Master English Contractions: English speaking lesson

Are you ready for a little English test?  Which word am I saying? I can't do it. I  

can't do it. Which one was it? This one or  this one? Well, if you guessed this word,  

you are correct. I said I can't do it,  but I didn't say it clearly like this,  

I used fast daily life, conversational English  pronunciation. If this little test was tricky  

for you, don't worry. Today, I'm here to help you. Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com,  

and today, you are going to master  English contraction pronunciation.  

It is extremely tricky to be able to  understand this in fast conversations,  

but it's essential. You need to know if someone  said yes, I can do it, or if they said no, I  

can't do it. And over the next 30 minutes you will  master this skill. Like always, I have created a  

free PDF worksheet for you with all of today's  contractions, pronunciation, sample sentences  

and tips so that you can confidently use English  contractions in your daily life conversations.  

You can click on the link in the description  to download that free PDF worksheet today. 

All right, let's get started with part one where  you'll learn every single contraction in English,  

including some contractions that  are only used in spoken English  

but not in written English. Let's go. 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 in 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 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 oftentimes when native speakers are  talking quickly, you're going to hear 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, relaxed, maybe lazy style, don't.  

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't, 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't. 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't. 

Can't. Can't. Could've. 

Couldn't. Couldn't. Didn't. Didn't. 

Doesn't. Doesn't. Don't. Don't. 

Hadn't. Hadn't. Hasn't. Hasn't. 

Haven't. Haven't. 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't. 

It'd. It'll. 

It's. Let's. 

May've. Might've. 

Mustn't. Mustn't. 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't. 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't. 

We'd. We'd've. 

We'll. We'll. We're. We're. 

We've. Weren't. 

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't. Would've. 

Wouldn't. Wouldn't. You'd. 

You'll. You'll. You're. You're. 

You've. Now that you've over viewed all  

contractions in English, let's dive deeper into  the tricky pronunciation of negative contractions.  

There are two different ways to pronounce  negative contractions so we'll dive deep into  

this and you will master that skill. Let's go. One of the worst listening mistakes you can have  

is when you think someone said, "I have,"  when really they said, "I haven't." When  

you think they said yes, but really they said  no, you could find yourself in a really tough  

situation. Or to use a lovely idiom, you could  find yourself in a jam. You might be surprised,  

but this happens a lot. Most positive contractions  like these are pretty easy to hear, but negative  

contractions are a little bit trickier. Let's look at this sentence. We weren't  

ready for the party. We weren't ready for the  party. What letter do you not hear? We weren't  

ready. Weren't ready. It's that final T. If I said  it clearly, we weren't ready, it would be pretty  

simple to understand this because that T helps you  to realize, oh, this is a negative contraction,  

but I have some bad news. In fast English,  usually that final T is stopped short. We  

call this a stopped T. Listen carefully again.  We weren't ready. My tongue is stopped at the  

top of my mouth. It's trying to make the T sound,  but no air comes out. We weren't ready. As we go  

through these contractions, I want to help you  understand negative contractions more clearly. 

But do you know what? Sometimes native  speakers ask for clarification too. So for me,  

I might ask another native speaker, "Wait, did  you say you were ready or you weren't ready?"  

Emphasizing that T. So if you need to ask for  clarification in the middle of a conversation,  

it is essential to know if someone is  using a positive or negative sentence so  

feel free to ask them for clarification. There are specifically two pronunciation  

rules that we're going to be talking about  for negative contractions, but I find it  

easiest to talk about the rules when we are  already talking about some examples. So let's  

get started with the first negative contraction. Is, isn't. Is, isn't. You could say isn't with a  

clear T, but in fast conversations, we're often  going to cut off that T and make it a stopped T. 

Let's look at these sentences. My cat is playing.  My cat isn't playing. Listen carefully for the  

difference here. You're not going to hear a  T sound, but there is a difference. My cat  

is playing. My cat isn't playing. Did you hear a  little vowel sound that was added in that second  

negative contraction? Isn't. Isn't. There's a  little uh sound added between the S and the N,  

this is called a schwa and it shows  up a lot all over English. Isn't. 

This is the first rule dealing with negative  contractions. A lot of words that have two  

consonants side by side, S and an N in this  word, are going to have a little added schwa  

sound. Isn't. Isn't. So you're going to have  to train your ears to listen carefully for  

that little added schwa sound. Let's go  to the next negative contraction where  

you'll meet the second rule that will help you to  pronounce these negative contractions naturally. 

Are, aren't. Are, aren't. Let's look at  this sentence. My cats are playing. My cats  

aren't playing. My cats are playing. My cats  aren't playing. You could say my cats aren't  

playing with a clear T, but like I said, in fast  conversation, you're not going to hear that. So  

I want you to be able to train your ears to  hear the correct positive or negative word.  

When I say that full negative sentence, listen  for a quick pause or stop after the contraction.  

My cats aren't playing. My cats aren't playing.  That's because the word aren't, with the clear T,  

that T is going to be a stopped T. There's  no added schwa sound like in the first rule,  

but instead there's going to be a stop happening,  a slight pause before saying the next word.  

Listen carefully. My cats aren't playing. My  cats aren't playing. There's a pause because  

my tongue stopped at the top of my mouth. My  cats aren't playing. My cats aren't playing. 

Now that we've mentioned these two rules  for dealing with negative contractions,  

let's go on to all of the negative contractions  that you might encounter and you'll be able to  

hear if it's the first rule which uses that  added schwa sound, isn't. Isn't. Or if it's  

simply a stopped T with a little pause afterwards. Let's go to the list of negative contractions.  

Was, wasn't. Was, wasn't. My cat was playing, my  cat wasn't playing. Can you guess which rule this  

contraction uses? Wasn't. Do you hear a little  schwa sound added? Wasn't in my throat here.  

Wasn't. It's using that first rule because we're  adding that slight schwa sound. What I want you to  

do during this lesson is I want you to try to say  these sentences with me. Try to say the positive  

sentence. Try to say the negative sentence. It's  going to challenge your pronunciation muscles, but  

it will also help you to remember how these are  accurately pronounced because you're practicing it  

right now. All right, let's go to the next one. Were, weren't. Were, weren't. My cats were  

playing. My cats weren't playing. My cats were  playing. My cats weren't playing. Which role is  

this negative contraction using? It's using that  second rule, just a stopped T at the end. If we  

used the first rule and we added a schwa sound,  it would sound like my cats weren't playing and  

that is not natural. We don't want to add a  schwa sound if there shouldn't be one. So this  

is a good chance for your mind to be immersed  in all of these contractions and remember the  

correct ones. Say these sentences with me. My  cats were playing. My cats weren't playing. 

Have, haven't. Have, haven't. My cats have played.  My cats haven't played. My cats have played.  

My cats haven't played. Can you guess which rule  this contraction uses? It's the first one we added  

a little schwa sound. Haven't. Haven't. Haven't.  Say that sentence with me. My cats haven't played. 

Has, hasn't. Has, hasn't. My cat has played.  My cat hasn't played. My cat has played. My  

cat hasn't played. Which rule is this one  using? Hasn't. Do you hear that little schwa  

sound added? It's the first rule. My cat hasn't  played. Say that with me. My cat hasn't played. 

Had, hadn't. Had, hadn't. My cat had  played. My cat hadn't played. My cat  

hadn't played. Which rule is this? It's that  first one. There's a little schwa sound added.  

Listen carefully. My cat hadn't. My cat hadn't  played. Say it with me. My cat hadn't played. 

Do, don't. Do, don't. My cats do play. My cats  don't play. Ooh, listen carefully. My cats do  

play. My cats don't play. This difference is  very slight. Which role do you think is being  

used here? Don't. Don't. Do you hear any added  schwa sounds? No. This is going to be the second  

rule which uses just the stopped T. Don't. My  tongue is stopped at the top of my mouth. If we  

used that first rule, it would sound like don't.  Something that's not very natural. So make sure  

that you just use the stopped T. My cats don't  play. If you're curious about the grammar of that  

first positive sentence, my cats do play. Why are  there two verbs side by side? One of them is do,  

one of them is play. Is this correct grammar?  Yes, it is. We often use do for emphasis. And  

if you'd like to see how you can use that in  other situations, I made a video about this,  

native speakers use it all the time. You  can check out that grammar lesson up here. 

Does, doesn't. Does, doesn't. My cat does  play often. My cat doesn't play often. Ooh,  

which rule is being used here? My cat doesn't  play often. Do you hear that added schwa sound  

in my throat? Doesn't. Doesn't. It's rule number  one. We're adding that little schwa sound. Say  

it with me. My cat doesn't play often. And  if you're curious, is it pronounced often  

or often? I'm going to leave it a mystery.  You can check out this video I made up here  

talking about which one of these is correct.  All right, let's go to the next contraction. 

Did, didn't. Did, didn't. My cat did play. My cat  didn't play. What is happening here? My cat didn't  

play. Which rule is being used here first?  Let's get that taken care of. My cat didn't.  

Do you hear my throat making that little schwa  sound? Didn't. It's going to be rule number one,  

but there's something else that's happening  here that second D is going to be stopped  

short. So it sounds like di and then un. It seems  quite strange when we slow it down like that,  

but it's completely natural to say my  cat didn't play. My cat didn't play. 

Can, can't. Can, can't. My cats can play. My cats  can't play. My cats can play. My cats can't play.  

Which rule is being used here? Do you hear  any added schwa sounds? Can't. Nope. Instead,  

it's just that stopped T at the end. It's  rule number two. Can't. Can't. Say it with  

me. My cats can't play. If you tried to add a  schwa sound, can't, it just sounds unnatural.  

So make sure you say my cats can't play. Will, won't. Will, won't. My cats will  

play. My cats won't play. This is the most simple  because there's actually two different spellings,  

two different vowel sounds that are happening  here. Listen for the vowels. My cats will play,  

that short I. My cats will play.  Or in the negative contraction,  

my cats won't play. There's still a stopped T  happening. So it's still using that second rule,  

won't. We're not hearing that T, but because  the vowel sound is different, it's a little  

bit easier to understand that someone's using a  negative word compared to a positive word. Say it  

with me. My cats won't play. My cats won't play. Could, couldn't. Could, couldn't. My cats could  

play. My cats could play with, which rule is  this? We're adding a little schwa sound. Rule  

number one couldn't. Couldn't. Say it with me.  My cats couldn't play. My cats couldn't play. 

Would, wouldn't. Would, wouldn't. My cats would  play. My cats wouldn't play. My cats would play.  

My cats wouldn't play. When we slow it down,  it's a little bit awkward that's why we use  

this only for fast English. When we cut off the  T at the end, wouldn't. Wouldn't. Wouldn't play.  

Which rule is being used here? Well, we're  adding a little schwa sound. Wouldn't. You  

hear that? Wouldn't. My cats wouldn't play. Should, shouldn't. Should, shouldn't. My cats  

should play. My cats shouldn't play. Shouldn't.  Which rule is this? It's rule number one. We're  

adding a little schwa sound. Say that negative  sentence with me. My cats shouldn't play. My  

cats shouldn't play. I don't know why they  shouldn't play. Maybe they had some surgery  

and need to recover. My cats shouldn't play. That was a lot of contractions to practice. Now,  

let's review them together. I've combined  all of the negative contractions that use  

rule one together. So your mouth gets used to  using that rule one. And then I've combined  

all of the contractions that use rule two  together. And what I'd like you to do is I'm  

going to say each sentence twice. I want you  to listen the first time and the second time,  

speak out loud with me, repeat. Use your  beautiful speaking muscles. Let's do it. 

My cat isn't playing. My cat isn't playing.  My cat wasn't playing. My cat wasn't playing. 

My cats haven't played. My cats haven't played.  My cat hasn't played. My cat hasn't played.  

My cats hadn't played. My cats hadn't played. My cat doesn't play often. My cat doesn't play  

often. My cats didn't play. My cats didn't play. My cats couldn't play. My cats couldn't play. My  

cats wouldn't play. My cats wouldn't play. My  cats shouldn't play. My cats shouldn't play. 

My cats aren't playing. My cats aren't playing.  My cats weren't playing. My cats weren't playing. 

My cats don't play. My cats don't play.  My cats can't play. My cats can't play.  

My cats won't play. My cats won't play. Well, congratulations on leveling up  

your English so that you master these English  contractions, which are used all the time in  

daily conversation. Don't forget to download the  free PDF worksheet with all of these contractions,  

pronunciation tips, sample sentences, and at the  bottom of the worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's  

challenge questions so that you never forget what  you've learned. You can click on the link in the  

description to download that free PDF worksheet  today. Well, thank you so much for learning  

English with me and I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel, bye. 

But wait, do you want more? I recommend  watching this video next where you will  

learn how to pronounce the top 10 sentences  in English, including a sentence that sounds  

like uh-uh. What in the world is this? Well, watch  that video to find out and I'll see you there.