There’s a dirty habit that English speakers have … okay, it’s not that terrible. Still, when many people speak, they have a habit of contracting certain verbs if they come before the word “to.” These verbs usually stand ahead of another verb that is in its infinitive form, which is the most basic (e.g. to love, to go, to see). Here, I’m talking about the verb that comes before these infinitive forms. Read some examples to see what I mean:
Examples – connecting verbs with “to”
- I wanna help you.
(“Want to” might get fused together, so this sounds more like, “wanna”)
- You hadda say that, didn’t you?
(You had to say that, didn’t you?)
- You hafta help me, please!
(You have to help me, please!)
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Or, do you want more info? Look at this article on RealLifeGlobal.com along with the video below.
This might happen because the word “to” is normally pronounced as a “shwa” or a short “uh” sound. When people are speaking, it can be a drag to pronounce every letter and word. So, they get bunched together and form into a new word. It’s similar to how “would have” can turn into “would’ve.”
One thing to remember is that this fusing the verbs before “to” doesn’t work all the time. You might have to pay attention to which words this is used most commonly. Also, unlike with “would’ve,” hafta, wanna, and hadda are just how these words are pronounced in speech. They aren’t proper English, though, so you shouldn’t write these words on a paper or test (but they’re fine in text messages or social media).
Some other noteworthy examples of these contractions I’m sure you’ve all heard before are gonna and gotta.
More examples
- They’ve gotta be kidding.
(They’ve got to be kidding.)
- No one told you what’s gonna happen?
(No one told you what’s going to happen?)
- She hasta help her mom first.
(She has to help her mom first.)
Thank you all for reading! I hope you learned something. Read the Blog for other posts like this about English habits. Go ahead and share a comment with us if you’ve heard this habit before. And as always, take care out there. Peace! ☮️
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