Informal spoken English: gonna, wanna, gotta

In relaxed speech, common word pairs merge into one word. You will rarely see these in writing, but you will hear them in almost every conversation — and you can’t follow natural English without them.

1. gonna

   = going to. “I’m gonna call her.”

   yeah we're gonna do we're gonna put the money we're gonna put we're gonna

   1,000+ clips

2. wanna

   = want to. “Do you wanna come?”

   Wanna pick? You wanna pick somebody?

   1,000+ clips

3. gotta

   = (have) got to. “I gotta go.”

   out there, and everyone is recommending me. "Gotta watch this, gotta watch this, gotta

   1,000+ clips

4. kinda

   = kind of. “It’s kinda cold.”

   Kinda sweet. Kinda chalky.

   1,000+ clips

5. sorta

   = sort of.

   - ...it's sorta not racist.

   310 clips

6. dunno

   = don’t know. “I dunno.”

   (people chattering) - You guys, I dunno, I dunno, I dunno.

   1,000+ clips

7. lemme

   = let me. “Lemme see.”

   - Lemme, lemme-- - Outside it's cloudy.

   365 clips

8. gimme

   = give me. “Gimme a second.”

   We are gimme, gimme, gimme people.

   523 clips

9. outta

   = out of. “Get outta here.”

   above come outta the seed, outta the nacciolo.

   1,000+ clips

10. lotta

    = (a) lot of.

    [yells] Lotta cheeks, put a lotta cheeks in it, you know.

    354 clips

11. gotcha

    = got you — often means “I understand”.

    - [Jeffrey] Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

    1,000+ clips

12. betcha

    = bet you.

    SHEILA HEEN: Sam, you betcha.

    96 clips

13. whatcha

    = what are you / what have you.

    ♪♪ Thank you, arched floor lamps, for always looking like you're saying, "So...whatcha readin'?"

    8 clips

14. coulda

    = could have.

    Coulda just named him Dr.

    54 clips

15. shoulda

    = should have.

    -I shoulda switched the cards.

    78 clips

16. woulda

    = would have.

    UM, I JUST WISH -- I JUST WISH RHULE AND STAFF WOULDA -- WOULDA TRUSTED THEM

    47 clips

17. innit

    = isn’t it — mostly British.

    -- There to there, innit?

    548 clips

18. cuz

    = because.

    at me. Cuz cuz we gave Arnold everything stuff

    1,000+ clips

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