The A to Z English Podcast Vocabulary Spotlight | "Didja"
In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack discusses one specific reduction of Did you: "Didja."
Transcript:
00:00:01
Jack
Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm doing another solo episode today. As we step into the vocabulary spotlight, we are going to talk about something called reductions and.
00:00:15
Jack
This is a a kind of odd.
00:00:18
Jack
I don't. I didn't know which category to put this episode in be. I think vocabulary spotlight is probably the best.
00:00:28
Jack
What we're when we're talking about reductions reductions are words that we kind of smashed together.
00:00:36
Jack
But they're not formal words, OK? And the ones that everybody knows are wanna gonna agada wanna gonna and gotta wanna want to gonna going to gotta got to OK native speakers rarely.
00:00:56
Jack
Pronounce going to.
00:00:59
Jack
As going to.
00:01:01
Jack
We mostly pronounce it when we're talking as gonna.
00:01:09
Jack
I'm going to get up at 8:00.
00:01:12
Jack
OK, uh, we rarely say want to. I want to go to an amusement park. No, we say, you know what I want to.
00:01:22
Jack
Go to an amusement park.
00:01:23
Jack
Wanna. But if you look in the dictionary for wanna gonna and gotta.
00:01:28
Jack
You're never going to find it because they're not words. It's not like.
00:01:33
Jack
UMA compound word such.
00:01:37
Jack
Book store bookstore.
00:01:40
Jack
OK, that's a that's a formal word. You can find that in a in a dictionary with the definition bookstore. A store that sells books.
00:01:49
Jack
But if you look in wanna WANNA.
00:01:53
Jack
You'll never find it because it's not in the dictionary. OK, it's not a word. It's a reduction. That's what we call them reductions. So we're not going to talk about, alright? Used gonna there. We're not gonna talk about wanna gonna gotta today I want to talk about.
00:02:11
Jack
Another one that I think can be.
00:02:14
Jack
Is very common that a lot of teachers overlook, but students are kind of left confused because.
00:02:22
Jack
They're they don't know what the teacher said, right? So this one is did you did you? So this is the title of today's episode, Didja.
00:02:33
Jack
Did you have a good weekend?
00:02:35
Jack
Did you have?
00:02:36
Jack
A good weekend.
00:02:39
Jack
Did you have lunch?
00:02:41
Jack
Did you have lunch?
00:02:45
Jack
Did you go to the mall?
00:02:46
Jack
Did you go to the mall? OK. And what is that? Did you is a reduction of did in you again it's not a compound word. It's not a word. It's just.
00:02:58
Jack
A reduction. It's just an easier way to pronounce it, and it's tends to be it's it's informal. You cannot write this in an e-mail. You cannot write. Wanna gonna gotta didja in an e-mail. You have to write it. Did you want to going to? Got to.
00:03:18
Jack
However, when you're talking, you're gonna hear it a lot.
00:03:24
Jack
I think students should understand that there's, and there's kind of some minor rules around this. For example, when D&Y are next to each other, when the a word ends with a D sound.
00:03:38
Jack
And the next word starts with a Y sound. Native speakers, Native English speakers. Speakers tend to insert a J sound there. Did you did you? Did you? Did you? OK, so it you could you? A reduction could be. Did you? That's fine. That works. Did you have a good weekend? Did.
00:03:57
Jack
Didja is a much shorter and more common reduction of did you? Did you have a good weekend? Did you have lunch?
00:04:06
Jack
Did you go to the mall?
00:04:08
Jack
OK, now if you so when you're talking, feel free to, you know practice this a little bit throw it in there. You know when you hear did you you know now it means did you did you did you did you now sometimes native English speakers will get really crazy with their.
00:04:28
Jack
Production of did you?
00:04:30
Jack
And they'll even make it short.
00:04:34
Jack
And I'll give you an example here of I'll use the same examples.
00:04:39
Jack
You have a good weekend.
00:04:41
Jack
You have a good weekend.
00:04:43
Jack
OK. Did you have a good weekend? Have a good weekend. So we reduced. Did you all the way down to Joe?
00:04:56
Jack
Ya did you did ya?
00:05:01
Jack
You have a good weekend.
00:05:03
Jack
Hey, Bob.
00:05:05
Jack
Jeff, lunch.
00:05:07
Jack
Hey Bob, did you have lunch?
00:05:11
Jack
OK.
00:05:15
Jack
Did you go to the mall this weekend?
00:05:17
Jack
Did you go to the mall this weekend?
00:05:21
Jack
OK, so you can notice how we can reduce it even more. So what I want you to do this is your your uh homework assignment here for my A-Z listeners out there.
00:05:32
Jack
The next time you have a speaking opportunity and you find yourself using, did you try it? Try it out, throw in a didja.
00:05:39
Jack
Did you did JA or JA?
00:05:42
Jack
And see how the other person that you're talking to reacts to that. I see if they notice it because again, these reductions are so common that.
00:05:55
Jack
I think people won't even notice, but your, your, your, your, your English will sound so much more natural and authentic and like a native speaker.
00:06:06
Jack
So this is just I'm giving you guys a little tiny clue, a hint into sounding more like a native speaker, so next time don't say, did you say did you? OK, but remember, this is only when speaking. When writing you must write it out formally. Did you? OK, so this is not acceptable.
00:06:29
Jack
Maybe in text messages it's OK, but in emails or any sort of formal business setting you have to write, did you? But when you're talking, feel free to throw in a didja and that's the title for today's episode. I think is didja alright.
00:06:47
Jack
Did you have a good time with this episode?
00:06:49
Jack
Let me know in the comments A-Z englishbroadcast.com send us an e-mail A-Z englishpodcast@gmail.com. You can also join our WhatsApp group and leave a message in there. I will reply to you. You can also join our WeChat Group. I know a lot of our Chinese listeners are.
00:07:10
Jack
Active in the WeChat.
00:07:12
Jack
And I try to jump in there from time to time and talk to our our Chinese listeners as well. So with that said, thanks everybody. I will see you next time. Bye bye.
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