woulda

English

Etymology

Eye dialect form of a reduction of would have.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwʊdə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊdə

Contraction

woulda

1. (colloquial) Contraction of would have.

   You woulda told him the truth.

Usage notes

Like other similarly formed contractions, speakers only use woulda to replace the modal sense of would have, i.e. where have precedes a past participle: We woulda come if you'd called. They do not use it to replace would followed by the verb have used lexically, e.g. *We woulda a reason. (We would have a reason would be contracted to We'd have a reason instead.) See also gonna.

Derived terms

• woulda, coulda, shoulda

See also

Category:English contractions

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

From English would.

Verb

woulda

1. would

   Gyal, mi cyaan believe yuh woulda do dat to mi.

   Girl, I can't believe you would do that to me.