pronunciation - How do you pronounce "would've", "should've" and "could've"?


How do you pronounce "would've", "should've" and "could've"?



Answer



In IPA, that's


would've - /wʊdəv/ - WOULD-uhv
should've - /ʃʊdəv/ - SHOULD-uhv
could've - /kʊdəv/ - COULD-uhv


where "uhv" is a schwa sound followed by a V sound.


Frequently, in fast or informal speech, the V sound will be elided (omitted), and the results will sound like "would-a", "should-a", "could-a".


Edit: I will note that “woulda, shoulda, coulda” (and the same words in different orders) is a very informal idiom that refers dismissively to regretting missed opportunities. The Corpus of Contemporary American English has about 23 examples of all three of them used together, mostly in fiction and spoken English, but also in quoted speech in a few newspaper and magazine articles.


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