my mother's [house].")
Say "ain't" in place of other negative verb forms. The word "ain't" is typically used as a contraction for "is not" or "are not," and appears in many different English dialects. Cockney speakers also use it in place of "have not." For example, you might say, "I ain't seen 'im." ("I haven't seen him.") The word "ain't" has been a part of the English language since the 1700s and is entirely grammatical, although it's considered nonstandard and likely wouldn't fly in more formal writing.
Substitute the word "never" for the word "ever." This particular bit of Cockney grammar is something that can be confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the dialect because at first glance it sounds like you're saying the opposite of what you intend. But this is a common feature that Cockney speakers will understand instantly. For example, you might say, "That's the biggest fish I never seen." ("That's the biggest fish I've ever seen.") You could also use something like, "I could stay down the pub for never." ("I could stay down at the pub forever.")
Show emphasis by piling on negative words and phrases. If you listen to a Cockney speaker, you'll quickly notice that the more adamant they are about something, the more negations they seem to cram into a sentence. If a Cockney speaker wants you to understand that on no uncertain terms have they ever been to a particular location, they might say "I ain't never been nowhere near that place!"
Drop the "ly" from adverbs. In normal speech, Cockney speakers typically shorten adverbs to just the base word. For example, you might say, "trains are running normal" instead of "trains are running normally" or "she spoke sweet to me" instead of "she spoke sweetly to me."
Omit helping prepositions such as "of" or "to" in prepositional phrases. In a phrase with 2 prepositions, Cockney speakers tend to leave out the second one entirely. This sometimes results in casual phrases you might be familiar with in other dialects, such as "out the window" ("out [of] the window"). For example, you might say, "I'm goin' down the pub," instead of "I'm going down to the pub."
Cockney Rhyming Slang
Take a phrase where the last word rhymes with the word you want to use. Cockney rhyming slang typically uses a phrase of a couple of words (although it can be just one word) in which the last word rhymes with the word you really mean to say. These rhymes are often used in place of things you might not want to say directly in public, although they can be used for more run-of-the-mill things as well. Here are some examples: Apples and pears = stairs ("Blimey, I have to climb 4 flights of apples and pears just to reach me flat!") Adam and Eve = believe ("Can yuh Adam and Eve it?!") Barney Rubble = trouble ("Mate, you're about to get in Barney Rubble for that one!") nuclear sub = pub ("Fancy a few beers down the nuclear sub?") dog and bone = phone ("Is dat de dog and bone ringin'?")
Say only the first word of the phrase in place of your target word. In practice, true Cockneys don't normally say the whole rhyming phrase (that would make it too obvious!)—they say only the first word, the one that doesn't rhyme. Here's how this works: Apples and pears = stairs ("Blimey, I have to climb 4 flights of apples just to reach me flat!") Barney Rubble = trouble ("Mate, you're about to get in Barney for that one!") nuclear sub = pub ("Fancy a few beers down the nuclear?") dog and bone = phone ("Is dat de dog ringin'?")
Memorize commonly used rhymes to sound more fluent. As with any slang, there are some specific rhymes that Cockney speakers use more often than others. If you use these rather than trying to make up your own, your speech will definitely sound more natural. There are lots of lists online, but here are some to get you started: Ruby Murray (Ruby) = curry Butcher's hook (butcher's) = look Trouble and strife (trouble) = wife Hempstead Heath (Hempsteads) = teeth Loaf of bread (loaf) = head Boat race (boat) = face
What are Cockney's Origins?
Cockney has been spoken since the 16th century. This old dialect of English is associated with working-class Londoners who were born "within the sound of Bow bells," which refers to the bells of the church of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside, London. In the 21st century, Cockney is associated with the entire East End of London. The word "cockney" might refer to a "cock's egg," although it has several other definitions in English (none of them favorable). Cockney speech became popular in the 19th century, particularly through the works of Charles Dickens.
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