Contractions in English

Contractions are shortened forms of words and phrases, in which some letters or sounds are omitted. An apostrophe marks the omission. Most contractions in English combine two words to form a single shorter word—for example, do and not combine to form don’t. A contraction may also simply be a single word that is shortened, such as ma’am.

Contractions in Grammar: Types and examples.

Standard contractions include those that shorten the word not (like don’t, isn’t, couldn’t), forms of the be verb (I’m, you’re, he’s), the have verb (I’ve, she’s, they’ve), and the modal verbs will and would (I’ll, he’ll, you’d). Two other common contractions are ma’am (for madam) and let’s (for let us).

I don’t care. (do not)
She couldn’t be happier. (could not)
You’re right: I’m not on the flight. (you are, I am)
He’s not wrong about that. (he is)
They’ve all left. (they have)
We’ll manage. (we will)
You’d like that, wouldn’t you? (you would, would not)
Let’s get started. (let us)
Yes, ma’am. (madam)

At the end of this article is a full list of standard contractions in English, but here is a quick cheat sheet.

Contracted Forms in English

Full form	Contraction	Examples
not	n’t	isn’t (is not), don’t (do not), hasn’t (has not), can’t (cannot)
is, has	’s	she’s (she is, she has), what’s (what is, what has)
are	’re	you’re (you are), we’re (we are)
have	’ve	I’ve (I have), could’ve (could have)
had, would	’d	I’d (I had, I would), we’d (we had, we would)
will	’ll	I’ll (I will), you’ll (you will)
I am	I’m
let us	let’s
madam	ma’am

English also has other contracted forms, some of which are nonstandard and avoided in writing. For a full discussion, see Types of Contractions in English.

Contracting the be verb

Forms of the be verb (is, am, are) often join with pronouns (such as I, you, she, they, someone) to form contractions.

Hi, I’m Maya. (I am)
You’re right. (you are)
She’s funny that way. (she is)
They’re waiting. (they are)
It’s 3 a.m. (it is)
Something’s wrong. (something is)
Everyone’s here. (everyone is)

The be verb can also join with nouns to form contractions. These are common in speech and informal writing but not seen in edited prose (except in dialogue in fiction) and never in formal writing.

Rita’s here. (Rita is)
The cat’s asleep on the couch. (cat is)

Plural contractions are rarer still in writing (The cats’re asleep).

The be verb can also combine with adverbs to form contractions in speech and informal usage.

Now’s the best time to call her.
Here’s your money.
There’s nothing here.

Be verb with not

The be verb (is, are, am) contracts with not in two ways: you can either contract the verb form itself or contract not.

is not = isn’t she is = she’s

The word not is contracted more often with nouns.

Seen more often than “Farley’s not happy.” (The name “Farley” of course is a noun.) Seen more often than “The books’re not here.”

But with pronouns, the verb form is contracted more often instead.

Seen more often than “She isn’t happy” (where “she” is a pronoun). Seen more often than “They aren’t here.”

Contracting the have verb

The have verb combines with pronouns and nouns and contracts to ’ve, ’s, or ’d.

I’ve been looking for this. (I have been)
You’ve gone and booked the tickets, haven’t you? (you have gone)
It’s been fun. (it has been)
He’s found the answer. (he has found)
I can’t believe Maya’s published another book. (Maya has published)
He’d left by the time you got here. (he had left)

The have verb is not contracted in writing when it is the main verb in a sentence and means “to possess.”

Poor:

Poco’s

The main verb is has: Poco has. Don’t contract it.

The main verb is bought: Poco has bought. Has functions as an auxiliary (or helping) verb and can be contracted.

Contracted will and would

The modal verbs will and would contract to ’ll and ’d in casual communication.

You’ll figure it out. (you will)
You’d never know the difference. (you would)
I’ll call you tomorrow. (I will)
As kids, we’d play in the woods after school. (we would)
They’d pretend I wasn’t there. (they would)

Contractions with multiple meanings

The contracted form ’d can mean both would and had. Context makes it clear what you’re referring to.

She’d left by the time you arrived. (she had)
She’d often stop by on her way to work. (she would)

Similarly, the contracted form ’s can represent both is and has.

It’s raining. (it is)
It’s been raining all morning. (it has)

Another interesting contraction is what’s, which can mean what is, what has, and even what does in informal usage.

What’s going on? (what is)
What’s happened? (what has)
What’s that mean? (what does)

Exception: Let’s

Let’s is an exception in that it is a contraction of let us, not let is or let has (which options would be nonsensical anyway).

Let’s go. (let us)
Let’s start a business together. (let us)

Contractions in questions

Negative forms using not are contracted in questions both in speech and formal usage.

Hasn’t

Not “Has not Rita returned yet?” which would sound odd and archaic.

Negative question tags are also always contracted.

shouldn’t

Not “Should not he?”

Forms of be and have can combine with question words like who and what in speech.

What’s going on? (what is)
What’s happened to him? (what has)
What’ve you done? (what have)
Where’s Anita when you need her? (where is)
Where’s she gone? (where has)
Where’ve you been? (where have)
Who’s that? (who is)
Who’s been eating all my porridge? (who has)
Who’ve you been talking to? (who have)

Contractions of words like what, where, and there with the plural verb are (what’re, where’re, there’re) are less common than singular forms (what’s, where’s, there’s).

Contraction at end of sentence

Don’t use affirmative contractions at the end of a sentence or a clause.

Incorrect: “Have you ordered the shoes?” “Yes, I’ve.”
Correct: “Have you ordered the shoes?” “Yes, I have.”
Incorrect: “Are you ready?” “I don’t know that I’m.”
Correct: “Are you ready?” “I don’t know that I am.”
Incorrect: “Would you help me if you could?” “Of course I’d.”
Correct: “Would you help me if you could?” “Of course I would.”

It’s fine to use negative contractions to end a sentence or a clause.

Correct: No, I haven’t.
Correct: Of course I wouldn’t.

When to use: Considerations of formality

Contractions are common in speech and informal and creative writing, such as in dialogue.

She’s here. (she is)
I don’t know. (do not)
I’m happy to help. (I am)
We’ve found it! (we have)
Let’s not argue. (let us)
“Didn’t I tell you not to call him?” “Oh, don’t do that. It’s not my fault this happened.”

Avoid using contractions in formal texts, such as cover letters, academic papers, and business reports, which require a more formal tone.

Informal: We haven’t accounted for changes in pressure in this study.
Formal: We have not accounted for changes in pressure in this study.

Contraction vs. possessive

Both contractions and possessives may contain a noun followed by an apostrophe and s. An easy way to check is to try expanding the term: if you can expand it to two words, it’s a contraction; otherwise, it’s a possessive.

Maya’s = Maya is (contraction) the cat that belongs to Maya = possessive

Possessive pronouns (like hers, theirs, its) never contain an apostrophe. If you have an apostrophe and s with a pronoun, it’s a contraction, not a possessive. For example, it’s (with the apostrophe) is a contraction of it is or it has, while its (without an apostrophe) is a possessive.

Contraction:It’s a beautiful day. (it is)
Possessive:Its cover is lost. (the cover of something)
Contraction:Who’s this person in the photo? (who is)
Possessive:Whose photo is this? (the photo of someone)
Contraction:She’s here. (she is)
Possessive: This is hers. (something that belongs to her)

Tip

If you can expand it, it’s a contraction, not a possessive.

Standard contractions in English

Here is a useful list of commonly used contractions in English.

Standard English Contractions

Contraction	Meaning
don’t	do not
didn’t	did not
isn’t	is not
wasn’t	was not
aren’t	are not (also am not)
weren’t	were not
hasn’t	has not
haven’t	have not
hadn’t	had not
can’t	cannot
couldn’t	could not
shan’t	shall not
shouldn’t	should not
won’t	will not
wouldn’t	would not
mightn’t	might not
mustn’t	must not
oughtn’t	ought not
needn’t	need not
could’ve	could have
should’ve	should have
would’ve	would have
might’ve	might have
must’ve	must have
I’m	I am
you’re	you are
she’s	she is, she has
he’s	he is, he has
it’s	it is, it has
we’re	we are
they’re	they are
I’ve	I have
you’ve	you have
we’ve	we have
they’ve	they have
I’ll	I will
you’ll	you will
he’ll	he will
she’ll	she will
it’ll	it will
we’ll	we will
they’ll	they will
I’d	I had, I would
you’d	you had, you would
she’d	she had, she would
he’d	he had, he would
it’d	it had, it would
we’d	we had, we would
they’d	they had, they would
that’s	that is, that has
that’ve	that have
that’d	that would
which’ve	which have
who’s	who is, who has
who’re	who are
who’ve	who have
who’d	who had, who would
who’ll	who will
what’s	what is, what has, what does
what’re	what are
what’ll	what will
where’s	where is, where has
where’d	where did
when’s	when is, when has
why’s	why is, why has
why’d	why did
how’s	how is, how has
here’s	here is
there’s	there is, there has
there’ll	there will
there’d	there had, there would
someone’s	someone is, someone has
somebody’s	somebody is, somebody has
no one’s	no one is, no one has
nobody’s	nobody is, nobody has
something’s	something is, something has
nothing’s	nothing is, nothing has
let’s	let us
ma’am	madam
o’clock	of the clock