Contractions
A contraction in English is a word or phrase that has been reduced from one or more letters and where the space left by such reduction is taken by an apostrophe (‘) . Contractions in English
The contractions in English help us to establish a more conversational tone in conversations, so it is advisable to use text messages, blogs, notes, personal essays and in any facet that does not require formality.
However, if you want to give a more formal touch to any writing, it is advisable to avoid using any contraction .
Common contractions in English
1. The verb ‘TO BE’ in the present simple and continuous
| Person | Conjugation | Contraction |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | Yo soy | I’m |
| 2nd Singular | you are | You’re |
| 3rd Singular | He is / She is / It is | He’s / She’s / It’s |
| 1st Plural | We are | We’re |
| 2nd Plural | you are | You’re |
| 3rd Plural | They are | They’re |
Examples of Contractions in English:
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I am English | I’m English | I’m English |
| 2nd Singular | You are tired | You’re tired | Are you tired |
| 3rd Singular | He is hungry | He’s hungry | He is hungry |
| 3rd Singular | She is Australian | She’s Australian | She is Australian |
| 3rd Singular | It is Tuesday | It’s Tuesday | It’s Tuesday |
| 1st Plural | We are at school | We’re at school | We are in school |
| 2nd Plural | You are neighbors | You’re neighbors | You are neighbors |
| 3rd Plural | They are waiters | They’re waiters | They are waiters |
When we speak in the present continuous tense we use the verb ‘TO BE’ as an auxiliary with contractions in English as well, with the gerund of the main verb.
Examples:
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I am working | I’am working | I am working |
| 2nd Singular | You are working | You’re working | You are working |
| 3rd Singular | He is working | He’s working | Is working |
| 3rd Singular | She is working | She’s working | Is working |
| 3rd Singular | It is working | It’s working | Is working* |
| 1st Plural | We are working | We’re working | We are working |
| 2nd Plural | You are working | You’re working | Are you working |
| 3rd Plural | They are working | They’re working | They are working |
* It can also be “working” (for objects and ideas etc.)
2. The verb ‘TO HAVE’ in the Present Perfect and the Past Perfect
As you know, we use the verb ‘TO HAVE’ as an auxiliary to form the tenses ‘present perfect’ and ‘past perfect’, but we also use contractions in English with the verb before the participle:
| PRESENT PERFECT | PERFECT PAST | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Conjugation | Contraction | Conjugation | Contraction |
| 1st Sing. | I have | I’ve | I had | I’d |
| 2nd Sing. | You have | You’ve | You had | You’d |
| 3rd Sing. | He / She / It has | He’s / She’s / It’s | He / She / It had | He’d / She’d / It’d |
| 1st Plural | We have | We’ve | We had | We’d |
| 2nd Plural | You have | You’ve | You had | You’d |
| 3rd Plural | They have | They’ve | They had | They’d |
Examples of contractions – Present Perfect:
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I have worked | I’ve worked | I have worked |
| 2nd Singular | You have worked | You’ve worked | Have you worked |
| 3rd Singular | I have worked | He’s worked | Has worked |
| 3rd Singular | She has worked | She’s worked | Has worked |
| 3rd Singular | It has worked | It’s worked | Has worked* |
| 1st Plural | We have worked | We’ve worked | We have worked |
| 2nd Plural | You have worked | You’ve worked | You have worked |
| 3rd Plural | They have worked | They’ve worked | They have worked |
* It can also mean ‘working’ (for objects and ideas etc.)
3. Eye! Common mistakes with contractions in English
There are some common complications and errors between the PRESENT CONTINUOUS and the PERFECT PRESENT in relation to the 3rd person with contractions in English. Think in the context of the sentence and the constructions, it is necessary to avoid common mistakes.
Examples:
The contractions in English, as we have seen, with ‘HE IS’ and with ‘HE HAS’ in the PRESENT SIMPLE (‘ TO BE ‘) and THE PRESENT PERFECT (‘ TO HAVE ‘) are the same. Then it is very easy to make a mistake of understanding. However, there are important rules that can help you:
If the contraction is followed by an object , an adjective or a form of the verb in the gerund , the verb is ‘ TO BE ‘
| She is a lawyer | She’s a lawyer | She is a lawyer |
| He is Spanish | He’s Spanish | He is Spanish |
| It is working | It’s working | Is working |
If the contraction is followed by a participle, the verb is ‘ TO HAVE ‘
| I’ve eaten | He’s eaten | Has eaten |
| She has worked | She’s worked | Has worked |
| It has finished | It’s finished | Is over |
4. Modal and auxiliary verbs with negative forms
As we know, when we use modal verbs (Modal Verbs) as auxiliaries they do not change form: they have no conjugations, and there are no negative forms of those verbs , but we can create negative forms without changing the form of the modal verb .
Negative forms sometimes seem ‘irregular’ because they do not follow the usual rule of normal contractions in English . In the table below there are no person changes and we always use the infinitive afterwards.
Examples:
| Modal verb | Long way | Contraction in Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dog | Cannot | Can’t |
| Could | Could not | Couldn’t |
| Will | Will not | Won’t |
| Would | Would not | Wouldn’t |
| Should | Should not | Shouldn’t |
| Have | Have not | Haven’t |
| Had | Had not | Hadn’t |
| Must | Must not | Mustn’t |
More examples – the form does not change
I can work
I cannot work
I can’t work
I could speak French
I could not speak French
I couldn’t speak French etc.
5. Colloquial English contractions
There are some examples of contractions in English when we mix two words to create a unique contraction, and they are very common in movies or in real conversations between native speakers .
The verbs in which we use this form are ‘ TO GO ‘ and ‘ TO WANT ‘ but we do not use the word ‘TO’ with this contraction in English:
For example:
«I’m going to have lunch» becomes
«I’m gonna have lunch», without ‘TO’
Examples with ‘TO GO’:
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I am going to | I’m gonna | I will |
| 2nd Singular | You going to | You’re gonna | You’ll |
| 3rd Singular | He is going to | He’s gonna | Going to |
| 3rd Singular | She going to | She’s gonna | Going to |
| 3rd Singular | It is going to | It’s gonna | Going to |
| 1st Plural | We are going to | We’re gonna | We are going to |
| 2nd Plural | You are going to | You’re gonna | You go to |
| 3rd Plural | They are going to | They’re gonna | Going to |
Examples with ‘TO WANT’:
The above rule about the use of the word ‘ TO ‘ also works with the verb ‘ WANT ‘. For example ‘I want to have lunch’ is changed to ‘I wanna have lunch’, without ‘TO’.
eye! – This contraction in English does not work on the 3rd person
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I want to | I wanna | I want |
| 2nd Singular | You want to | You wanna | You want to |
| 3rd Singular | X | X | X |
| 3rd Singular | X | X | X |
| 3rd Singular | X | X | X |
| 1st Plural | We want to | We wanna | We want |
| 2nd Plural | You want to | You wanna | You want |
| 3rd Plural | They want to | They wanna | They want |
And finally there is a contraction in English, very common among people when talking informally to ask something: it works in the 2nd person, singular or plural, and with any infinitive after the contraction:
| Person | Formal | Contraction | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Singular | Do you want to go …? | D’you wanna go …? | Do you want to go? |
| 2nd Plural | Do you want to go …? | D’you wanna go …? | Do you want to go |
