TESOL/Weak forms

High-frequency words in English often have alternative forms used in unstressed speech, such as conversation, called weak forms, which are reduced forms of those words. Weak forms pose difficulty to learners of English as a second language by making listening comprehension more difficult, which can lead a learner to mishear a word which may cause the learner to infer a different context despite evidence following the misunderstood word.

High frequency weak forms

These are 51 high-frequency weak forms in English:

word	weak form
a	ə
an	ən
any	nɪ
some	səm sm
the	ðə
at	ət
for	fə
from	frəm
of	əv ə
to	tə
and	ənd nd n
but	bət
as	əz
than	ðən ðn
that	ðət
who	υ hυ
there	ðe ðə (+r)
he	ɪ hɪ
her	ə hə
him	ɪm
his	ɪz
I	ʌ
me	mɪ
we	wɪ
she	ʃɪ
them	ðəm ðm
us	əs
you	jə
your	jə
our	ɑ: ʌ
am	əm
are	ə
be	bɪ
been	bɪn
was	wəz
were	wə
can	kən kn
could	kəd kd
do	dυ də
does	dəz dz
had	həd əd
has	həz əz
have	həv əv
must	məst
shall	ʃəI ʃI
should	ʃəd ʃd
will	wəl əI I
would	wυd wəd d
-n’t	n
Saint	sənt snt
Sir	sə

Homophonous weak forms

From the point of view of the listener, homophonous weak forms are identical. They sound the same. When a learner hears these forms, they have to focus to determine which word the speaker is thinking of:

weak form	intended word
ə	a are of er
əv	of have
ən	an and
əz	as has
jə	you your