Hi!

Are you learning English?

Do you find it difficult sometimes to understand people because they abbreviate, contract words and join them together ?

Hopefully this page will help you gain more understanding and ability to follow native speakers.

This is an important stage in learning English, especially for more advanced learners. You can learn "correct" English from textbooks for all of your life, but these are things that you will need to understand native speakers in conversation, and are used all the time in all English speaking countries.

The popular and well-known example is "gonna", which of course means "going to" when talking about future events.

Most of my students know this example and have seen it at some point when watching a film with English subtitles or listening to a native speaker for about 30 seconds!!

There are many more though, and I will list some of the important ones here...

one thing to keep in mind is that these "words" are not really words, but phonetical approximations that sound more or less like what people actually say. I recommend you don't write them unless in very informal situations - like SMS text messages or emails to friends. When speaking you can use them the majority of the time, except in formal situations.

• wanna > I wanna be rich! = I want to be rich!
• woulda > I woulda done it if I'd known how = I would have done it,...
  
• coulda > I coulda finished if I'd had a few more minutes = I could have finished...
  
• shoulda > You shoulda been more careful = you should have been...

These last three are often said together if someone is giving excuses or saying how they wish they had done something differently, e.g.

PERSON 1 - I coulda been a professional footballer if I had tried harder. I shoulda joined a better team, (etc)

PERSON 2 - Coulda, woulda, shoulda (This is not really a nice thing to say to someone, because you are basically saying "stop complaining, you didn't do it and it's too late now!!!")

• Hafta > I hafta finish this report by tomorrow morning = I have to finish this report...
• Ya > See ya later! = See you later!
• Often when we say "to", we don't pronounce the "oo" just the "t", so phonetically you might write: t' - I going t'France next week.
• in the same way, for becomes f’ , so don't say I bought the present for you, but instead: f'you (sounds like the word few)
• 'em > This is a common abbreviation where the beginning of the word them is dropped off and just the em or m sound is pronounced. E.g. Give 'em to me
• Gimme > Gimme them! = Give me them! This abbreviation gimme is two syllables - the 1st Gi, like at the beginning of the word "give", then "me", just like the normal word "me".
  

Another point to note is you can combine the last two abbreviations to make Gimme'em, which if you hear now you should hopefully regonise as meaning "give me them" (or: give them to me). This is an example of when it becomes more complicated and abbreviations are followed by more abbreviations. It is difficult but you just have to practice listening for them and then maybe using them yourself. With practice you will get the hang of it, no problem. If native speakers can do it, so can you!!

Here are some typical abbreviations in negative phrases:

• Wouldn’t’ve / Would'n'a = wouldn't have (would not have)
• Shouldn’t’ve / Should’n’a = shouldn't have
  
• Couldn’t’ve / Could’n’a = couldn't have
  

Often in the phrases the have part is either abbreviated to 've or "a". If it it is abbreviated to 've, then it is frquently pronounced in the same way as the word "of" (i.e. "ov"). Many schoolchildren (and adults!) in English speaking countries will write and say "should of" (for example) incorrectly believing that it is actually the word of being used, when it should of course be have.

Here are some typical abbreviations in questions:

• Do you > do ya > d’ya > dja

You can use any stage of this process of abbreviation. From do ya where you just use the abbreviation of you mentioned before, through to the very common "dja". To pronounce this, imagine the word "jam" but then don't pronounce the "m", so you have "ja", then sort of make a short d sound before it - although really even that is not necessary. "Ja wanna give'em some more examples" :) might be how it sounds when someone asks: do you want to give them some more examples.

• Did you -- did ya - didja
• Wouldja
• Couldja
• shouldja

Okay, I don't know a out you but even my head is spinning a bit now!!! I hope this page will help you with your pronunciation and more importantly your ability to understand native speakers.

Please, if you have any comments or found this page useful then write a comment below. Also if you have any questions then write them below and I'll try to answer them as soon as possible.

I have a website which will include information like the above (actually after writing this I'll probably cut and paste it onto my site!). It is quite a new site and so keep checking it over the next few months as I will be continually adding more stuff. Plus I'm sure I'll make more hubpages soon. If there's any particular point you want me to make a hubpage for then just ask!

My webpage is: inglesyes.es

Just one more for fun:

in Jamaican English, and some people in other countries too,

instead of "how are you?"

> What is going on? > What go on? > Wa go on? > Wagwan?!

as a greeting "Wagwan, blood!" Haha, don't worry if you don't remember this, you'll probably never hear it. Although from the top of my head it's in a Kanye West song and a couple of Sean Kingston songs.

Please leave any comments or suggestions below

BYE!! See ya later!!!