How to Pronounce Contractions: 81 Contractions in American English

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

How can you pronounce contractions?

Let's talk about it.

Today I'm going to be pronouncing 81 contractions in American English.

What's a contraction?

Well, a contraction is a word like can't, they've, he'll, we've.

This is different from gonna, wanna.

How is this different?

Well gonna and wanna are only spoken.

You can write them in text messages but usually we call those reductions.

This is a contraction.

You're using an apostrophe.

That's the key for a contraction.

We always use an apostrophe.

And you can use these in writing, informal writing.

You don't want to use them on your college essay graduate paper, but we use them in a

lot of different situations.

So today I'm going to pronounce some positive contractions, some negative contractions.

And there are a couple that are only spoken.

We never write them or else we hardly ever write them.

So if there's a contraction that we hardly ever write, we only use in spoken English,

I'm going to put a little star in the subtitles here so that you can see which one that is

and that you should only use it when you're speaking instead of writing.

Before we start with the long list let's have a quick breakdown of some things that you're

going to hear.

Some contractions, specifically contractions that use will, he will, we will, they will.

These contractions are going to have a clear pronunciation and kind of a lazy style pronunciation.

For example, you could say we'll, we'll."

Or you could use the lazy relaxed style.

We'll, we'll.

There's really no action or movement happening in your mouth, just we'll.

Not we'll, that's the clear pronunciation, we'll.

Sometimes you'll hear this, you can say this.

It's no problem.

But often times when native speakers are talking quickly you're going to here, we'll, we'll,

we'll.

So when I'm pronouncing these words I'm going to say the clear pronunciation and then I'm

also going to say the lazy, relaxed style because you need to know both.

They're both equally important.

There's a similar concept with negative contractions.

You could say don't.

The T is really, clearly pronounced, don't.

Or you could say it quickly, kind of relaxed, maybe lazy style, don'.

There's not really a T that's coming out, don't.

Instead your tongue is on the top of your mouth ready to make that T sound, don', but

there's no air that comes out.

So I'm going to be saying both of these styles.

I'm going to say don't and don'.

You'll hear them back to back that way you can get familiar with them and hopefully you

can use them yourself.

Make sure that you use that fast reduced style only if you're speaking quickly and fluidly.

If you use it when you're speaking slowly it might sound a little strange because we

reduce words so that we can speak quickly.

That's the goal of them.

So I hope that these lists of words will be helpful to you.

Let's start with these 81 contractions.

Aren't, aren', can't, can', could've, couldn't, couldn', didn't, didn', doesn't, doesn', don't,

don', hadn't, hadn', hasn't, hasn', haven't, haven', he'd, he'll, he'll, he's, how'd, how'll,

how's, I'd, I'll, I'll, I'm, I've, isn't, isn', I'd, it'll, it's, let's, may've, might've,

mustn't, mustn'.

We rarely use this in American English so you might see it in some old TV shows or maybe

some books but we actually use the positive version.

We don't really say the negative version.

The positive version is must've.

She'd, she'll, she'll, she's, should've, shouldn't, shouldn', that'll, that's, that'd, there're,

there's, these're, they'd, they'll, they'll, they're, they've, this's, those're, wasn't,

wasn', we'd, we'd've, we'll, we'll, we're, we're, we've, weren't, weren', what'd, what'll,

what're.

Some of these sound kind of funny when you say them by themselves.

What're.

What's, what've, when's, where'd, where're, where's, where've, which's, who'd, who'd've,

who'll.

Kind of sounds like punching, who'll, who'll.

Who're, who's, who've, why'd, why're, why's, won't, won', would've, wouldn't, wouldn',

you'd, you'll, you'll, you're, you're, you've.

If you think that all these contractions would make a great rap song, you'd, you've, you've,

let me know in the comments below.

I hope that this video was useful to you and you practiced pronouncing these contractions.

And next time you hear them in a conversation, in a TV show, listen for them.

See how they're pronounced.

Are they pronounced with the T, if they're a negative contraction?

Are they reduced and made kind of lazy style?

Are they clear and formally pronounced?

Listen carefully as you hear conversations and practice your self.

Thanks so much and I'll see you the next time.

Bye.

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