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N3

Casual Contractions in Dialogue

Decode spoken shortcuts like てる, ちゃう, じゃ, and なくちゃ when they appear in dialogue.

Recognize common contractions in casual conversation.Restore contractions to their full forms while reading.Use contractions as clues about tone, intimacy, and spoken style.
Guided study

Common spoken contractions

Casual dialogue often shortens standard forms. ている becomes てる, でいる becomes でる, てしまう becomes ちゃう, では becomes じゃ, and なくては becomes なくちゃ or なきゃ.

何してるの。

What are you doing?

している → してる

もう終わっちゃった。

It already ended.

終わってしまった → 終わっちゃった

Practice guides for this lesson

Use these hub pages to connect this lesson with related reading practice and grammar paths.