How to understand Americans.

Do Americans speak fast all the time? 

American people can sometimes speak so quickly that they do not pronounce the words correctly. Usually, they combine several words together and change the final sounds. This kind of speech is called “informal speech” which is characterized stylistically by omission, elisions, reductions, and sometimes a faster speaking rate. Here are some common examples. You must have heard many of them before while talking to a native speaker, from a movie or even from your English teacher.

Informal (sounds like)	Formal
Gonna	Going to
Wanna	Want to
Halfta	Have to
Dunno	Don’t know
Lemme	Let me
Gimme	Give me
Coulda / coulduv	Could have
Couldenuv	Couldn’t have
Wouldenuv	Wouldn’t have
Shoulda / shoulduv	Should have
Shouldenuv	Shouldn’t have
Whatta	What do
Sorry, gotta go	I’m sorry / I’m afraid I’ve got to be going now
Wanna a drink?	Could I offer you a drink?

American people also cut off the last letter of words ending in “ing” when they speak too fast. Here are few examples:

Sounds like	Means
Bein	Being
Goin	Going
Havin	Having
Givin	Giving
Doin	Doing
Lookin	Looking
Sayin	Saying
Cangin	Changing

They also do not pronounce the letter “t” in most words

Tweny	Twenty
Thiry	Thirty
Fory	Forty
Niney	Ninety
Genelman	Gentleman
Cener	Center
Torono	Toronto

There are many other examples you will hear them when you hear the radio, watch TV or when you visit an English speaking country. 

If you liked this article, please share it and subscribe so we can continue making more for you.