Spoken reductions in English

Summary

The following is a list of frequent oral reductions in English.

First category: expressions ending with “to”

• gonna = going to
• wanna = want to
• hafta = have to
• oughta = ought to
• gotta = got to

Second category: expressions ending with “of”

• a lotta = a lot of
• outta = out of
• kinda = kind of
• sorta = sort of

Third category: expressions ending with “have”

• coulda = could have
• woulda = would have
• shoulda = should have
• musta = must have
• mighta = might have

A few more frequent reductions

• I dunno = I don’t know
• d’ja = did you
• whaddaya = what do you/what are you

Quiz

For each question, click to listen to a short audio clip. Then choose the best response.