In today’s episode I teach you how to contract “Had not have” into the forms “Hadn’t have”, “Hadn’t’ve” and “Hadn’ah”.

Pronunciation: Had not have = Hadn’t have – Hadn’t’ve – Hadn’ah

G’day guys. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today is another pronunciation episode, and the focus for today’s episode is going to be “Had not have” and how to contract this. So, like many of the others there’s three or so different contracted forms. You’ll have the full form “Had not have” and then you’ll have “Hadn’t have”, “Hadn’t’ve” and “hadn’ah”. So, “Had not have”, “Hadn’t have”, “Hadn’t’ve” and “Hadn’ah”. So, you’re often going to find this in the form of “Had not have + a past participle” of another verb. So, “Hadn’t’ve + been”, “Hadn’t’ve done”, “Hadn’t’ve gone”, “Hadn’t’ve asked”, “Hadn’t have + played”, etc. and you’re going to find this most often in clauses where you… it’s the “If I did something, I wouldn’t have done this”, or “If I hadn’t done something this, I wouldn’t have done this”. It’s going to be that kind of clause. So for example you could say, “If I hadn’t’ve studied, I wouldn’t’ve passed the exam”. That kind of thing. I think that’s where you’re going to hear this more often than not.

Note: “Hadn’t have” is the acceptable contraction to write formally, whereas “Hadn’t’ve” may be written informally. The form “Hadn’ah” has just been written this way to show you phonetically how I pronounce things when speaking.

So, let’s just get straight into the pronunciation exercises guys. I’m going to contract this through the different pronouns in English, but this time I’m going to start each of these sentences with “If”, and yeah, let’s get into it.

If I had not have…

If I hadn’t have…

If I hadn’t’ve…

If I hadn’ah…

If you had not have…

If you hadn’t have…

If you hadn’t’ve…

If you hadn’ah…

If he had not have…

If he hadn’t have…

If he hadn’t’ve…

If he hadn’ah…

If she had not have…

If she hadn’t have…

If she hadn’t’ve…

If she hadn’ah…

If we had not have…

If we hadn’t have…

If we hadn’t’ve…

If we hadn’ah…

If they had not have…

If they hadn’t have…

If they hadn’t’ve…

If they hadn’ah…

And as a bonus I’ll do “It” and “Things”.

If it had not have…

If it hadn’t have…

If it hadn’t’ve…

If it hadn’ah…

If things had not have…

If things hadn’t have…

If things hadn’t’ve…

If things hadn’ah…

So, I hope those pronunciation exercises help guys. As I’ve said previously, just keep doing them until you get a really good sense of how to say these things. It’ll sound a lot more natural if you use any of these contracted forms as opposed to saying “Had not have” like that. That’ll sound very bizarre to people because it’s not often said uncontracted like that. So, keep practicing these pronunciation exercises guys. Don’t worry too much about having to remember every single form, to remember when to use them, it’s more just an exercise for your mouth, for the muscles in your mouth, so that you get used to using these different contracted forms and then when you want to say them in sentences it should just come out as you want them to, and probably contracted so that it’s more natural.

So, we’ll go into some substitution exercises guys, and this is the point where I will say a sentence and I’ll use the first contracted form in this case. So, I will say “Hadn’t have” and I want you to contract that sentence into “Hadn’t’ve”, “Hadn’t’ve”. So, I’m going to say, for example, “If I hadn’t have…” and I want you to say, “If I hadn’t’ve…”. I might also add here too that I’m going to put in “Would have” and I want you guys to try and contract this as well. So, this is sort of for bonus points. If you don’t it’s all good. You’ll listen a few times I’m sure and get the hang of it. You’ll get used to it. But it’s just to sort of up the ante, to up the level a bit and make it a little bit more difficult, but yeah… Listen and repeat after me guys. 

Substitution exercises: Hadn’t have – hadn’t’ve

If you hadn’t have gone, you would have missed out.

If you hadn’t’ve gone, you would’ve missed out.

If she hadn’t have stayed, she would have regretted it.

If she hadn’t’ve stayed, she would’ve regretted it.

If it hadn’t have been so cold, I would have gone outside.

If it hadn’t’ve been so cold, I would’ve gone outside.

If he hadn’t have asked, he wouldn’t have found out why.

If he hadn’t’ve asked, he wouldn’t’ve found out why.

If they hadn’t have played the game, they wouldn’t have lost.

If they hadn’t’ve played the game, they wouldn’t’ve lost.

If I hadn’t have been up so late last night, I would have come.

If I hadn’t’ve been up so late last night, I would’ve come.

If things hadn’t have gotten this bad, it would have been easier.

If things hadn’t’ve gotten this bad, it would’ve been easier.

If we hadn’t have watched the movie, we wouldn’t have known the ending.

If we hadn’t’ve watched the movie, we wouldn’t’ve known the ending.

So, the reason that I’ve added in “Would not have” or “Would have” in these sentences in the substitution exercise to follow guys is because “Had not have” is going to be used in that form, that clause form of “If you hadn’t have… you would have…” etc. So you’re going to have that, “If you hadn’t have…” and then it’s going to be followed by “Wouldn’t have” or “Would have” after it. So, let’s do the next substitution exercise guys where this time I will say the first sentence in the contracted form “Hadn’t’ve” and I want you to say “Hadn’ah”. So, I’m going to say, “Hadn’t’ve” and I want you to say, “Hadn’ah”.

Substitution exercises: Hadn’t’ve – hadn’ah

If you hadn’t’ve gone, you would’ve missed out.

If you hadn’ah gone, you would’ah missed out.

If she hadn’t’ve stayed, she would’ve regretted it.

If she hadn’ah stayed, she would’ah regretted it.

If it hadn’t’ve been so cold, I would’ve gone outside.

If it hadn’ah been so cold, I would’ah gone outside.

If he hadn’t’ve asked, he wouldn’t’ve found out why.

If he hadn’ah asked, he wouldn’ah found out why.

If they hadn’t’ve played the game, they wouldn’t’ve lost.

If they hadn’ah played the game, they wouldn’ah lost.

If I hadn’t’ve been up so late last night, I would’ve come.

If I hadn’ah been up so late last night, I would’ah come.

If things hadn’t’ve gotten this bad, it would’ve been easier.

If things hadn’ah gotten this bad, it would’ah been easier.

If we hadn’t’ve watched the movie, we wouldn’t’ve known the ending.

If we hadn’ah watched the movie, we wouldn’ah known the ending.

So, just as a side note guys, going through these different contracted form as I was doing this exercise, it kind of gets difficult for me because I think that my brain is really really used to using the most contracted form “Hadn’ah”, “Wouldn’ah”. And so, it’s actually funny how difficult it is for me. I have to really really really concentrate to use the other contracted forms of “Hadn’t’ve” and “Had not have” and “Hadn’t have” when reading these out because, yeah, the most natural way for me to say it is “Hadn’ah”. So, that’s just as a side note. If you guys want to practice these, practice them. Try using them. See how people react when you use them. I’m sure you’ll be surprised at how much people understand what you’re saying even though you’ve contracted a lot of these words down to almost be unrecognisable when they’re written on a page, at least with regards to the part of the word that you say when you speak.

So, anyway. I’m rambling. This is the episode for today guys. I hope it’s helped. I know it was a little bit more difficult because they were in the clause form so you were contracting both “Had not have” and “Would have” or “Would not have” in these. Listen multiple times. You’re not going to necessarily get it perfect the first time. It’s the kind of thing you should just keep repeating. Don’t try and remember everything. Don’t try and remember anything really. Just practice this stuff and eventually you will notice that you will say it naturally without having to think. So, until next time guys, keep at it, keep working hard and I’ll chat to you soon. See you later.

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