There are a large number of words in English which can have a ‘full’ form and a ‘weak’ form. For example, compare the use of the word can and from in the following sentences:

She can / k ə n / swim faster than I can / k æ n /. (The first can is the weak form and the second is the full form.)
She’s from / f r ə m / Scotland. Where are you from / f r ɒ m /? (The first from is the weak form, and the second is the full form.)

As these words can be pronounced differently, it is important that learners recognize the possible forms of these words both when they listen and when they speak.
These words are most often the function words, filling in between content words, and making sentences ‘work’, grammatically.
The most frequently cited examples of these words are as outlined in the following table:

Grammatical category	Word	Full form	Weak form	Example of weak form
Verbs	am	æm	m	That’s what I’m trying to say.
	are	ɑ:	ə	Where are you from?
	is	ɪz	əz/z/s	Where’s he from? / Where is he from?
	was	wɔz	wəz	That’s where he was born.
	were	wɜ:	wə	That’s where my children were born.
	do	du:	də	Where do you live?
	does	dʌz	dəz	Where does he live?
	have	hæv	əv/v	He will have left by now./They’ve gone.
	has	hæz	həz/ez/s/z	The baby has swallowed a stone. / He’s gone.
	had	hæd	həd/əd/d	He had already gone. / He’d already gone.
	can	kæn	kən	I’m not sure if I can lend it to you.
	could	kʊd	kəd	Well, what could I say?
	would	wʊd	wəd/əd	Well, what would you have done?
	should	ʃʊd	ʃəd/ʃd	Well, what should I have said?
Personal pronouns	you	ju:	jə	How do you do?
	your	jɔ:	jə	What does your boss think?
	he	hɪ:	hɪ/ɪ	Where does he work?
	him	hɪm	ɪm	I’ll give it to him later.
	she	ʃɪ:	ʃɪ	She’s leaving tomorrow.
	her	hɜ:	hə/ə	I’ll give it to her later.
	us	ʌs	əs	They’ll give it to us later.
	them	ðem	ðəm	I’ll give it to them later.
Prepositions	to	tu:	tə	He’s already gone to work.
	at	æt	ət	He’s at work, I think.
	of	ɔv	əv	That’s the last of the wine!
	for	fɔ:	fə	He’s away for two weeks.
	from	frɔm	frəm	She comes from Scotland.
Conjunctions	and	ænd	ən/ənd	She’s tall and fair.
	but	bʌt	bət	She’s here, but Juan isn’t.
	than	ðæn	ðən	She’s older than you.
Articles	a	eɪ	ə	He’s a doctor.
	an	æn	ən	She’s an architect.
	the	ðɪ:	ðə	She’s the person I told you about.
Indefinite adjectives	any	enɪ:	ənɪ:/nɪ:	Have we got any biscuits?
	some	sʌm	səm	There’s some tea in the pot.
	such	sʌtʃ	sətʃ	It’s not such a big deal, really.

Keep in mind when learning weak forms that in certain positions, the full form is necessary. Also, at times, speakers may wish to emphasise function words for particular reasons:
no, I was coming FROM the station, not going TO it.

Weak forms are an important feature of ordinary, everyday speech, and learners should have the opportunity of becoming attuned to them. Learners should try to practise both strong and weak
forms and receive feedback on their production from a teacher in order to be able to produce the mix of strong and weak forms correctly, if they should wish.

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