In fast, informal spoken English, certain words blend together into contractions called "merged words" or "reductions". Understanding them is essential for listening comprehension of native speakers, films, and podcasts — even if you would not write or produce them yourself in formal contexts.
Practice
"I've gotta finish this report by 5." What does "gotta" mean here?
"I'morder some pizza. Are you hungry?" (informal)
Put the words in the correct order (informal):
"Dunno" is a casual reduction of ___.
"a break — I need five minutes." (= give me)
Match the reduction to its meaning — put the sentence in order:
"Watcha doing this weekend?" What is the formal version of "watcha"?
"see you at the party tonight!" (= I'm going to)
Put the words in the correct order (informal):
Which casual form correctly matches "kind of" as in "It's kind of cold today"?