English Contractions & Reductions

Level: A2. Native speakers rarely say every word in full. They contract (join) words and weaken small ones. Learning this makes you easier to understand and much easier to follow when you listen.

By the end of this page you can…

…use the common contractions correctly, recognise weak forms when you listen, and know when the spoken reductions gonna and wanna are appropriate.

Contractions

A contraction joins two words and marks the missing letters with an apostrophe (’). I am becomes I’m; do not becomes don’t. Contractions are standard in speech and in informal and semi-formal writing; very formal writing (reports, exams) often spells the words out.

The main groups are the verb be (I’m, you’re, she’s), the auxiliaries have/will/would (I’ve, I’ll, I’d), and negatives with not (isn’t, don’t, can’t, won’t).

Common contractions

How to say it

English rhythm comes from making the important words long and clear, and the small grammar words short and quiet. These quiet versions are called weak forms, and the quiet vowel in them is the schwa /ə/ (the relaxed “uh” sound).

• and → /ən/ or just /n/: fish and chips sounds like “fish-n-chips”.
• of → /əv/: a cup of tea sounds like “a cup-uv tea”.
• to → /tə/ before a consonant: I want to go sounds like “I wanna go” in fast speech.
• for → /fə/: for you sounds like “fuh you”.
• can → /kən/ (positive) but can’t → /kɑːnt/ or /kænt/ with a clear /t/. The weak vowel is the clue: a quiet vowel means can; a long, stressed vowel means can’t.
• was, from, them, your, at, as, than all reduce to a schwa in normal speech.

Say the sentence buttons above and copy the rhythm: strong on the content words, light on the small ones.

Reductions: gonna, wanna, gotta

In fast, casual speech these common phrases blend into single reduced forms:

• going to → gonna (I’m gonna leave)
• want to → wanna (I wanna sleep)
• got to → gotta (I gotta go)
• kind of → kinda, a lot of → a lotta

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ Its a good idea. → ✅ It’s a good idea. It’s = it is, so it needs the apostrophe.
• ❌ The dog hurt it’s leg. → ✅ The dog hurt its leg. Possession takes its, with no apostrophe.
• ❌ I’m gonna the shop. → ✅ I’m going to the shop. Gonna replaces only the future going to, not movement.
• ❌ She don’t like coffee. → ✅ She doesn’t like coffee. Third person uses doesn’t.
• ❌ I write gonna in my essay. → ✅ Write “going to” in formal work. Keep reductions for speech and casual messages.
• ❌ Saying every word with full stress → ✅ weaken and, of, to, for; strong words carry the meaning.

Practice

Quick recap before you practise.

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

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