Una contracción es la forma acortada de una palabra o una combinación de palabras, a menudo usada cuando no queremos usar la forma completa. En estas formas cortas, las letras que faltan son substituidas por un apóstrofe (').
En el inglés hablado e informal es muy común usar las formas contraídas del verbo "ser " y otros verbos auxiliares (tener, modals, etc.) Ya que éstos son usados en contextos más informales, deberían ser evitados en el inglés formal escrito.
| I | You, We, They | He, She, It | |
| Do | don't | don't | doesn't |
| Did | didn't | didn't | didn't |
| Am | 'm (not) | - | - |
| Is | - | - | 's - isn't |
| Are | - | 're - aren't | - |
| Was | wasn't | - | wasn't |
| Were | - | weren't | - |
| Have | 've - haven't | 've - haven't | - |
| Has | - | - | 's - hasn't |
| Had | 'd - hadn't | 'd - hadn't | 'd - hadn't |
| Will | 'll - won't | 'll - won't | 'll - won't |
| Would | 'd - wouldn't | 'd - wouldn't | 'd - wouldn't |
| Can | can't | can't | can't |
| Could | couldn't | couldn't | couldn't |
| Must | mustn't | mustn't | mustn't |
| Should | shouldn't | shouldn't | shouldn't |
| Ought to | oughtn't to | oughtn't to | oughtn't to |
Am, is, are; was, were
- I'm not in the mood for dancing.
No estoy de humor para bailar. - Tom's the boy on the left.
Tom es el chico de la izquierda. - Sarah isn't feeling well at the moment.
Sarah no se siente bien en este momento. - We're living in Manchester.
Estamos viviendo en machester. - The Joneses aren't very nice.
Los Jones no son muy amables. - I wasn't listening to you.
No te estaba escuchando. - They weren't alone.
No estaban solos.
Have, has, had
- You've got a wonderful family!
¡Tienes una familia maravillosa! - Ann's just left.
Ann se acaba de ir. - Haven't you heard the news?
¿No te has enterado de la noticia? - Lisa hasn't arrived yet.
Lisa no ha llegado todavía. - He'd fixed the door that day.
Él había arreglado la puerta ese día. - My mum hadn't let me go to Spain.
Mi mamá no me había dejado ir a España. - You'd better study for the test, young man!
¡Será mejor que estudies para el examen, jovencito!
Do, did
- We don't want to bother you.
No queremos molestarte. - Doesn't all this strike you as odd?
¿No te parece raro todo esto? - Sam didn't write any novel!
¡Sam no escribió ninguna novela!
Modals
- They'll never admit to it!
¡Nunca lo van a reconocer! - Chris won't accept my apologies.
Chris no aceptará mis disculpas. - If I had the time, I'd read more books.
Si tuviera el tiempo, leería más libros. - Miss Peters shouldn't run.
La señorita Peters no debería correr. - This can't be happening!
¡Esto no puede estar pasando!
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