How Natives Really Speak: Gonna, I'ma, I'm Unna

Aww yeah Global Citizen, I’m Justin, your Fluency Guide from RealLifeGlobal.com, where

we help you not just learn English, but to live it.

And today “I’M UNNA” teach you a very important, game-changing RealLife English

lesson on how natives really use the simple future for GOING TO, how we reduce this from

GOING TO to GONNA to I’M UNNA and wait for it:

I'ma

So today I’M GONNA, I’M UNNA, and I’MA teach you a lesson that you will never forget.

Aww Yeah.

Even though our objection is not to learn the grammar of this tense, having a strong

solid grammatical foundation is super important for everything we’re about to learn, so

just to give you an idea of the grammatical structure of the simple future with GOING TO

it’s constructed with the SUBJECT + TO BE (conjugated) + GOING TO + the ROOT VERB

form.

For example, “I am going to teach you,” “You are going to learn,” “We are going

to have fun,” and “They are going to criticize me for sure.”

But they’re not all wrong, you can’t discard grammar, grammar’s very important, as Michelangelo

once said, you need to learn the rules like a pro, so that you can break them like an

artist.

So today, learn that grammar, and then let’s break it like an artist.

So the first reduction is very common, but often very misunderstood.

GONNA.

I’m GONNA teach you.

You’re GONNA learn.

You see, the thing is, a lot of academics believe that GONNA should not be used in formal situations.

But the the truth is that native speakers use GONNA all the time.

I use it not just in informal situations, but also formal situations.

In job interviews, in presentations, it’s okay to use it in all spoken English.

But in writing GONNA is only used in informal situations, so for example text messages,

or informal e-mails with your friends.

A common error that people make with GONNA is they add TO, so they say “I’m gonna TO teach,”but

that’s not correct: “I’m going to teach”becomes “I’m gonna teach.”

The next reduction for GOING TO that I’m going to focus on today is I’M UNNA.

So this is a reduction you should never use in writing.

You never use this in writing, but you might use this in conversational English, or when you’re

speaking really quickly.

I’M UNNA teach you something really awesome today.

I’M UNNA go now.

I’M UNNA.

Now I know there are a lot of teachers and academics who will just not recognize this

much less accept it as functional, useful part of the language.

That’s okay, that’s how I was when I first started teaching.

The more I started to study and analyze native speech patterns in some of our courses, for

example, Fluent with Friends, which analyzes the way the characters in Friends (TV) speak,

the more I realized that this is actually common.

It’s extremely common, it’s everywhere, and here are a couple examples just to show you.

I’M UNNA go change (clothes)

I’M UNNA get another espresso

The third and final reduction for GOING TO is definitely the most controversial, it’s

the most colloquial, but in my opinion, it’s the most interesting: I’MA

I'ma teach you today, I’MA learn English, I’M GOING TO only in the first person, becomes IMA

Even though I don’t use I’MA for I’M GOING TO in my natural spoken English,

and a lot of people think it’s gangster, and they FROWN UP it, or they look upon it negatively,

I do recognize that I can’t control the emergence of the English language.

The other day I was speaking with my nephew, who’s definitely not gangster.

He lives in a middle class neighborhood, he’s homeschooled, and he said I’MA GO NOW.

He said I’M GOING TO GO for I’MA GO now, so this really surprised me, in fact it’s

what inspired this video, and I just wanted to tell you that story as a note that we can’t

control the emergence of the language.

It’s really interested to see what’s gonna happen with these expressions as they integrate themselves

into the English language in the coming years.

Okay, so before, I wanted to give you some really good examples of this, so I’MA show you

a clip from Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Keep in mind that even tough this was 20 years ago, a lot of the real pop culture main-stream

American slang comes from the ghettoes, so give that a watch now.

You know what, Uncle, I’MA get through college without him, I’MA get a great job without him,

I’MA marry me a beautiful honey, and I’MA have me a whole bunch of kids

I'ma be a better father than he ever was.

Aww yeah, RealLifer, I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson, I certainly did.

And I think I’MA use this a lot more in my own vocabulary, but before we end today’s

lesson, I have 2 requests I need to make of you:

First of all, I have a question for you: do you think it’s appropriate to use GONNA,

or I’M UNNA, or even I’MA?

Does this corrupt the English language, or does it make it more rich.

Does this affect your competency in the English language?

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

"I’M UNNA" share my thoughts.

And finally, if you haven’t already, make sure you give RealLife English a follow on

youtube.

It really helps us out.

If you liked this video, give it a like, give it a share, AND we have a free e-book

101 Words that You Will Never Learn in School, for REAL English, just like today’s lesson. Aww Yeah!