This is New York in Slow English.
Hi, my name's Connie.
Today in this video I'm going to teach you about informal contractions.
These are the kinds of words that you use when you're talking to your friends, but not
when you're using good, formal English.
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to subscribe.
Now, you know what a contraction is, right?
A contraction is when we take 2 words and we put them together.
So we take 2 words like "I will", and we make them "I'll".
Or we take 2 words like "will not", and we make it "won't".
Those are formal contractions, and those are part of correct, good English.
So now, some examples of informal contractions are things like "gonna", "wanna", "gimme".
Words like this.
These are words that you will often hear friends saying to one another.
The thing about informal contractions is that they are generally not considered good English.
So, your English teacher at school will almost certainly correct you if use them, particularly
if you use them in writing.
This is not something that you would want to use in writing a college application, for
example, or writing an email to your boss.
So, why am I teaching you about informal contractions when they're considered bad English?
Well, it's because Americans use them all the time.
And so, if you want to understand people, particularly on the street, then you really
need to understand how these contractions work.
I made a video yesterday of my friends when we went to the movies.
So, I want you to listen to this video, and then we'll go back and repeat it.
And I'll stop it and explain each informal contraction that you hear.
It's a really nasty, rainy day here in New York.
And so, my friends and I have decided to play hooky and go see a movie.
The movie theater is right down the street from my house, so it's easy to get there.
Hi!
Hi.
What about this weather?
Oh my God, I shoulda brought my umbrella.
It's horrible.
It's so bad.
Can you gimme yours?
What do you guys wanna see today?
I don't know. I think we gotta see Black Panther.
Oh God.
Look at that line.
We shoulda bought tickets in advance.
Surprise!
I already bought them.
E-tickets!
Oh, lemme see them.
I betcha I'm never gonna make it to you.
I betcha!
I dunno if she's gonna make it.
I dunno!
This is gonna take all day.
Do you guys wanna get some snacks?
I kinda want some popcorn.
Gimme a hand.
Connie, we gotta go.
Gimme a hand.
So, whadjya think of the movie?
Oh!
So, I've seen it twice.
And I wanna see it again.
I can't wait.
Whadjya think of the movie?
I thought it was amazing.
And dontcha think it's the best Marvel movie ever?
OK.
Now let's review each sentence and figure out what are they saying.
It's a really nasty, rainy day here in New York, and so my friends and I have decided
to play hooky and go see a movie.
"Nasty" means that something is disagreeable or very unpleasant.
And this word has particular cultural significance right now because Donald Trump used it in
a debate to describe Hillary Clinton.
And it became a big rallying word for a lot of American women to say that men should not
talk about women this way.
"Play hooky" is something every school child knows.
This is when you skip school, or you skip work, to go do something that is more fun.
Hi! Hi.
What about this weather?
Oh my God, I shoulda brought my umbrella.
"Shoulda.
Coulda.
Woulda.
These are 3 common informal contractions which actually mean "should have, could have, or
would have".
It's so bad.
Can you gimme yours?
"Gimme" is a contraction of "give me."
And, in general, this is considered sort of impolite speech.
And it's often something that children would say to each other.
Young children, you know, when one child has a toy and the other child wants it.
Like somebody who's maybe 2 or 3 years old and they say, "gimme, gimme."
What do you guys wanna see today?
Here is a very common contraction: "whadya".
It's short for "what do you".
The second contraction is also very common.
When we say "wanna" instead of "want to".
I don't know I think we gotta see Black Panther.
This is a word that a lot of people use when they're texting, which I think for texting,
especially in an informal setting would be OK.
But it's not good for email or for any other written form of English.
You will hear this word "gotta" all the time when you speak with Americans.
But really, the proper English is "have to".
Oh God.
Look at that line.
We shoulda bought tickets in advance.
Here we go with another example of "shoulda".
Of course, what she really means is "should have".
Surprise!
I already bought them.
E-tickets!
Oh, lemme see them.
"Lemme see them" is a way of saying "let me", and it's a very lazy way of doing English.
So, you can imagine when you're speaking very quickly to your friends, you would slide from
saying "let me" to "lemme".
I betcha I'm never gonna make it to you.
I "I betcha" means that you believe something or you think something.
Another variation of this is "you betcha".
"You betcha" means that you agree with somebody.
"Gonna" is something that you will hear all the time, because this is one of the forms
that we use for the future tense.
So anytime we're talking saying "going to", in informal English it will be shortened to
"gonna".
I dunno if she's gonna make it.
I dunno!
Here she says, "I dunno."
But really, what she's saying is "I don't know."
This is gonna take all day.
Do you guys wanna get some snacks?
I kinda want some popcorn.
"Kina" is short for "kind of".
Sometimes you'll hear "kinda", or "kina".
"Kind of" and "sort of" are hedging words.
They're words we throw in the middle of a sentence that don't really bring that much
meaning to the sentence.
They sort of are used to soften what we're trying to say.
So she's saying that she wants some popcorn, but by saying "kind of" she's introducing
a little bit of doubt, even though, of course, we know she has no doubt.
She's definitely going to buy the popcorn.
Gimme a hand.
Connie, we gotta go.
Gimme a hand.
Here is this word "gotta" again.
Now, "gotta" is again, a very informal way of saying "have to".
And then she says, "gimme a hand".
This is a very common expression, gimme a hand.
It means, please help me out.
So, whadjya think of the movie?
Oh!
So, I've seen it twice.
And I wanna see it again.
I can't wait.
"Whadjya" is a contraction of "what did you".
So, instead of saying "what did you" which requires quite a lot of work, we shorten it
to "whadjya".
Whadjya think of the movie?
I thought it was amazing.
And dontcha think it's the best Marvel movie ever?
Similar to "whadjya" is "dontcha".
This is short for "don't you".
The answer to this question is yes!
I definitely think it was the best Marvel movie ever.
And if you get an opportunity to see it, I definitely recommend it.
If you like this video be sure to leave me some comments below.
And let me know what you would like to study next.
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And I'll see you next time on New York in Slow English.