Blog

‘Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone’ by Bill Withers – a great song that became particularly famous as part of the sountrack of the film Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Listening to it today got me thinking.

I am often asked the question “What does ‘ain’t’ mean?” but also ‘gonna’, ‘gotta’, ‘wanna’ and ‘dunno’.

These are known as ‘informal abbreviations’ of very common expressions that are used when native speakers talk very casually and fast – for example with friends and family.

A lot of native speakers actually never use these contractions, even in informal speech, as they are not considered ‘correct’ English.

Although they are extremely common in songs, they are never, or should never, be used formally in speech or in writing. If you happen to see these abbreviations in writing, for example in a comic strip (un fumetto) or cartoon it is because they represent spoken words – there is someone ‘speaking’.

Here are a few examples:

wanna = want to (do something) – want (something)

gonna = going to

gotta = have got (possession) – have got to (must)

ain’t = I’m not – you aren’t – he/she/it isn’t – we aren’t – they aren’t – there isn’t/aren’t

dunno = I don’t know (only British)

gimme = give me

lemme = let me

kinda = kind of

ya = you

They are derived from a very fast pronunciation of  words – the words literally become ‘fused’ together into a single word. Often, when these contractions are used, other contractions are also used in the same sentence or some words are dropped completely.

i.e.

Do you want a beer?

Do you wanna beer?

Do ya wanna beer?

D’ya wanna beer?

Wanna beer?

Here are some You Tube links to some well-known songs containing some of these abbreviations in their titles, however, I think I can safely say that the majority of songs have them somewhere!

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (a man after midnight) – ABBA

If you wanna be my lover – The Spice Girls

I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night  – Black Eyed Peas

Enjoy learning!

Fiona 😉