Contraction (grammar)
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In traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new word from two or more individual words. This often is a result of a common sequence of words, or, as in French, to maintain a flowing sound.
In English, contractions are usually but not always either negations or combinations of pronouns with auxiliary verbs, and in these cases always include an apostrophe. Negations are generally in the form of doesn't for does not, or wouldn't for would not, where the apostrophe stands for the missing "o" in not (this is not always the case, as in won't for will not). The second category is generally in the form of pronoun + to be, as in "It's cold today" or "We're going downtown," where the apostrophe again stands for a missing vowel, either "i" or "a". The second category also often uses a form of to have, as in "He's gone to bed" or "We've finally gotten there." In this case, the apostrophe stands for the missing "h" plus "a". It should be noted, though, that only British English allows a to have to contract when it is the primary verb (as with the phrase "I've a date today"). Although uncommon in written English, people often use complex contractions such as wouldn't've for would not have. Although these can look awkward in print, they are not necessarily incorrect.
Many people writing English confuse the possessive form of the pronoun it with its contractions. The possessive form has no apostrophe (its), while the contraction of it is or it has does have an apostrophe (it's). See List of frequently misused English words.
Outside the English contractions described above, contractions are virtually the same concept as portmanteaus.
The French language has contraction forms similar to English, as in C'est la vie ("That's life"), where c'est stands for ce est ("that is"). In general, any word-final, non-silent e will contract if the following word begins with a vowel. For example the common words que (qu'-), je (j'-), and de (d'-).
Both French and Italian use a form of contraction combining the article le (French masculine form of "the") or la (French and Italian feminine form of "the"). For instance, in French, there is the phrase L'état c'est moi (Louis XIV: "I am the state," or, literally, "The state is me").
Spanish also has some contractions, such as the variant trecientos (three hundred) for tres cientos. Spanish also has two mandatory phonetic contractions: al (to the) for a el, and del (of the) for de el (not to be confused with de él, meaning his or, more literally, of him.)
In Portuguese, contractions are common. 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"), 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 la (her), giving amá-la (to love her). See also crasis.
In German prepositional phrases, one can often merge the preposition and the 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, also aufm for auf dem, unterm for unter dem, etc. are used, but would be considered incorrect if written.