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Woulda
 
American English Reductions - Woulda

In this lesson you will learn the American English reduction woulda.
Quick Links
what + is + word whassup whatser whatsiz          
word + me gimme lemme            
word + have coulda mighta musta shoulda woulda      
word + to gonna gotta hafta hasta oughta wanna    
do + not + know donno dunno            
did + you + word jeet jev jever          
word + you betcha doncha getcha gotcha howarya howdya howjya howujya
jya whaddaya whaddaya wancha whajya whenjya wherjya whojya
woujya              
word + of frunna kinda kindsa lotsa lotta outta sorta typa
Reductions: "woulda"
  • This American English reduction is formed when you combine and reduce the following words.
  • woulda = would + have
  • This American English reduction is used in the following way.
  • I woulda come if I wasn't working.
  • This American English reduction has the following meaning.
  • I would have come if I wasn't working.
Examples: "woulda"
  • I woulda thought this would be a little cheaper.
  • (Meaning: I would have thought this would be a little cheaper.)
  • She woulda looked a lot better with a different hair color.
  • (Meaning: She would have looked a lot better with a different hair color.)
  • He woulda made it to work on time if he did not stay out late last night.
  • (Meaning: He would have made it to work on time if he did not stay out late last night.)
  • I woulda asked her out on a date if I knew her phone number.
  • (Meaning: I would have asked her out on a date if I knew her phone number.)
  • They woulda liked this restaurant more if the food was less spicy.
  • (Meaning: They would have liked this restaurant more if the food was less spicy.)
From YOUR Teacher: Woulda

Woulda is generally used to indicate an action which could not be completed due to some other reason. Note the following video also contains the American English reductions shoulda, coulda, gonna, and gotta.
 
Note: Reductions

Remember the following:
  • Reductions are reduced forms of English words.
  • Reductions, such as woulda are not real words in English.
  • You need to use reductions in order to sound more natural.
  • You need to know reductions in order to understand conversations between native English speakers.
  • Reductions are used extensively in American TV, movies, music, literature, and in conversations among native English speakers.
Reductions In Music and TV


Beverley Knight - Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Beverley Knight, MBE (born Beverley Anne Smith; 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress who released her debut album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released eight studio albums to date. Widely labelled as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, Knight is best known for her hit singles "Greatest Day", "Get Up!", "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" and "Come as You Are".

This video is a good example of the usage of "woulda", "shoulda", "coulda", "gonna", and "gotta" English language reductions.

Use a dictionary to look up words you do not understand.
Lyrics

People say that together we were both sides of the same coin
That we would shine like Venus in a clear night sky
We thought our love could overcome the circumstances
But my ambition wouldn't allow for compromise
I could see in the distance all the dreams that were clear to me
And every choice I had to make left you on your own
Somehow the road we started down had split us somewhere
Too late to realise how far apart we'd grown
How I wish I, wish I'd done a little bit more
Now " Shoulda woulda coulda," means I'm out of time
Coz "Shoulda woulda coulda", can't change your mind
And I wonder, wonder what I'm gonna do
"Shoulda woulda coulda" are the last words of a fool
People ask how it feels to live the kind of life others dream about
I tell them everybody gotta face their highs and their lows
And in my life there's a love that I put aside, cause I was busy loving
Something else
So for every little thing you hold on to, you've got to let something else go
Fool if I would now forsake the opportunities are fate
I know I'm right where I belong
But sometimes when I'm not so strong I..
Fool if I would now forsake the opportunities are fate
I know I'm right where I belong
But sometimes when I'm not so strong I..


Brian McKnight - Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

Brian Kelly McKnight (born June 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. McKnight is most recognized for his strong falsetto and belting range. His work has earned him 16 Grammy Awards nominations, third only to Zubin Mehta and Snoop Dogg for the record of most Grammy nominations without a win. McKnight was born in Buffalo, New York to Claude McKnight, Jr. and Ruth Elaine Willis. His musical career began in childhood when he became a member of his church choir.

This video is a good example of the usage of "woulda", "gotta", "wanna", "shoulda", and "coulda" English language reductions.

Use a dictionary to look up words you do not understand.
Lyrics

Hmm, yeah, alright, yeah
Listen
Baby, can you put them bags down
Just wait, hold on for a minute
Gotta say a couple things before you go
Even though I know that we're finished
I don't want you to leave without knowing
Just where I'm coming from, babe
I just wanna say I made a big mistake
And now I gotta face the fact that I
Shoulda been a better man
The kind of man that you needed
Woulda been better off
If I'd done right by you
I coulda done this, I coulda done that
But I know I can't go back
'Cause now it's just too late
I'm saying shoulda, woulda, coulda, yeah
I can tell by the look on your face
You ain't trying to hear what I'm saying
Maybe you done heard all of this before
Girl, this ain't no game that I'm playing
This may be the last chance I'll ever have
To talk to you before you go
So I gotta say, I made a big mistake
Girl, you know it's killing me, that I
Shoulda been a better man
The kind of man that you needed
Woulda been better off
If I'd done right by you
I coulda done this, and I coulda done that
But I know I can't go back
'Cause now it's just too late
I'm saying shoulda, woulda, coulda, yeah
I should have done my best to love you, baby
I should have placed no one above you
And now it's killing me more than you know
Letting you go
That's why I
Girl, I know that I shoulda
Shoulda been a better man
The kind of man that you needed
(Coulda been a better man to you, baby)
Woulda been better off
(Shoulda been there for yah, every time you needed me)
If I'd done right by you
(Every time you called me)
I coulda done this, and I coulda done that
(And you that coulda done this, coulda done that, yeah)
But I know I can't go back
(But now I can't go back, baby)
'Cause now it's just too late
(All I need to now is, girl, all I need to know is)
I'm saying shoulda, woulda, coulda, yeah
(Do you still love me like you used to, baby?)
I know I shoulda, babe
I know I woulda, yeah
(All the things I could have done)
I know I coulda been a better man
(All the things I shoulda done)
I'm saying shoulda, woulda, coulda, yeah
I know I shoulda, babe
I know I woulda, yeah
I know I coulda been a better man
I'm saying shoulda, woulda, coulda, yeah, yeah


Hinder - Shoulda

Hinder is an American rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that was formed in 2001 by lead singer Austin Winkler, guitarist Joe "Blower" Garvey, and drummer Cody Hanson with bassist Mike Roden and guitarist Mark King, joining in 2003, solidifying the line-up. The band released four studio albums with Winkler; Extreme Behavior (2005), Take It to the Limit (2008), All American Nightmare (2010) and Welcome to the Freakshow (2012). Cody Hanson, along with former lead singer Austin Winkler, wrote the majority of the band's music on their first four albums. After Winkler left the band in 2013, they looked for a new lead vocalist, and added Marshal Dutton. They have since released: When The Smoke Clears (2015) and The Reign (2017) with their new vocalist. Their seventh studio album is expected in 2020. The band was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

This video is a good example of the usage of "woulda", "shoulda", and "coulda" English language reductions.

Use a dictionary to look up words you do not understand.
Lyrics

Before I hung up the phone all I could hear
Was the dial tone ring in my ear
If I could go back in time
I'd say those three words
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
And this can't be saved if you can't be found
You hung up and left me for dead on the ground
You didn't even say goodbye
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
Now that you're gone I'm wasting away
The life has been siphoned right out of my veins
If I could go back in time
I'd say those three words
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
And this can't be saved if you can't be found
You hung up and left me for dead on the ground
You didn't even say goodbye
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
When you said those three words
I kinda freaked out
When you said them first my jaw hit the ground
Shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
Shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
And this can't be saved if you can't be found
You hung up and left me for dead on the ground
You didn't even say goodbye
And this can't be saved
(And this can't be saved)
If you can't be found
(If you can't be found)
And this can't be saved
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you
I shoulda, woulda, coulda said it back to you


The Lemonheads - Confetti

The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an independent/"college rock" band in the late 1980s, the Lemonheads' popularity with a mass audience grew in 1992 with the major label album It's a Shame about Ray, which was produced, engineered, and mixed by The Robb Brothers (Bruce Robb, Dee, and Joe). This was followed by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", which eventually became one of the band's most successful singles. The Lemonheads were active until 1997 before going on hiatus, but reformed with a new lineup in 2005 and released The Lemonheads the following year. The band released its latest album, Varshons 2, in February 2019.

This video is a good example of the usage of "woulda", "kinda", "shoulda" and "sorta" English language reductions.

Use a dictionary to look up words you do not understand.
Lyrics

He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
The story's getting closer to the end
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
He'd rather be alone than pretend
She just wanted him to love her but he didn't
He took to the woods and wandered in it
Walked along and on until they couldn't
Stole himself to tell her that he wouldn't
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
The story's getting closer to the end
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
He'd rather be alone than pretend
She just wanted him to love her but he didn't
He took to the woods and wandered in it
Walked along and on until they couldn't
Stole himself to tell her that he wouldn't
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
The story's getting closer to the end
He kinda shoulda sorta woulda loved her if he could've
He'd rather be alone than pretend
 
 
 
 
Reduction Tips
Audio Program
(Beginner - Listening)

Wanna, Gonna, Hafta: Getting Relaxed With Reduced Forms of Speech - A five minute audio program of the written script below. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed.
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: reduced forms in spoken American English.

RS: We're talking about forms like whaddaya -- meaning "what do you," as in "whaddaya say?" "Whaddaya Say?" is also the title of a popular teaching book on reduced forms by Nina Weinstein.

AA: She did extensive research on the subject as a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, and as a teaching fellow at Harvard.

NINA WEINSTEIN: "There were a lot of assumptions. People felt that maybe it was a sort of uneducated kind of speech or maybe it was caused by informality or things like this. So my master's thesis is actually on what causes reduced forms.

"And what I found was speed of speech was statistically significant as a cause for reduced forms, not informality. Though in informal speech we tend to speak more quickly, and so we think it's the informality, but actually it's the speed of speech."

RS: "What do you find? Do you find certain patterns of reductions? Is there a way in which you can almost predict, if you are a speaker of English as a foreign language, that you can almost predict when or how it's going to happen?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "Yes, yes -- in fact, you can learn the reduced forms before. There are fifty to seventy common reduced forms that everyone should know from a listening point of view. Sometimes, I think, teachers feel that students will just pick this up. And they do pick up some, but they don't pick up all of them."

AA: "Can you give us a few of the most common reduced forms?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "The three most common reduced forms are wanna, which is the spoken form of 'want to'; gonna, which is the spoken form of 'going to' plus a verb; and hafta, which is the spoken form of 'have to.' And one of these forms will occur about every two minutes."

AA: "On average in a conversation?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "Yes, in unscripted spoken English."

AA: "That's amazing. And we're talking about common, everyday speech. And yet I could see maybe some students who are learning English who want to maybe apply for a job or meet with an employer or someone, a professor, and maybe they're afraid that they're going to sound uneducated or that they're too informal. What do you say about that?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "Informality -- informality actually is a very, very large part of American English. And as I tell my students, the majority of English is informal, though we do have situations that call for formality. I don't think that students should worry about their own use of the reduced forms because non-native speakers generally don't reach the speed of speech to have reductions. And so their speech will not reduce naturally.

"I don't advise students unnaturally adapting these forms because, as I said, they're a natural flow of spoken English. But what I do suggest that they do is, if they want to sound more natural, regardless of whether it's an interview situation or just in everyday speech, they could adopt the three most common reduced forms in their speech because these are almost like vocabulary items. They're that common.

"As far as the job interview goes, as I said, I don't think students should adopt the fifty to seventy common reduced forms in their own speech. But they need to understand the interviewer, who will be using reduced forms."

RS: "Now beyond these top three, is there a top ten?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "I wouldn't say there's a top ten. If I were to just give you some really common ones, one of the more common question forms would be 'what do you/what are you' changing to whaddaya. You can put that together with want to -- 'what do you want to' would be naturally pronounced as whaddaya wanna: 'Whaddaya wanna do?' 'Whaddaya wanna have?' Of course, we talked about gonna, which is 'going to' plus verb.

"We've got gotta, which is 'have got to': 'I've got to do this.' 'I've got to go there.' I think those are common, but I think the ones that are represented in 'Whaddya Say?' are really the most common. And I can't cut it off at ten, because actually in my research I found three hundred and five reduced forms."

A: Nina Weinstein, the author of "Whaddaya Say? Guided Practice in Relaxed Speech," speaking with us from VOA's Los Angeles bureau.

RS: And we gotta go. That's Wordmaster for this week. To learn more about American English, visit our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster.

AA: And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.
 
Audio Program
(Beginner - Listening)

To Master Rhythms of English, You Really Hafta Learn Reductions - A five minute audio program of the written script below. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed.
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: expanding on reductions. When speakers compress a phrase like "going to" into "gonna," or "what do you" into "whaddaya," that's a reduction. We mentioned their importance when we talked last week about the natural rhythms of spoken American English. To explain more, we found a segment we did with Slangman David Burke where he talked about reductions.

DAVID BURKE: "One of them is 'you.' Instead of saying you, we just say ya. Instead of saying `How are you?' [we say] `How are ya?' If I were to say to you 'Didja eat yet?' and you replied `No, didju?' we would understand that. 'Didja eat yet?' Did you eat yet?

"We talked about ya which is a reduction of you, but after the letter d the you or the ya becomes a 'ja' sound always after the letter d. `Would you like to come to the movies?' `Wouldja like to come to the movies?' `Did you eat?' `Didja eat?' And, for some reason after the letter t the ya becomes 'cha' -- `I'll let you come with me.' `I'll letcha come with me.' `What's that you have in your hand?' `Whatcha have in your hand?' So, we have about four different ways of saying `you' which is 'ya,' 'ja,' 'cha' and even 'ju.'"

AA: "This is spoken English, right? Now if you were writing a report or something for work, you would want to be more careful about using the formal non-reduced forms."

DAVID BURKE: "Absolutely. But, I would have to say yes and no, because reductions are used typically in speaking; however, a lot of times when we are writing to friends or especially in comic books we'll see the reduced form.

"True, in a formal report, you do not want to use reductions, but when we are writing a letter to somebody we might say in the beginning of the letter `How are ya?' and spell y-a for ya. That's pretty common."

AA: "Also on the most-often-heard reduction list are the reduced forms of going to and want to. They become gonna, g-o-n-n-a, and wanna, w-a-n-n-a."

RS: "As in 'I'm gonna be late,' or 'Do you wanna go with me?'"

DAVID BURKE: "And what's a little bit difficult to understand about `gonna' [is that] `gonna' is the reduction of `going to' only when it is something that is happening in the future.

"But when it indicates going from one place to another you cannot reduce it. For example, `I'm going to the movies tonight.' You can't say `I'm gonna the movies tonight.' Or `Are you going to the market?' You can't say 'Are you gonna the market?' So, it's only used to indicate the future, and it's really popular."

AA: "Sometimes, when reduction takes place, two different words are reduced to the same sound."

RS: "That happens with 'and' and 'in'."

DAVID BURKE: "'And' is pronounced 'n': `Rosanne n Avi.' The word `in' -- 'Let's go inside' -- it's pronounced absolutely the same. `Put the pencil 'n' the box.' It sounds like `Put the pencil and the box.'"

AA: "So someone coming to this country who is not used to the fast-speaking ways of your average American is going to be confused by these `wannas, gonnas -- "

RS: "Can't ya, don'tcha."

DAVID BURKE: "Absolutely. In fact just now you said a very common reduction, `used to' - `usta' means to be accustomed to, to be acclimated to. I'm usta getting up early. He usta be my best friend. We would never say `used to.'"

RS: "The question I have for you is that given the fact that Americans speak with reductions, how do people who speak English as a foreign language learn to tell the difference? How do they learn these reductions?"

DAVID BURKE: "The only way they can learn is to live in this country, and of course when they arrive they will be absolutely shocked and all of a sudden someone comes up and says, `How do ya do?' not `How do you do?' They are stunned."

AA: Slangman David Burke, talking about reductions in a segment from two thousand. You can learn about his language teaching materials at slangman.com. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. Archives are at voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy?" / Chris LeDoux/Garth Brooks
 
Reduced Forms

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": January 16, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble and this week on Wordmaster, English teacher Lida Baker explains some of the shortcuts that work their way into conversational American speech.

RS: They're called reduced forms, or reductions. And, since it was noon when we spoke to Lida, she served up the perfect lunchtime example:

BAKER: "So tell me, jeet yet?"

RS: "No we haven't eaten yet (laughter)."

BAKER: "See, you understood what I said, 'jeet.' Now if we were to pronounce that the way it's written, we would say 'did you eat yet?' But in rapid, spoken English, the 'did you' gets reduced. Do you see how the nature of the consonants changes, it's not 'did you,' it's 'juh' Let's suppose that you had already eaten lunch, so I could ask you 'hoodjeet with with?'"

RS: "Who did you eat with?"

BAKER: "That's right. Whadja eet?"

RS: "'What did you eat?' to translate."

BAKER: "Right. The reductions occur in words that are not stressed. So going back over those three examples, which admittedly are rather extreme -- and we'll go back and look at a few cases that are less extreme -- notice that it's the auxiliary verb, which is 'did,' and the pronoun 'you' gets reduced, and the word 'eat,' which is the verb in this sentence, is the stressed word. The word 'yet' is unstressed; it's an adverb. So it comes out 'jeet yet?'

Now let me give you some examples of reductions that occur frequently, or even all the time. One example would be the preposition 'to,' which we normally in spoken language pronounce 'ta,' 'I hafta go,' 'I hafta,' right? Haf-ta. It's not 'to.' Same thing with the word 'you.' How does that get reduced?"

RS: "Ya."

BAKER: "That's right, it becomes 'ya.' So instead of 'how are you doing,' we say 'how ya doin'?"

AA: "You drop the g on doing."

BAKER: "We drop the g. So that would be -- remember, there are two changes that occur in pronunciation when forms are reduced. One is that consonants change or disappear, and other one is that there's a change in the vowel quality. So 'how ya doin',' the word 'are' disappeared all together, the 'you' changed to 'ya' and on the word 'doing' the g dropped."

RS: "It would sound really strange if I would say in casual conversation, 'how are you doing?'"

AA: "Unless you're talking to someone who's hard of hearing or you know doesn't understand the language very well."

BAKER: "Yeah, it would be very unnatural. Think of other forms like 'gotta.' 'I gotta go.' We don't say 'I have got to go.' The word 'have' drops, 'got to' becomes 'gotta.' Notice 'got to,' when we pronounce them together, the 't' in American English changes to a ‘d.’ So there's a example of where, as I said before, consonant quality changes."

RS: "And we see this with 'going to,' 'I'm gonna go.'"

BAKER: "And very interesting, because most of my students, even at a low intermediate level, are familiar with 'gonna.' They've heard it so many times in movies and in songs and so on, so much so that I'll receive essays where the students have written g-o-n-n-a. But what I'm teaching people is academic English, and so I have to teach them that it's not OK to write reduced forms. It's OK to say them, but you shouldn't write them."

AA: "So is any of this related to social class or to education?"

BAKER: "I think the use of reduced forms is tied more to the situation. You'll find that when people are talking with their friends in a more casual situation, where we're feeling more relaxed, we tend to use more reduced forms -- because, one of the reasons that we do reduce forms, that we do have so many reductions in our speech, is that it's just much easier to pronounce words. Whenever we pronounce consonants, the mouth has to be in a certain position, and to move from one position to another requires a certain amount of muscular effort."

RS: Lida Baker teaches at the American Language Center of the University of California at Los Angeles. She also writes textbooks for English learners.

AA: You'll find our previous Wordmaster segments with Lida on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. Or write us at VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC 20237 USA. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "What You Gonna Do"/The Jeanette Williams Band
 
Pronunciation Tips
Are You How You Talk?
(Beginner - Listening, reading)

A video lesson to help with your understanding of American dialects.
The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed.
Click here to visit the lesson page.
Are You How You Talk?
(Beginner - Listening)

An audio lesson to help with your understanding of American dialects. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.
Improve Your Pronunciation by Training Your Ears
(Beginner - Listening)

An audio lesson to help with your pronunciation and English language reductions. The English is spoken at 75% of normal speed. Great English pronunciation tips. Click here to visit the lesson page with the written script for this audio program.
 
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