Abbreviating English words online. Contractions and short forms in english

A contraction is a combination of two or more words into one whole, while letters, such as vowels, are removed from the words. In writing, an apostrophe is written instead of missing letters. Abbreviations in English, as a rule, are used in informal settings (in conversation, in writing). Their goal is to simplify spoken language. They save time in modern society.

English abbreviations- These are abbreviated forms of parts of speech. It is very difficult to imagine a modern foreign language without them. Young people came up with these abbreviations for quick communication and data transfer. Absolutely everyone uses them now. If we compare the Internet correspondence of an English teenager and our schoolboy, then teenagers abroad use abbreviations hundreds of times more. There was even such a case that one girl was so carried away by abbreviations that she wrote an entire essay in the form of special abbreviations and symbols, which could not be immediately read without auxiliary decodings. Therefore, it is necessary to become more familiar with this interesting language.

List of English abbreviations

b - be - to be

n - and - and, a

r - are (form of the verb to be)

c - see - to see

u - you - you, you, you

IC - I see - I see

CU - see you - I see you

BF - boyfriend - friend

GF - girlfriend - friend

BZ - busy - busy

CYT - see you tomorrow - see you tomorrow

etc - et cetera - and so on

RUOK - are you ok? - are you all right?

HRU - how are you? - How are you?

MU - miss you - I miss you

NP - no problem - no problem

ASAP - as soon as possible - as soon as possible

TNX, THX, TX - thank you - thank you

YW - you are welcome - please contact

PLS, PLZ - please - please

BTW - by the way - by the way

BFF - best friend forever - best friend forever

HAND - have a nice day - have a nice day

IDK - I don't now - I don't know

MSG - message

CLD - could - be able, be able to

GD - good - good

VGD - very good - very good

RLY - really - really

TTYL - talk to you later - let's talk later

LOL - laughing out loud - laughing out loud

IMHO - in my humble opinion - in my humble opinion

ROFL - rolling on the floor laughing - rolling on the floor laughing

BRB - be right back - I'll be back soon

GTG - got to go - I'm leaving (I have to go)

XOXO - hugs and kisses - hugs and kisses

2u - to you - you

2u2 - to you too - you too

2day - today - today

2moro - tomorrow - tomorrow

2night - tonight - in the evening

b4 - before - before

4ever - forever - forever

gr8 - greate - great

f8 - fate - fate

l8 - late - late

l8r - later - later

10q - thank you - thank you

Where are English abbreviations used?

They are mainly used when writing messages on social networks, on forums, in chat rooms, and special language exchange resources. At first, only programmers communicated in this way, now the whole world. This is a whole system of letters and signs that must be learned for simple communication. They are somewhat reminiscent of hieroglyphs, when one sign means a whole sentence. Auxiliary and modal verbs and the negative particle not are subject to contraction.

Types of abbreviations

There are 4 types of abbreviations in English:

• graphic (found in written sources - books, letters, dictionaries);
  The oldest group of such abbreviations are words of Latin origin. Such words are written abbreviated, but in oral speech they are read in full.
• lexical - abbreviations. In turn, they are divided into the following subgroups:
  a) initials - capital letters of countries, companies;
  b) syllabic - abbreviations based on the initial syllables of complex words;
  c) partially abbreviated - abbreviations that include 2 words: one is abbreviated, the second is used in full.
• mergers;
• digital.

Countersense or abbreviation of words exists in every living language. This often causes a problem for those who have just started learning, for example, English. Often it is in songs that one can trace the counter-sense, when one tries to grasp the meaning, but due to the abbreviation of the words, nothing is clear. Therefore, you need to learn to understand the abbreviations that native speakers of this language know and use in everyday speech.

Even in Russian, we often use abbreviations instead of full words: Vuz (higher educational institution), zam (deputy), SMI (mass media).

Is it any wonder how many abbreviations there are in English?

Words like these help save time and space (in correspondence). It also happens that their use is a tradition (for example, abbreviations from Latin).

The downside of abbreviations is that a person who is not privy to them may not understand what they are talking about at all.

In this article, I have collected the most commonly used abbreviations, both in business and informal speech.

Abbreviations in English

Before we begin, let's conditionally divide all abbreviations into two large groups depending on the scope of use:

1. Generally accepted

2. Informal

First we'll talk about generally accepted abbreviations, which are equally suitable for ordinary speech and business negotiations.

Then we will touch on the abbreviations characteristic of informal communication(SMS, e-mail, correspondence with friends) - that is, those that can be useful outside of work, especially if you are an Internet user.

Attention: Do you want to overcome the language barrier and speak English? Find out in Moscow how our students begin to speak in 1 month!

Using common abbreviations in English

There are a number of abbreviations that can be called “traditional”: they are used in a variety of communication environments, they can be heard at a meeting, found in questionnaires, documents, scientific papers, and so on.

Don't be afraid to use them, they will never make you sound like a teenager or a person from a disadvantaged area.

Notes on pronunciation: In the vast majority of cases, the speaker will spell these words as they sound in the alphabet.

AKA is /[hey kay`ey], ETA is /[and ti`ey] and so on.

Some of these abbreviations you are unlikely to hear live, since they are more relevant for written speech.

Exception: ASAP. Since the word came from military jargon, that is, from an environment where the main thing is saving time, it is sometimes pronounced as if it were a full-fledged word: ["eɪ.sæp]/[eys`ep]. This is much shorter than [ ˌeɪ.ɛs.eɪˈpi]/[ey es hey `pi], although this option is also found in the business environment.

There are also a number of abbreviations from Latin. Typically they are used in writing. When spoken, it happens in different ways: sometimes the Latin phrase is pronounced in full, sometimes it is replaced with an English equivalent, sometimes an abbreviation is read.

Abbreviations used in informal speech (SMS, Internet slang, informal email correspondence)

With the advent of SMS, it has become important to shorten frequently used phrases in order to convey an idea in as few characters as possible. This tradition also continues on the Internet, because abbreviations, of course, increase typing speed.

The following abbreviations are what you will see on forums, chats or informal correspondence with friends. This is by no means a complete list (after all, each individual online community may have its own abbreviations), but rather commonly used expressions. Some of them even migrated to Russian soil (“OMG”, “lol”, “IMHO”, etc.).

Since these words are almost always used exclusively in written speech, most of them do not have a generally accepted form of pronunciation.

Some abbreviations use numbers. This is done because some of them sound similar to other English words. Most often these are 2 and 4:

2 - two/[that] = to/[tu] - indicates direction (where?)

For example: I'm coming to party, he goes every day to work, we're going to London.

4 - four/[fo] = for/[fo] - “for”, denotes the purpose of something for something or someone

For example: it was a gift for you, he's too short for basketball player for This cake needs more flour.

Moreover, the word you(“you, you”, pronunciation: /[yu]) is often replaced by one letter: u, the name of which in the alphabet sounds exactly like this: /[yu].

What does this look like in practice?

Separately, we will give abbreviations that, for obvious reasons, are characteristic only and exclusively for the Internet.

Well, here we are looking at the main abbreviations used in English. Perhaps some of them seemed familiar to you, others you saw on the Internet or in work documents.

As already mentioned, this is not a complete list: in our digital age, new words appear and disappear every day. But with this short guide you are guaranteed not to get lost in the English-language forum.

None of us have experienced this situation: you learn English, you know it quite well, you turn on an English film in the original and you realize... that you don’t understand anything. There can be many reasons for this, and one of them is ignorance of the colloquial abbreviations of words we know. In this article we will talk about the most common informal abbreviations and give examples of their use from films, TV series, cartoons and songs. You're gonna learn English today!

20 informal abbreviations in English

We immediately want to inform you: you need to know all the abbreviations below in order to understand the modern speech of foreigners, but you should use these words carefully. All abbreviations are informal, so you shouldn’t use them in negotiations, but in a conversation with a friend it’s quite possible to throw in some “I wanna cuppa tea” (read on to find out what we told you :-)).

Below you will see examples of the use of informal abbreviations from films, songs and cartoons. We would like to inform you that we are providing the official translation of the characters' phrases, so do not be surprised if it is not literal. Now let's get acquainted with the 20 most popular informal English abbreviations.

This abbreviation in oral speech can perhaps be found even more often than its full form going to. So let's learn how to use it correctly.

I'm not gonna play tennis with you. = I'm not going to play tennis with you. - I don't going to play tennis with you.

Please note: speakers in their speech most often also omit the verb to be before the word going. For example, let's look at a line from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn:

2. Gimme = give me - give/give me

This abbreviation is familiar to us all from the ABBA song of the same name “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme”. So, you can ask your friend to give you something:

Gimme your pen. = Give me your pen. - Give me your pen.

Let's listen to how ABBA's lead singers pronounce this word.

3. Lemme = let me - let me

This abbreviation is similar to the previous one, but is used less frequently. Although lemme (and all other abbreviations) can very often be found in the songs of Beyonce or Rihanna. You can use it like this:

Lemme take it. = Let me take it. - Let me take this.

4. Gotta

And this abbreviation can replace as many as two constructions:

• gotta = (have) got a - there is (something), to have (something).

Moreover, in some cases the verb have/has is placed before gotta, and in other cases it is omitted. Let's look at examples to better understand the rules for using this popular abbreviation.

You gotta note it. = You have got to note it. - You must write it down.
Has she gotta suitcase? = Has she got a suitcase? - She has There is suitcase?

It should be noted that gotta is still more often used in the first meaning - “must do something.” Let's look at an example from the movie Forrest Gump:

5. Wanna

The situation with this word is similar to the previous one: wanna has two meanings. Let's look at examples of their use.

• wanna = want to - want (to do something);

  Do you wanna go home? = Do you want to go home? - You Want Go home?

• wanna = want a - want (something).
  

  I wanna cup of tea =I want a cup of tea - I Want Cup of tea.

An excellent example of the use of the word wanna is the touching and romantic song I Wanna Grow Old with You.

The modal verb ought to apparently seemed too long to the British, and so they decided to “shorten” it to the conveniently pronounced oughta. Here's how it's used:

You oughta buy pizza for me. = You ought to buy pizza for me. - You should buy me a pizza.

But such a funny example was “provided” to us by the film “Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope:

7. Ain’t = am not, are not, is not, has not, have not - not (as a negative particle)

The abbreviation ain’t is the most ambiguous in the English language. First, see how many words it can replace. Secondly, you need to know this abbreviation, but it is advisable not to use it in your own speech. The fact is that some native English speakers consider it too informal and even illiterate. But authors of songs and film scripts love this word and use it quite often. Here's an example from the movie Iron Man 2:

The hero tells us this phrase:

I’d love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. - I would like to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this Not Canada.

In this example, ain’t replaces the combination is not. And here is an example from Bon Jovi’s song, where he sings the phrase “til we ain’t strangers anymore” (while we are not strangers yet).

In this example, ain’t replaces the construction are not. Be careful and look at the context to understand what is being said.

A very popular abbreviation that you will see in many films. You can use it in your own speech like this:

I have a lotta books at home. = I have a lot of books at home. = I have lotsa books at home. = I have lots of books at home. - In my house a lot of books.

We found a wonderful example of the use of two abbreviated forms of the word “a lot” in the fourth part of “The Fast and the Furious”.

9. Kinda = kind of - to some extent, like, somewhat, partly

And also kind of something - kind/type of something.

This abbreviation is used often in speech, and Americans especially love it, so let's find out how to use it. Here are simple examples:

She kinda loves him. = She kind of loves him. - She like loves him.
What kinda person are you? = What kind of person are you? - What kind of person are you? (Which one are you type person?)

Now let's look at an example from the famous song Crazy by Aerosmith. In the short passage, the abbreviation kinda is used three times to mean “kind of something,” “type of something.”

This abbreviation is also very popular. It can be used like this:

I'm sorta excited about the trip. = I'm sort of excited about the trip. - I A little / to a certain degree excited about the trip.

Consider an example from the movie “No Country for Old Men”:

Another similar reduction: the British again “ate” the preposition of. It's very easy to use:

I wanna cuppa tea = I want a cup of tea - I want cup tea.

We found an example in the famous film “The King’s Speech.” As you remember, speech therapist Lionel was from Australia, and Australians love such abbreviations as much as Americans. Lionel said this:

You probably noticed the analogy between the last words: in all of them the preposition of is added to the previous word, only changed to -ta. We can use this abbreviation as follows:

We have just come outta library. = We have just come out of library. - We just arrived from libraries.

A wonderful example was given to us by the equally wonderful film “Leon”. By the way, there is also the one you already know, gonna.

13. Ya = y’ = you - you, you, you

It would seem, why abbreviate a word that already consists of three letters? Apparently, the pace of life of English-speaking people is so high that they “shorten” the pronoun you (you, you, you) to two letters - ya or even to one - y’. You can use this shorthand like this:

Thank you ya y' for the flowers and cake! = Thank you you for the flowers and cake! - Thank you you for flowers and cake!

I must say that in films, in the speech of the characters, you will hear ya more often than you. These are the examples we found in the Django Unchained feed:

And this word often raises questions among people who have not yet studied informal English abbreviations: dunno combines three words at once - do not know. Here's how it's used.

What is John's favorite color?
- I dunno. =I don't know.
-What is John's favorite color?
- I Don't know.

We found an excellent example in the film “Shutter Island”:

15. C’mon = come on - okay, come on; let's go

The English decided to shorten the phrasal verb come on to one word. It can be used both as a verb “let’s go” and as an exclamation “come on”, “oh well”.

C'mon, don’t be so captious! She is a loyal friend. = Come on, don’t be so captious! - Come on, don't be so picky! She is a true friend.

We found a good example in the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”:

The English “made fun of” the word “because” the most: in informal speech they pronounce it any way they like, but not as in the dictionary. Here's an example:

I don't like these candies ‘cos/'coz/'cause/cuz they are too sweet. = I don’t like these candies because they are too sweet. - I don't like these candies because they are too sweet.

And here’s an example you can hear in the comedy “The Hangover”:

This abbreviation has many “brothers” in different tenses and forms: didn'tcha = didn't you, wontcha = won't you, whatcha = what are you, whatcha = what have you, gotcha = got you, betcha = bet you, etc. Let's give a simple example of using this abbreviation:

Whatcha doing here? = What are you doing here? - What you what are you doing here?

There is an excellent example in the film “Dark Areas”:

18. Shoulda = should have

This English abbreviation also has many “brothers”: coulda = could have, woulda = would have, mighta = might have, musta = must have, coulda = couldn't have, shouldna = shouldn't have, woulda = wouldn't have , she'da = she would have, he'da = he would have, I'da = I would have, they'da = they would have, you'da = you would have. As you already understood, the word have is replaced by one letter a, and the negative particle not is replaced by the letter n, and then these letters are attached to the word in front. Here's an example:

You shoulda told me about the rules. = You should have told me about the rules. - You should have tell me about the rules.

Here's an example we found in the movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron":

19. Didja = did you

This word continues the “tradition” of the previous two: similar contractions are used with different words and in all of them you changes to ja. For example: couldja = could you, wouldja = would you, howdja = how did you, whadaya = whataya = what do you, wheredja = where did you, whadja = what did you. Here's a simple example:

Didja buy salt yesterday? = Did you buy salt yesterday? - Did you buy salt yesterday?

And the best example of the use of such abbreviations is Adam Lambert's song Whataya Want from Me.

20. Tell 'em = tell them - tell them

An excellent solution for those who have never learned to perfectly pronounce the sound formed by the phrase th :-) Just “swallow” the complex sound and say tell’em:

Tell'em I am going to leave at 9 p.m. = Tell them I am going to leave at 9 p.m. - Tell them, I'm going to leave at 9 pm.

A great example of using this abbreviation is Michael Jackson's song Human Nature.

In addition to these abbreviations, there are others in English, but they are used a little less frequently than those listed above. Still, you can find them in films or songs, so we present them in the table below.

How to correctly pronounce the above-mentioned English informal abbreviations? To find out, go to pronuncian.com and listen to the announcer say them.

Now don't forget to download our table with the most popular informal abbreviations in English.

(*.pdf, 235 Kb)

Now your vocabulary has been expanded with informal vocabulary that you can put into practice to sound natural and not old-fashioned. Be sure to study it, and then it will be easier for you to understand the phrases of movie characters or the lyrics of your favorite songs. We wish you success in improving your English!

The English language is developing, and slang is evolving especially quickly - bright, accurate, sensitive to changes in our lives. In order to speed up the exchange of text messages, clever gadget owners and regulars of Internet chats have come up with their own slang, the most popular words from which we will learn today. And this is necessary: ​​a person learning English must know these short and witty abbreviations, because they have already become part of the culture of English-speaking countries.

If you have no one to exchange English-language SMS with, these interesting acronyms will come in handy when communicating on Skype, in other online chats, and even during regular email correspondence. Finally, you will understand what your English-speaking colleague meant when he wrote to you: BRB, B2W, CUL8R...

Most of these acronyms were created due to the consonance of some words with numbers and letters of the alphabet:

C - see(verb to see,"see")

R - are(verb to be"to be" in 2 l. units h.)

U - you("You")

2 - two("two"), to(preposition “in”, “on”), too("too much")

4 - four, for(4U - “for you”)

8 - ate(verb to eat,"is" in Past Simple)

ASAP - as soon as possible

You're probably already familiar with this abbreviation: it's often used in work environments when writing reminders ( memos). It means as soon as possible(“as quickly as possible” or “the sooner the better”). This is a very popular acronym that everyone understands.

PLS, PLZ - Please

The main “magic” word: “please”.

IOU - I owe you

Another common and very useful abbreviation. We read by letter: I [ʌɪ] + O [əʊ] + U. What does this remind us of? The phrase sounds exactly the same I owe you(“I owe you”) - your interlocutor thanks you for your kindness and promises to respond in kind.

THX - Thanks

And now - “thank you.” And also abbreviated.

LOL - Laugh out loud!

“I’m laughing out loud!” - your counterpart is incredibly funny. Laugh out loud = I laugh out loud.

OMG - Oh my god! Oh my goodness! Oh my gosh!

This is what young, impressionable girls often exclaim: OMG! It's Justin Bieber!(“Oh my God! It’s Justin Bieber!”)

BRB - Be right back

If you need to leave for a while while working on the computer, quickly type BRB and you can run away. But not for long: you warned that you would return immediately! Be right back = I’ll be right back.

B2W - Back to work

And now you are back at your workplace and inform your interlocutor about this. Back to work = I’m back to work.

And the interlocutor wants to ask you a question:

?4U — Question for you

Question for you = I have a question for you.

And you can answer by starting your answer with the catchphrase “In my humble opinion”:

IMHO - In my humble opinion

(humble means "modest")

Or, if you don't know the answer, write:

IDK - I don't know

If the interlocutor is your old friend, and you want to get a little rowdy, a not entirely censored, but quite popular answer will do:

WTF? — What the f**k?

You can use one of the following "formulas":

CUL8R — See you later

Formula C + U + L + eight + R = see + you + later (by the way, how are you with mathematics?), in Russian: “See you later.” See you later = I’ll see you later.

TTYL - talk to you later

"Let's talk later". Talk to you later = I’ll talk to you later.

A contraction is two or even three words combined into one shortened word, with some letters being dropped. An apostrophe is placed in place of the dropped letters on the letter. In English, abbreviations are used very often, mainly in colloquial speech. Mostly auxiliary verbs and the negative particle not are subject to contraction, since they are unstressed in the sentence. In addition, there are many contractions with modal verbs.

Let's look at the main abbreviations in English:

There are abbreviations verbal(when the verb itself is shortened) and negative(in which the particle not undergoes contraction).

Some negative contractions can take two forms:

he had not = he"d not = he hadn"t
she will not = she’ll not = she won’t
it is not = it’s not = it isn’t

Abbreviations with n"t(hadn"t, won"t) are more typical of the English language. The exception is the verb is, because in British English both are acceptable. In American English they use forms with not: she"s not.

In dividing questions am not has the abbreviation aren"t I:

I am in your team, aren’t I? - I'm on your team, aren't I?

Please note the difference in pronunciation: can"t: British English in American English.

Some abbreviations can imply different verbs, for example the abbreviation ’s can mean both is and has . How to distinguish? We differentiate by context. After is, either a verb ending in ing, an adjective or a noun is used:

He's waiting for you. - He's waiting for you.
She's a student. - She is a student.
It's beautiful. - This is wonderful.

After has there should be a verb in the third form:

He's got a new car. - He has a new car.
She's been to the USA. - She was in the USA.

The abbreviation "d" can "hide" had, would, should. After had we use the third form of the verb:

Sometimes the abbreviation is used for had better:

You'd better go home now. - You better go home now.

Would is often followed by like to :

I'd like to have a cup of tea. - I would like a cup of tea.

C should usually use the verb in the first form without the particle to (expression of advice):

You"d go and apologize. - You should go and apologize.

Do not confuse the abbreviated form it"s and the possessive adjective its.

Ain’t is a slang abbreviation for am not, are not, is not, have not, has not. It can be found in films, songs and in spoken language.

Using abbreviations in writing.

The use of abbreviated forms in writing is determined by the nature of the letter. Abbreviations should be avoided in official documents, formal correspondence, and scientific papers, but in informal letters, blogs, and articles, the use of abbreviations is allowed and even encouraged. Contractions give a more informal and light tone, while full forms, in turn, indicate seriousness and formality. Before using contractions in your writing, think about the nature, purpose, and recipient of your letter.

When using abbreviated forms in writing, there are several rules to remember.

The short form ‘s (is, has) can be used in writing with personal pronouns, nouns, question words, there) and (now’s):

He "s my brother. - He is my brother.
Tom's sleeping. - Tom is sleeping.
Where's he? What's he doing? - Where is he? What is he doing?
There's a car in the garage. - There's a car in the garage.
Here's a lot of people. - There are many people here.
Now's the time to go. - Now it's time to go.

The short forms 'll (will), 'd (had, should, would) and 're (are) are used in writing after pronouns and the word there, but in other cases the full forms are written, even if abbreviated ones are pronounced:

They're watching TV. The children are watching TV.
She'd like to go out. Mary would like to go out.
He'd eat healthy food. My father should eat healthy food.

Contractions are an important element of spoken English. Sometimes they make it difficult to understand native speakers when they speak very quickly, so it is important to develop your listening skills, and if you want to improve your spoken English, our teachers will help you with this. Good luck in learning English!