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Reduced Forms
To sound more like a native speaker of English, it is necessary to learn the reduced forms used in daily speech.  It is also important if you want to understand what native speakers are saying.  As you may have gathered, we do not pronounce every word clearly.  Remember, these reduced forms are not written in standard English, but you may see some of them in songs, advertisements and personal writing, when wishing to reflect natural speech.
The most popular vowel sound in the English language is the schwa, and the phonetic symbol for this is an upside down letter `e':  /«/. On this page the shwa sound will simply be highlighted.   It is an unstressed syllable, and it sounds something like `uh`(like the sound you make if you've been punched in the stomach!)
Here are some examples of reduced forms:
Standard English
Reduced Form
Example
because
kuz
 "I don't wanna go to the party, kuz it sounds boring."
bet you
betcha
 "I betcha can't eat ten hot dogs!"
could have + consonant
kuda
 "You kuda gone with me, if you'd told me in plenty of time."
could have + vowel
kudav
 "I was so hungry, I kudav eaten a horse."
did you
didja/didya
 "Didja like the film?"
don't youdoncha"Doncha know?"
get you
getcha
 "I'll getcha a drink."
give me
gimme
 "Gimme all your money!"
going to + verb
gonna
 "I'm gonna do my homework now."
got you
gotcha
 "I gotcha that candy bar you asked for."
has to
hasta
 "He hasta know how much he means to me."
have to
hafta
 "I hafta clean the house before I go out."
how are you + verb
howarya
 "Howarya doin'?"
I don't know
I dunno
 "I dunno what to think about that."
kind of + consonant
kinda
 "I'm kinda worried about that test."
kind of + vowelkindav "This book is kindav interesting."
kinds of + consonant
kindsa
 "What kindsa clothes does that shop sell?"
kinds of + vowelkindsav "Look at all those different kindsav oranges for sale!"
let me
lemme
 "Lemme in!"
lot of + consonant
lotta
 "I've got a lotta respect for that guy."
lot of + vowellottav "There were a lottav English people at the party."
lots of + consonant
lottsa
 "There were lottsa different nationalities in that chat room."
lots of + vowellottsav "There were lottsav interesting things to see and do."
might have + consonant
mighta
 "I mighta gone with him if he'd invited me"
might have + vowel
mightav
 "She mightav agreed to come if you'd been nicer to her." 
must have + consonant
musta
 "I musta walked past her without even seeing her."
must have + vowel
mustav
 "She mustav intended to dump him before his birthday."
ought to
oughta
 "You oughta know more about that than me."
should have + consonant
shoulda
 "I shoulda studied harder for the exam".
should have + vowel
shouldav
 "He really shouldav opened up about his feelings."
should not have + consonant
shouldn'ta/shouldn'a
"Where is she?  She shouldn'a taken that long!" 
should not have + vowel
shouldn'tav/shouldn'av
 "She shouldn'tav ignored you like that."
want to
wanna
"I wanna go home."
what are you + gerundwhatcha"Whatcha doin'?"
what do you + verb
whaddaya
"Whaddaya wanna do today?"
would have + consonant
woulda
"I woulda done the dishes if you'd asked me."
would have + vowel
wouldav
"I wouldav asked you to do it, if I'd thought you would."
what is the matterwassamatta"Wassammatta witcha? (with you)

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