The third most common form of reduced speech is the modifications of ‘for’ to /fər/ and
your/you’re to /yər/.
You may be noticing a pattern here. The reduction of ‘for’ and ‘your’ also use the /ə/
sound.
To clarify, imagine someone has asked you who a gift is for. You might reply with, “It’s
for the hostess”. Notice how speaking at a natural speed smoothly reduces the word
to /fər/?
Pro Tip: When ‘for’ or ‘your’ are pronounced in their reduced form, the /r/ sound links to
the next word.
For example, you might ask a contractor, “Could you send your estimate for my roof by
the end of the week?” The /r/ sound in ‘your’ carries over to the beginning of ‘estimate’
and ‘you’ is pronounced like /yə/.
Reduction #4: Contractions
Contractions of two words or more are a dime a dozen. Native speakers use
contractions often and this also creates the illusion of speaking quickly.
You can get 25 Common Contractions in a previous Confident English Lesson I shared.
Contractions are created in negative forms that include ‘not’.
For instance, we often hear someone say “I don’t like running” instead of “I do not like
running”. When contracted, ‘not’ sounds omits the /o/ sound.
Moreover, we also contract the verb ‘will’ to say /ɪl/.
For example, you might tell a coworker, “I’ll get back to you by the end of the week”.
When ‘will’ combines with a pronoun, it elongates the vowel sound and attaches an /il/
sound to the end.
For instance:
I’ll sounds like /aɪl/
You’ll sounds like /yul/
He’ll sounds like /hil/
The same could also be said for the verb ‘had’ and modal ‘would’.
Native speakers contract both these words to a simple /d/ sound. This means you need
to know the context surrounding the contraction to identify which word was used by the
speaker.
Imagine a friend explains a last-minute change of plans by sharing, “I’d been on my way
when I realized that I forgot to mail the letter”. Can you guess which word was reduced
here?
The same process also applies to ‘would’ and ‘have’ when they are reduced to /d/.
Instead of “I would need to think about it”, you would say, “I’d need to think about it”.
That being said, the most common contractions in everyday English involve combining
two words to create a completely new word.
Native speakers contract ‘going’ and ‘to’ to say gonna,
I’m gonna need more time. When saying gonna, native speakers reduce the vowels ‘o’
and ‘a’ to an /uh/ sound.
‘Want’ and ‘to’ to say wanna,
They wanna do movie night on Friday. Like gonna, wanna reduces the /a/ sounds to
/uh/.
‘Got’ and ‘to’ to say gotta,
I’ve gotta take my daughter to her recital. When ‘got’ and ‘to’ combine, they take on a
softer /d/ sound – godda.
‘Give’ and ‘me’ to say gimme,
Please gimme a moment to collect my thoughts.
And ‘don’t’ and ‘know’ to say dunno
They dunno when the orders will arrive.
