Contractions Today, I want to share some of the most common contractions used in English. Contractions are like shortcuts in words. All contractions have an apostrophe in the place of the missing letters. Do you use contractions in your native language? Can’t = can not Don’t = do not Won’t = will not Couldn’t = could not Haven’t = have not Could’ve = could have Should’ve = should have Would’ve = would have We’ve = we have I’d = I would I’m = I am They’re = they are