Informal Contractions

Informal contractions are shortened forms of words and phrases in English. They are used mostly in spoken English and some informal writing like texts, emails, and social media.

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Informal English contractions are similar to contractions. Contractions in English are words or phrases that are shortened by dropping one or more letters and replacing the letters with an apostrophe. This short form is often used in speaking and in informal writing.

Examples:

• wouldn't (would + not)
  
  
• can't (can + not)
  
  
• haven't (have + not)
  
  
• should've (should + have)
  
  
• she's (she + is)
  
  
• he'd (he + would)

Contractions can be a little confusing at first, so make sure you know how they are used. You can review contractions here: Contractions in English.

Informal contractions are shortened forms of other words and phrases in English. They are like slang. Slang is a very informal way of talking. For example, you might say yeah instead of yes, or you might say cool to say you like something or agree with someone.

Here are a few examples of informal contractions:

• gonna (going + to)
  
  
• lemme (let + me)
  
  
• kinda (kind + of)
  
  
• dunno (don't + know)

If you say kind of really fast, you can shorten it to kinda by dropping the final sound. If you say don't know really fast, it shortens to dunno. These are informal contractions.

Informal contractions are very common in American English. We don't usually write them except in texts, casual emails, and informal comments on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc).

We should not use informal contractions in "correct" or formal speech or writing.

Since informal contractions are not often written, most of the spellings are phonetic. That means that we spell them the way they sound. Some people might spell them differently than what you will see here. Also, sometimes people write them with apostrophes, and sometimes they do not use apostrophes.

Remember: These types of contractions are not correct speech.

Here are some common American English informal contractions with example sentences.

original words	informal contraction	sentence
don't you	dontcha	Dontcha like the movie?
didn't you	didntcha	Didntcha like the movie?
won't you	wontcha	Wontcha drive the car?
what are you	whatcha or watcha	Whatcha doing?
got you	gotcha	I gotcha!
bet you	betcha	Betcha can't guess the answer!

original words	informal contraction	sentence
should have	shoulda	I shoulda called yesterday.
could have	coulda	She coulda been here by 1:00.
would have	woulda	He woulda arrived earlier, but the train was late.
might have	mighta	You mighta left the bag at the airport.
must have	musta	You musta been in a hurry.
couldn't have	couldna	I couldna called because my phone was broken.
shouldn't have	shouldna	She shouldna told you that.
wouldn't have	wouldna	Nick wouldna known about the meeting.
she would have	she'da	She'da liked to be at the meeting today.
he would have	he'da	He'da liked to be there too.
I would have	I'da	I'da written to you, but I didn't have your address.
They would have	they'da	I wish they'da given me more time!
You would have	you'da	You'da enjoyed the concert last night.

original words	informal contraction	sentence
kind of	kinda	I kinda like her.
out of	outta	The printer is outta paper.
cup of	cuppa	I need a cuppa coffee.
sort of	sorta	I sorta need that book.
a lot of	a lotta	I have a lotta homework tonight.

original words	informal contraction	sentence
got to	gotta	I gotta buy a new car.
going to	gonna	She is gonna be there today.
need to	needa	I needa go shopping soon.
want to	wanna	I wanna blue car.
have to	hafta	I hafta save some money.
has to	hasta	Tim hasta work today.
ought to	oughta	She oughta work two jobs.
supposed to	supposeta	I'm supposeta start the job Monday.
used to	useta	She useta work there too.

original words	informal contraction	sentence
give me	gimme	Gimme five minutes.
let me	lemme	Lemme see it!
tell them	tellem	Tellem I'll be there soon.
don't know	dunno	I dunno what time it is.
am not  are not is not	ain't (This is very informal and considered bad English)	I ain't going to be there.
got a	gotta	I gotta new job.
come on	c'mon	C'mon! We don't want to be late!
some more	s'more	Can I have s'more water?

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