In this pronunciation episode I should you guys how "Should have" is commonly contracted into the forms "Should've" and "Should'ah".

Pronunciation: Should have = Should’ve – Should’ah

Hey guys! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today’s another pronunciation episode and in today’s pronunciation episode we’re going to practice contracting “Should have” into its forms “Should’ve” and “Should’ah”. So, “Should have” becomes “Should’ve” and “Should’ah”. So, you’re going to hear this most often in the form “Should have + a past participle of a verb”:

Should have known
Should have been
Should have asked
Should have gone
Should have said

It’s incredibly common. You’re going to hear this all the time when you speak to native speakers. It won’t be heard as “Should have known” unless they’re really trying to emphasize something or trying to make themselves better understood if someone doesn’t understand what they’ve said. So when to use “Should have”? There’s a few different uses. It’s often used to talk about past events that didn’t happen. For example, “I should have let her know that I was going to be late”. That idea of in the past it would’ve been better if I had let her know that I was going to be late. It’s something that I was supposed to do. It would’ve been better it if I did it. And then also you can use “Should have” to speculate about events that may or may not have happened. So, for example, “She should’ve arrived at work by now. Let’s try calling her.” So, it’s kind of like you’re expecting that at this point in time she’s at work if all things had gone perfectly, you know, she’d driven in and she’d got her coffee and gone to work and sat down. She should definitely be at work. “She should’ve arrived by now. So, I’ll give her a call.” So, let’s dive into the listen and repeat exercise guys where I get you to say the different contracted forms, in this case “Should have”, “Should’ve” and “Should’ah” with all of the different pronouns. So, listen and repeat after me guys.

Listen and repeat:

I should have

I should’ve

I should’ah

You should have

You should’ve

You should’ah

He should have

He should’ve

He should’ah

She should have

She should’ve

She should’ah

We should have

We should’ve

We should’ah

They should have

They should’ve

They should’ah

It should have

It should’ve

It should’ah

Things should have

Things should’ve

Things should’ah

Note: The forms “Should have” and “Should’ve” are ok to be written, however, “Should’ah” is only used here as a representation of how this contracted form is pronounced. So, listen and repeat that exercise a few times, guys. Practice the pronunciation of these different contractions until it’s a lot easier to say and you don’t have to think as hard when you are speaking and you want to say these things. And now as usual we’ll dive into some substitution exercises, guys, where I get you to substitute “Should have”, in this case, for “Should’ve”. So, I’m going to say the sentence twice and I want you to contract “Should have” into the form “Should’ve”. So, listen and repeat after me, guys.

Substitution exercises: Should have – should’ve

I should have known better.

I should’ve known better.

You should have come to the party.

You should’ve come to the party.

I don’t think he should have said that.

I don’t think he should’ve said that.

She said you should have gone with her.

She said you should’ve gone with her.

We probably should have taken the train.

We probably should’ve taken the train.

We should have heard from them by now.

We should’ve heard from them by now.

I think she should have been nicer to him.

I think she should’ve been nicer to him.

I know I should have been a better boyfriend.

I know I should’ve been a better boyfriend.

He should have arrived in Brisbane this morning.

He should’ve arrived in Brisbane this morning.

You should have received my email this morning.

You should’ve received my email this morning.

They should have reminded us it was her birthday.

They should’ve reminded us it was her birthday.

They should have finished reading the book by now.

They should’ve finished reading the book by now.

He should have asked for permission before doing it.

He should’ve asked for permission before doing it.

She should have received the letter by now, let’s ask her.

She should’ve received the letter by now, let’s ask her.

So, let’s do the next substitution drill here guys where this time I’m going to get you to contract “Should’ve” into “Should’ah”. So, “Should’ve” becomes “Should’ah”. And I’ll use exactly the same set of sentences here guys.

Substitution exercises: Should’ve – should’ah

I should’ve known better.

I should’ah known better.

You should’ve come to the party.

You should’ah come to the party.

I don’t think he should’ve said that.

I don’t think he should’ah said that.

She said you should’ve gone with her.

She said you should’ah gone with her.

We probably should’ve taken the train.

We probably should’ah taken the train.

We should’ve heard from them by now.

We should’ah heard from them by now.

I think she should’ve been nicer to him.

I think she should’ah been nicer to him.

I know I should’ve been a better boyfriend.

I know I should’ah been a better boyfriend.

He should’ve arrived in Brisbane this morning.

He should’ah arrived in Brisbane this morning.

You should’ve received my email this morning.

You should’ah received my email this morning.

They should’ve reminded us it was her birthday.

They should’ah reminded us it was her birthday.

They should’ve finished reading the book by now.

They should’ah finished reading the book by now.

He should’ve asked for permission before doing it.

He should’ah asked for permission before doing it.

She should’ve received the letter by now, let’s ask her.

She should’ah received the letter by now, let’s ask her.

So, keep practicing these things guys. Keep doing these exercises. As I always say don’t focus on memorizing any of this stuff. I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I would just do the exercises and you will learn it all subconsciously. It’s the kind of thing that over time as you practice these things it will just become natural. So, keep at it and your English is only going to improve. You may not become incredibly proficient at these contractions overnight. It may take weeks, it may take months, it may even take years, but you are going to improve. That is definitely going to happen. So, keep at it. Keep being awesome! And I’ll chat to you soon. See you guys!