Discourse Markers

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 you	doncha	"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 + vowel	kindav	"This book is kindav interesting."
kinds of + consonant	kindsa	"What kindsa clothes does that shop sell?"
kinds of + vowel	kindsav	"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 + vowel	lottav	"There were a lottav English people at the party."
lots of + consonant	lottsa	"There were lottsa different nationalities in that chat room."
lots of + vowel	lottsav	"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 + gerund	whatcha	"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 matter	wassamatta	"Wassammatta witcha? (with you)