View source for Contraction (grammar)

{{Short description|Shortening of words or phrases}}
{{about|grammar of modern languages, which involves [[elision]]|contraction in [[Ancient Greek]] and the [[Fusion (phonetics)|coalescence]] of two vowels into one|crasis|the linguistic function of pronouncing vowels together|Synaeresis|other uses|Contraction (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2015}}
A '''contraction''' is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a [[word]], [[syllable]], or [[phrase|word group]], created by omission of internal letters and sounds.

In [[linguistic analysis]], contractions should not be confused with [[crasis]], [[abbreviation]]s and [[initialisms]] (including [[acronym]]s), with which they share some [[semantic]] and [[phonetic]] functions, though all three are connoted by the term "abbreviation" in layman’s terms.<ref name=harts>{{cite book|title=New Hart's Rules: The handbook of style for writers and editors|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=0-19-861041-6|year=2005|author = Roberts R|display-authors=etal|title-link=Hart's Rules}} {{rp|p.167}}</ref> Contraction is also distinguished from [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] [[clipping (morphology)|clipping]], where beginnings and endings are omitted.

The [[definition]] overlaps with the term [[portmanteau]] (a linguistic ''[[Blend word|blend]]''), but a distinction can be made between a [[portmanteau]] and a contraction by noting that contractions are formed from words that would otherwise appear together in sequence, such as ''do'' and ''not'', whereas a portmanteau word is formed by combining two or more existing words that all relate to a singular concept that the portmanteau describes.

== English ==
[[English language|English]] has a number of contractions, mostly involving the [[elision]] of a vowel, which is replaced by an [[apostrophe]] in writing, as in ''I'm'' for "I am", and sometimes other changes as well. Contractions are common in speech and in informal writing but tend to be avoided in more [[formal writing]] (with limited exceptions, such as the now-standard form "o'clock").

The main contractions are listed in the following table.
{| class="wikitable"
! Full form
! Contracted
! Notes
|-Notes


| I am
| I'm
| informal, as in "I'm here."
|-
| are
| -'re
| informal; ''we're'' /wɪər/ or /wɛər/ is, in most cases, pronounced differently from ''were'' /wɜr/.
|-
| does
| rowspan="3" | -'s
| informal, as in "What's he do there every day?"
|-
| is
| informal, as in "He's driving right now." 
|-
| has
| informal, as in "She's been here before." 
|-
| have
| -'ve
| informal, as in "I've never done this before."
|-
| had
| rowspan="3" | -'d
| informal, e.g. "He'd already left." or "We'd better go."
|-
| did
| informal, as in "Where'd she go?"
|-
| would
| informal, as in "We'd get in trouble if we broke the door." 
|-
| will
| rowspan="2"| -'ll
| informal, as in "they'll call you later."
|-
| shall
| informal, as in "I'll call you later."
|-
| let us
| let's
| informal, as in "Let's do this."
|-
| going to
| gonna
| informal, as in "I'm gonna do it."
|-
| want to
| wanna
| informal, as in "I wanna do it."
|-
| has to
| rowspan="3" | gotta
| informal, as in "He gotta do it."
|-
| have to
| informal, as in "I gotta do that."
|-
| have got to
| informal, as in "You gotta be serious."
|-
| am not
| rowspan="4"| ain't
| informal, as in "I ain't him."
|-
| will not
| informal, as in "I ain't doing that."
|-
| is not
| informal, as in "That ain't it."
|-
| are not
| informal, as in "They ain't them."
|-
| of
| rowspan="2" | o'-
| rowspan="2" | standard in some fixed compounds,<ref group="Note">Fixed compound is a word phrase used grammatically as a noun or other part of speech (but, in this case, not a verb) where the phrase is invariant and widely understood. The phrase does not change no matter where it occurs in a sentence or elsewhere, nor can individual elements be substituted with synonyms (but alternatives to the compound may exist). They may be considered idiomatic though the meaning of most were transparent when coined. Many are usually written hyphenated, but that reflects a common preference to hyphenate English compounds (except verbs) containing prepositions. "Fixed" is a matter of degree, and in this case, it essentially means "standard": that the contraction is not considered informal is the best sign that it is fixed.</ref> as in ''three'' ''[[wikt:o'clock|o'clock]]''[[wikt:o'clock|,]] ''[[cat o' nine tails]]'', ''[[jack-o'-lantern]]'', ''[[will-o'-wisp]]'', ''[[man o' war (disambiguation)|man o' war]]'', ''run-o'-the-mill'' (but ''mother-o'-pearl'' is borderline); informal otherwise, as in "cup o' coffee", "barrel o' monkeys", "Land o' Goshen"
|-
| of the
|-
| it was
| 'twas
| archaic, except in stock uses such as'' [[The Night Before Christmas|'Twas the night before Christmas]]''
|-
| them
| 'em
| informal, partially from ''hem'', the original dative and accusative of ''they''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=em&allowed_in_frame=0|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=them&allowed_in_frame=0|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>
|-
| you
| y'-
| 2nd person pronoun (''you'') has plurality marked in some varieties of English (e.g. Southern United States) by combining with e.g. ''all'', which is then usually contracted to ''y'all'' in which case it likely is standard<ref group="Note">In varieties that do not normally mark plurality (so use unmodified ''you'' as the pronoun when addressing a single person or group), there may be times in which speakers want to make it clear that they are addressing multiple people by employing ''you all'' (or ''both of you'', etc.) in which case the contraction ''y'all'' would never be used. (The contraction is a strong sign of an English variety that normally marks plurality.)</ref>
|-
| about
| 'bout
| {{wikt-lang|en|'bout}} is very informal, e.g. ''I'll come by 'bout noon.''
|-
| because
| 'cause
| {{wikt-lang|en|'cause}} is very informal, e.g. ''Why did you do it? Just 'cause.''
|-
|and
|'n'
|informal, as in "Fish 'n' chips."
|-

|}

{| class="wikitable" | style="margin:0 0 10px 10px; float:right; border: none;"
|+Position of ''not''/''{{nbh}}n't'' in a negative closed interrogative
!
! After, or as an inflectional<br /> suffix of, the auxiliary verb
! After the subject
|-
! ''not''
| *''Will not you attend?''<ref group="Note">This article uses an [[Asterisk#Ungrammaticality|asterisk]] {{Angbr|*}} to indicate ungrammatical examples.</ref>
| ''Will you not attend?''
|-
! ''-n't''
| ''Won't you attend?''
| *''Will you n't attend?''
|-
|}
Although ''can't'', ''wouldn't'' and other forms ending ''{{nbh}}n't'' clearly started as contractions, ''{{nbh}}n't'' is now neither a contraction (a [[clitic]]ized form) nor part of one but instead a negative [[inflection]]al suffix. Evidence for this is (i) ''{{nbh}}n't'' occurs only with [[English auxiliary verbs|auxiliary verbs]], and clitics are not limited to particular categories or subcategories; (ii) again unlike contractions, their forms are not rule-governed but idiosyncratic (e.g., ''will''  → ''won't, can'' → ''can't''); and (iii) as shown in the table, the inflected and "uncontracted" versions may require different positions in a sentence.<ref name="CamGEL">{{Cite book |last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney | title=[[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]] |last2=Pullum |first2=Geoffrey K. | authorlink1=Rodney Huddleston | authorlink2=Geoffrey K. Pullum | publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |location=Cambridge| isbn=978-0-521-43146-0| page=91}}</ref>

== Chinese ==
The [[Old Chinese]] writing system ([[oracle bone script]] and [[Chinese bronze inscriptions|bronzeware script]]) is well suited for the (almost) one-to-one correspondence between [[morpheme]] and [[glyph]]. Contractions in which one glyph represents two or more morphemes are a notable exception to that rule. About 20 or so are noted to exist by traditional [[philologists]] and are known as ''jiāncí'' (兼詞, lit. 'concurrent words'), and more words have been proposed to be contractions by recent [[scholars]], based on recent reconstructions of Old Chinese phonology, epigraphic evidence, and syntactic considerations. For example, 非 [fēi] has been proposed to be a contraction of 不 (bù) + 唯/隹 (wéi/zhuī). The contractions are not generally graphically evident, and there is no general rule for how a character representing a contraction might be formed. As a result, the identification of a character as a contraction, as well as the word(s) that are proposed to have been contracted, is sometimes disputed.

As vernacular Chinese dialects use sets of function words that differ considerably from [[Classical Chinese]], almost all of the classical contractions that are listed below are now archaic and have disappeared from everyday use. However, modern contractions have evolved from the new vernacular function words. Modern contractions appear in all major modern dialect groups. For example, 别 (bié) 'don't' in [[Standard Chinese|Standard Mandarin]] is a contraction of 不要 (bùyào), and 覅 (fiào) 'don't' in [[Shanghainese]] is a contraction of 勿要 (wù yào), as is apparent graphically. Similarly, in [[Northeastern Mandarin]] 甭 (béng) 'needn't' is a phonological and graphical contraction of 不用 (bùyòng). Finally, [[Cantonese]] contracts 乜嘢 (mat1 ye5)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%E4%B9%9C%E5%98%A2&oldid=27284238|title=乜嘢|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> 'what?' to 咩 (me1).

;Table of Classical Chinese contractions
{| class="wikitable"
! Full form<ref name="pulleyblank">{{cite book|title = Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar|publisher = [[University of British Columbia Press]]|isbn = 978-0-7748-0505-6|year = 1995|author = Edwin G. Pulleyblank|author-link = Edwin G. Pulleyblank}}
</ref>
! Transliteration<ref name="oldchinese">[http://www.eastling.org/oc/oldage.aspx Old Chinese reconstruction search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203033453/http://www.eastling.org/OC/oldage.aspx |date=2011-12-03 }} containing [[William H. Baxter]]'s reconstructions.</ref>
! Contraction<ref name="pulleyblank" />
! Transliteration<ref name="oldchinese" />
! Notes<ref name="pulleyblank" />
|-
| 之乎
| tjə ga
| 諸
| tjᴀ
| In some rarer cases 諸 can also be contraction for 有之乎. 諸 can be used on its own with the meaning of "all, the class of", as in 諸侯 "the feudal lords."
|-
| 若之何
| njᴀ tjə gaj
| 奈何
| najs gaj
|-
| [於之]<sup>note</sup>
| ʔa tjə
| 焉
| ʔrjan
| 於之 is never used; only 焉.
|-
| 之焉
| tjə ʔrjan
| 旃
| tjan
| Rare.
|-
| [于之]<sup>note</sup>
| wja tjə
| 爰
| wjan
| Rare. The prepositions 於, 于, and 乎 are of different origin, but used interchangeably (except that 乎 can also be used as a final question particle).
|-
| [如之]<sup>note</sup>
| nja tjə
| 然
| njan
|
|-
| [曰之]<sup>note</sup>
| wjot tjə
| 云
| wjən
|
|-
| 不之
| pjə tjə
| 弗
| pjət
|
|-
| 毋之
| mja tjə
| 勿
| mjət
| 弗 and 勿 were originally not contractions, but were reanalyzed as contractions in the [[Warring States period]].
|-
| 而已
| njə ljəʔ
| 耳
| njəʔ
|
|-
| 胡不
| ga pjə
| 盍
| gap
| 胡 is a variant of 何.
|-
| 也乎
| ljᴀjʔ ga
| 與
| ljaʔ
| Also written 歟.
|-
| 也乎
| ljᴀjʔ ga
| 邪
| zjᴀ
| Also written 耶. Probably a dialectal variant of 與.
|-
| 不乎
| pjə ga
| 夫
| pja
| 夫 has many other meanings.
|}

{{small|''Note:'' The particles 爰, 焉, 云, and 然 ending in [-j[a/ə]n] behave as the grammatical equivalents of a verb (or coverb) followed by 之 'him; her; it (third-person object)' or a similar demonstrative pronoun in the object position. In fact, 于/於 '(is) in; at', 曰 'say', and 如 'resemble' are never followed by 之 '(third-person object)' or 此 '(near demonstrative)' in pre-[[Qin dynasty|Qin]] texts. Instead, the respective 'contractions' 爰/焉, 云, and 然 are always used in their place. Nevertheless, no known object pronoun is phonologically appropriate to serve as the hypothetical pronoun that underwent contraction. Hence, many authorities do not consider them to be true contractions. As an alternative explanation for their origin, [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]] proposed that the [-n] ending is derived from a [[Sino-Tibetan]] [[aspect (linguistics)|aspect]] marker that later took on [[anaphora (linguistics)|anaphoric]] character.<ref name="pulleyblank" />{{Rp|page=80}}}}

== Dutch ==
Here are some of the contractions in [[Standard Dutch]]:
{| class="wikitable"
! Full form
! Contracted
! Translation
! Note
|-
| des
| 's
| of
| Genitive form of the Dutch article ''de'' "the"
|-
| een
| 'n
| a, an
|
|-
| haar
| d'r
| her
|
|-
| hem
| 'm
| him
|
|-
| het
| 't
| it <br> the
|
|-
| ik
| 'k
| I
|
|-
| mijn
| m'n
| my
|
|-
| zijn
| z'n
| his
|
|-
| zo een
| zo'n
| such a
|
|-
|}

Informal [[Belgian Dutch]] uses a wide range of non-standard contractions such as "hoe's't" (from "hoe is het?" - how are you?), "hij's d'r" (from "hij is daar" - he's there), "w'ebbe' goe' g'ete'" (from "we hebben goed gegeten" - we had eaten well) and "wa's da'?" (from "wat is dat?" - what is that?. Some of these contractions:

{| class="wikitable"
! Full form
! Contracted
! Translation
! Note
|-
| there
|
|-
| dat
| da'
| that
| 
|-
| dat is
| da's
| that is
| 
|-
| dat ik
| da'k
| that I
| 
|-
| ge
| g'
| you
|
|-
| is
| 's
| is
|
|-
| wat
| wa'
| what
|
|-
| we
| w'
| we
|
|-
| ze
| z'
| she
|
|-
|}

== French ==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
[[French language|French]] has a variety of contractions like in English except that they are mandatory, as in ''[[wiktionary:c'est la vie|C'est la vie]]'' ("That's life") in which ''c'est'' stands for ''ce'' + ''est'' ("that is"). The formation of such contractions is called [[elision (French)|elision]].

In general, any [[monosyllabic]] word ending in ''[[e caduc]]'' (schwa) contracts if the following word begins with a vowel, ''h'' or ''y'' (as ''h'' is silent and absorbed by the sound of the succeeding vowel; ''y'' sounds like ''i''). In addition to ''ce'' → ''c'-'' (demonstrative pronoun "that"), these words are ''que'' → ''qu'-'' (conjunction, relative pronoun, or interrogative pronoun "that"), ''ne'' → ''n'-'' ("not"), ''se'' → ''s'-'' ("himself", "herself", "itself", "oneself" before a verb), ''je'' → ''j'-'' ("I"), ''me'' → ''m'-'' ("me" before a verb), ''te'' → ''t'- '' (informal singular "you" before a verb), ''le'' or ''la'' → ''l'-'' ("the"; or  "he", "she", "it" before a verb or after an imperative verb and before the word ''y'' or ''en''), and ''de'' → ''d'-'' ("of"). Unlike with English contractions, however, those contractions are mandatory: one would never say (or write) ''*ce est'' or ''*que elle''.

''Moi'' ("me") and ''toi'' (informal "you") mandatorily contract to ''m'-'' and ''t'-'', respectively, after an imperative verb and before the word ''y'' or ''en''.

It is also mandatory to avoid the repetition of a sound when the conjunction ''si'' ("if") is followed by ''il'' ("he", "it") or ''ils'' ("they"), which begin with the same vowel sound ''i'': ''*si il'' → ''s'il'' ("if it", if he"); ''*si ils'' → ''s'ils'' ("if they").

Certain [[prepositions]] are also mandatorily merged with masculine and plural direct articles: ''au'' for ''à le'', ''aux'' for ''à les'', ''du'' for ''de le'', and ''des'' for ''de les''. However, the contraction of ''cela'' (demonstrative pronoun "that") to ''ça'' is optional and informal.

In informal speech, a personal [[pronoun]] may sometimes be contracted onto a following [[verb]]. For example, ''je ne sais pas'' ({{IPA|fr|ʒənəsɛpa|IPA}}, "I don't know") may be pronounced roughly ''chais pas'' ({{IPA|fr|ʃɛpa|IPA}}), with the ''ne'' being completely elided and the {{IPA|fr|ʒ|}} of ''je'' being mixed with the {{IPA|fr|s|}} of ''sais''.{{Original research inline|date=March 2010}} It is also common in informal contexts to contract ''tu'' to ''t'-'' before a vowel: ''t'as mangé'' for ''tu as mangé''.

== Hebrew ==

In [[Modern Hebrew]], the prepositional prefixes -בְּ /bə-/ 'in' and -לְ /lə-/ 'to' contract with the definite article prefix -ה (/ha-/) to form the prefixes -ב /ba/ 'in the' and -ל /la/ 'to the'. In colloquial Israeli Hebrew, the preposition את (/ʔet/), which indicates a definite direct object, and the definite article prefix -ה (/ha-/) are often contracted to 'ת (/ta-/) when the former immediately precedes the latter; thus, ראיתי את הכלב (/ʁaˈʔiti ʔet haˈkelev/, "I saw the dog") may become ראיתי ת'כלב (/ʁaˈʔiti taˈkelev/).

== Italian ==
In [[Italian language|Italian]], prepositions merge with direct articles in predictable ways. The prepositions ''a'', ''da'', ''di'', ''in'', ''su'', ''con'' and ''per'' combine with the various forms of the definite [[article (grammar)|article]], namely ''il'', ''lo'', ''la'', ''l','' ''i'', ''gli'', ''gl','' and ''le''.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Italian contractions<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674188853.c13 |chapter=Contractions |title=Essentials of Italian Grammar |year=1929 |publisher=Harvard University Press |first=J. L. |last=Battista|page=10 |isbn=978-0-674-18885-3 }}</ref>
! !! il !! lo !! la !! l' !! i !! gli !! (gl') !! le
|-
! a
| al || allo || alla || all' || ai || agli || (agl') || alle
|-
! da
| dal || dallo || dalla || dall' || dai || dagli || (dagl') || dalle
|-
! di
| del || dello || della || dell' || dei || degli || (degl') || delle
|-
! in
| nel || nello || nella || nell' || nei || negli || (negl') || nelle
|-
! su
| sul || sullo || sulla || sull' || sui || sugli || (sugl') || sulle
|-
! con
| col || (collo) || (colla) || (coll') || coi || (cogli) || (cogl')  || (colle)
|-
! per
| (pel) || (pello) || (pella) || (pell') || (pei) || (pegli) || (pegl') || (pelle)
|}

* Contractions with ''a'', ''da'', ''di'', ''in'', and ''su'' are mandatory, but those with ''con'' and ''per'' are optional.
* Words in [[parentheses]] are no longer very commonly used. However, there's a difference between ''pel'' and ''pei'', which are old-fashioned, and the other contractions of ''per'', which are frankly obsolete. ''Col'' and ''coi'' are still common; ''collo'', ''colla'', ''cogli'' and ''colle'' are nowadays rare in the written language, but common in speaking.
* Formerly, ''gl''' was often used before words beginning with ''i'', however it is no longer in very common (written) use.

The words ''ci'' and ''è'' (form of ''essere'', to be) and the words ''vi'' and ''è'' are contracted into ''c'è'' and ''v'è'' (both meaning "there is").
* "''C'è'' / ''V'è'' un problema"&nbsp;&ndash; There is a problem

The words ''dove'' and ''come'' are contracted with any word that begins with ''e'', deleting the ''-e'' of the principal word, as in "Com'era bello!" – "How handsome he / it was!", "Dov'è il tuo amico?" – "Where's your friend?" The same is often true of other words of similar form, e.g. ''quale''.

The direct object pronouns "lo" and "la" may also contract to form "l'" with a form of "avere", such as "L'ho comprato" - "I have bought it", or "L'abbiamo vista" - "We have seen her".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fluentu.com/blog/italian/direct-object-pronouns-italian/|title = Direct Object Pronouns in Italian: A Complete Guide to These Important Little Words|date = 13 January 2020}}</ref>

== Spanish ==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
[[Spanish language|Spanish]] has two mandatory phonetic contractions between prepositions and articles: ''al'' (to the) for ''a el'', and ''del'' (of the) for ''de el'' (not to be confused with ''a él'', meaning ''to him'', and ''de él'', meaning ''his'' or, more literally, ''of him'').

Other contractions were common in writing until the 17th [[century]], the most usual being ''de'' + personal and demonstrative pronouns: ''destas'' for ''de estas'' (of these, fem.), ''daquel'' for ''de aquel'' (of that, masc.), ''dél'' for ''de él'' (of him) etc.; and the feminine article before words beginning with ''a-'': ''l'alma'' for ''la alma'', now ''el alma'' (the soul). [[Several]] sets of demonstrative pronouns originated as contractions of ''aquí'' (here) + pronoun, or pronoun + ''otro/a'' (other): ''aqueste'', ''aqueso'', ''estotro'' etc. The modern ''aquel'' (that, masc.) is the only survivor of the first pattern; the personal pronouns ''nosotros'' (we) and ''vosotros'' (pl. you) are remnants of the second. In [[medieval]] texts, unstressed words very often appear contracted: ''todol'' for ''todo el'' (all the, masc.), ''ques'' for ''que es'' (which is); etc. including with common words, like d'ome (d'home/d'homme) instead de ome (home/homme), and so on.

Though not strictly a contraction, a special form is used when combining con with mí, ti, or sí, which is written as ''conmigo'' for *''con mí'' (with me), ''contigo'' for *''con ti'' (with you sing.), ''consigo'' for *''con sí'' (with himself/herself/itself/themselves (themself).)

Finally, one can hear{{clarify|reason=in which dialects?|date=January 2014}} ''pa''' for ''para'', deriving as ''pa'l'' for ''para el'', but these forms are only considered appropriate in informal speech.

== Portuguese ==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2020}}
In [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], contractions are common and much more numerous than those in Spanish. Several prepositions regularly contract with certain articles and pronouns. For instance, ''de'' (of) and ''por'' (by; formerly ''per'') combine with the definite articles ''o'' and ''a'' (masculine and feminine forms of "the" respectively), producing ''do'', ''da'' (of the), ''pelo'', ''pela'' (by the). The preposition ''de'' contracts with the pronouns ''ele'' and ''ela'' (he, she), producing ''dele'', ''dela'' (his, her). In addition, some verb forms contract with enclitic object pronouns: e.g., the verb ''amar'' (to love) combines with the pronoun ''a'' (her), giving ''amá-la'' (to love her).

Another contraction in Portuguese that is similar to English ones is the combination of the pronoun ''da'' with words starting in ''a'', resulting in changing the first letter ''a'' for an apostrophe and joining both words. Examples: ''Estrela d'alva'' (A popular phrase to refer to [[Venus]] that means "Alb star", as a reference to its brightness); ''Caixa d'água'' (water tank).

== German ==

In informal, spoken [[German language|German]] [[prepositional phrase]]s, one can often merge the preposition and the [[article (grammar)|article]]; for example, ''von dem'' becomes ''vom'', ''zu dem'' becomes ''zum'', or ''an das'' becomes ''ans''. Some of these are so common that they are mandatory. In informal speech, ''aufm'' for ''auf dem'', ''unterm'' for ''unter dem'', etc. are also  used, but would be considered to be incorrect if written, except maybe in quoted direct speech, in appropriate context and style.

The pronoun ''es'' often contracts to ''{{'}}s'' (usually written with the apostrophe) in certain contexts. For example, the greeting ''Wie geht es?'' is usually encountered in the contracted form ''Wie geht's?''.

=== Local languages in German-speaking areas ===
[[Dialectology|Regional dialects]] of German, and various local languages that usually were already used long before today's [[Standard German]] was created, do use contractions usually more frequently than German, but varying widely between different local languages. The informally spoken German contractions are observed almost everywhere, most often accompanied by additional ones, such as ''in den'' becoming ''in'n'' (sometimes ''im'') or ''haben wir'' becoming ''hamwer'', ''hammor'', ''hemmer'', or ''hamma'' depending on local intonation preferences. [[Bavarian language|Bavarian German]] features several more contractions such as ''gesund sind wir'' becoming ''xund samma'', which are schematically applied to all word or combinations of similar sound. (One must remember, however, that German ''wir'' exists alongside Bavarian ''mir'', or ''mia'', with the same meaning.) The Munich-born footballer [[Franz Beckenbauer]] has as his catchphrase "Schau mer mal" ("Schauen wir einmal" - in English "We shall see."). A book about his career had as its title the slightly longer version of the phrase, "Schau'n Mer Mal".

Such features are found in all central and southern language regions. A sample from Berlin: ''Sag einmal, Meister, kann man hier einmal hinein?'' is spoken as ''Samma, Meesta, kamma hier ma rin?''

Several [[West Central German]] dialects along the [[Rhine River]] have built contraction patterns involving long phrases and entire sentences. In speech, words are often concatenated, and frequently the process of [[liaison (French)|"liaison"]] is used. So, ''[Dat] kriegst Du nicht'' may become ''Kressenit'', or ''Lass mich gehen, habe ich gesagt'' may become ''Lomejon haschjesaat''.

Mostly, there are no binding [[orthography|orthographies]] for local dialects of German, hence writing is left to a great extent to authors and their publishers. Outside quotations, at least, they usually pay little attention to print more than the most commonly spoken contractions, so as not to  degrade their readability. The use of apostrophes to indicate omissions is a varying and considerably less frequent process than in English-language publications.

== Indonesian ==
In standard Indonesian, there are no contractions applied, although Indonesian contractions exist in [[Indonesian slang]]. Many of these contractions are ''terima kasih'' to ''makasih'' ("thank you"), ''kenapa'' to ''napa'' ("why"), ''nggak'' to ''gak'' ("not"), ''sebentar'' to ''tar'' ("a moment"), and ''sudah'' to ''dah'' ("done").

== Norwegian ==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2020}}
The use of contractions is not allowed in any form of standard [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] spelling; however, it is fairly common to shorten or contract words in spoken language. Yet, the commonness varies from dialect to dialect and from sociolect to sociolect—it depends on the formality etc. of the setting. Some common, and quite drastic, contractions found in Norwegian speech are "jakke" for "jeg har ikke", meaning "I do not have" and "dække" for "det er ikke", meaning "there is not". The most frequently used of these contractions—usually consisting of two or three words contracted into one word, contain short, common and often [[Syllable|monosyllabic]] words like {{wt|nb|jeg}}, {{wt|nb|du}}, {{wt|nb|deg}}, {{wt|nb|det}}, {{wt|nb|har}} or {{wt|nb|ikke}}. The use of the apostrophe (') is much less common than in English, but is sometimes used in contractions to show where letters have been dropped.

In extreme cases, long, entire sentences may be written as one word. An example of this is "Det ordner seg av seg selv" in standard written [[Bokmål]], meaning "It will sort itself out" could become "dånesæsæsjæl" (note the letters [[Å]] and [[Æ]], and the word "sjæl", as an [[eye dialect]] spelling of {{wt|nb|selv}}). [[R-dropping]], being present in the example, is especially common in speech in many areas of Norway {{which|date=March 2018}}, but plays out in different ways, as does elision of word-final phonemes like {{IPA|/ə/}}.

Because of the many dialects of Norwegian and their widespread use it is often difficult to distinguish between non-standard writing of standard Norwegian and eye dialect spelling. It is almost universally true that these spellings try to convey the way each word is pronounced, but it is rare to see language written that does not adhere to at least some of the rules of the official [[Norwegian orthography|orthography]]. Reasons for this include words spelled unphonemically, ignorance of conventional spelling rules, or adaptation for better transcription of that dialect's phonemes.

== Latin ==

Latin contains several examples of contractions. One such case is preserved in the verb ''nolo'' (I am unwilling/do not want), which was formed by a contraction of ''non volo'' (''volo'' meaning "I want"). Similarly this is observed in the first person plural and third person plural forms (nolumus and nolunt respectively).

== Japanese ==

Some contractions in rapid speech include ～っす (''-ssu'') for です (''desu'') and すいません (''suimasen'') for すみません (''sumimasen''). では (''dewa'') is often contracted to じゃ (''ja''). In certain grammatical contexts the particle の (''no'') is contracted to simply ん (''n'').

When used after verbs ending in the conjunctive form ～て (''-te''), certain auxiliary verbs and their derivations are often abbreviated. Examples:

{| class="wikitable"
! Original form
! Transliteration
! Contraction
! Transliteration
|-
| {{lang|ja|～ている／～ていた／～ています／etc.}}
| ''-te iru'' / ''-te ita'' / ''-te imasu'' / etc.
| {{lang|ja|～てる／～てた／～てます／etc.}}
| ''-te ru'' / ''-te ta'' / ''-te masu'' / etc.
|-
| {{lang|ja|～ていく／～ていった／etc.*}}
| ''-te iku'' / ''-te itta'' / etc.*
| {{lang|ja|～てく／～てった／etc.*}}
| ''-te ku'' / ''-te tta'' / etc.*
|-
| {{lang|ja|～ておく／～ておいた／～ておきます／etc.}}
| ''-te oku'' / ''-te oita'' / ''-te okimasu'' / etc.
| {{lang|ja|～とく／～といた／～ときます／etc.}}
| ''-toku'' / ''-toita'' / ''-tokimasu'' / etc.
|-
| {{lang|ja|～てしまう／～てしまった／～てしまいます／etc.}}
| ''-te shimau'' / ''-te shimatta'' / ''-te shimaimasu'' / etc.
| {{lang|ja|～ちゃう／～ちゃった／～ちゃいます／etc.}}
| ''-chau'' / ''-chatta'' / ''-chaimasu'' / etc.
|-
| {{lang|ja|～でしまう／～でしまった／～でしまいます／etc.}}
| ''-de shimau'' / ''-de shimatta'' / ''-de shimaimasu'' / etc.
| {{lang|ja|～じゃう／～じゃった／～じゃいます／etc.}}
| ''-jau'' / ''-jatta'' / ''-jaimasu'' / etc.
|-
| {{lang|ja|～ては}}
| ''-te wa''
| {{lang|ja|～ちゃ}}
| ''-cha''
|-
| {{lang|ja|～では}}
| ''-de wa''
| {{lang|ja|～じゃ}}
| ''-ja''
|-
| {{lang|ja|～なくては}}
| ''-nakute wa''
| {{lang|ja|～なくちゃ}}
| ''-nakucha''
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> this abbreviation is never used in the polite conjugation, to avoid the resultant ambiguity between an abbreviated ''ikimasu'' (go) and the verb ''kimasu'' (come).

The ending ～なければ (''-nakereba'') can be contracted to ～なきゃ (''-nakya'') when it is used to indicate obligation. It is often used without an auxiliary, e.g., 行かなきゃ（いけない） (''ikanakya (ikenai)'') "I have to go."

Other times, contractions are made to create new words or to give added or altered meaning:
* The word 何か (''nanika'') "something" is contracted to なんか (''nanka'') to make a colloquial word with a meaning along the lines of "sort of", but that can be used with almost no meaning. Its usage is as a filler word is similar to English "like."
* じゃない (''ja nai'') "is not" is contracted to じゃん (''jan''), which is used at the end of statements to show the speaker's belief or opinion, often when it is contrary to that of the listener, e.g., いいじゃん！ (''ii jan!'') "What, it's fine!"
* The commonly used particle-verb phrase という (''to iu'') is often contracted to ～って／～て／～っつー (''-tte/-te/-ttsū'') to give a more informal or noncommittal feeling.
* といえば (''to ieba''), the conditional form of という (''to iu'') mentioned above, is contracted to ～ってば (''-tte ba'') to show the speaker's annoyance at the listener's failure to listen to, remember, or heed what the speaker has said, e.g., もういいってば！ (''mō ii tte ba!''), "I already told you I don't want to talk about it anymore!".
* The common words だ (''da'') and です (''desu'') are older contractions that originate from である (''de aru'') and でございます (''de gozaimasu''). These are fully integrated into the language now, and are not generally thought of as contractions; however in formal writing (e.g., literature, news articles, or technical/scientific writing), である (''de aru'') is used in place of だ (''da'').
* The [[Japanese pronouns|first-person singular pronoun]] 私 is pronounced わたくし (''watakushi'') in very formal speech, but commonly contracted to わたし(''watashi'') in less formal speech, and further clipped in specifically younger women's speech to あたし (''atashi'').

Various [[Japanese dialects|dialects of Japanese]] also use their own specific contractions that are often unintelligible to speakers of other dialects.

== Polish ==
In [[Polish language|Polish]], pronouns have contracted forms that are more prevalent in their colloquial usage. Examples are ''go'' and ''mu''. The non-contracted forms are ''jego'' (unless it is used as a possessive pronoun) and ''jemu'', respectively. The [[clitic]] ''-ń'', which stands for ''niego'' (him), as in ''dlań'' (''dla niego''), is more common in literature. The non-contracted forms are generally used as a means to accentuate.<ref>http://nkjp.pl/settings/papers/NKJP_ksiazka.pdf (p.82)</ref>

== Uyghur ==

[[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] spoken in [[Central Asia]], includes some verbal suffixes that are actually contracted forms of [[compound verb]]s ([[serial verb construction|serial verbs]]). For instance, ''sëtip alidu'' (sell-manage, "manage to sell") is usually written and pronounced ''sëtivaldu'', with the two words forming a contraction and the [p] [[lenition|leniting]] into a [v] or [w].{{Original research inline|date=March 2010}}

== Filipino/Tagalog ==

In Filipino, most contractions need other words to be contracted correctly. Only words that end with vowels can make a contraction with words like "at" and "ay." In this chart, V represents any vowel.
{| class="wikitable"
! Full form
! Contracted
! Notes
|-
| ~V at
| ~V't
| 
|-
| ~V ay
| ~V'y
| 
|-
| ~V ng
| ~V'n
| Informal. as in "Isa'n libo"
|-
| ~V ang
| ~V'ng
|
|-
|}

== Albanian ==
In [[Albanian language|Albanian]] there are two main contractions, ç' and s' used for verbs that are short for çfarë (what) and nuk (did/will not).

== See also ==

{{Wiktionary category|category = English contractions|type = Contractions}}
* [[Apostrophe]]
* [[Blend word|Blend]]
* [[Clipping (morphology)]]
* [[Elision]]
* [[List of common English usage misconceptions#Usage|List of common English usage misconceptions]]
* [[Poetic contraction]]
* [[Synalepha]]
* [[Syncope (phonetics)]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contraction (Grammar)}}
[[Category:Abbreviations]]
[[Category:Types of words]]
[[Category:Syntactic categories]]