2007-05-05 17:31:30 · 11 answers · asked by shankey 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
The other answerers are right. "Gonna" is how we pronounce "going to."
BUT, be careful. "Gonna" is OK only for continuous tenses. For example: I'm gonna go to bed soon.
You CANNOT say "gonna" if you mean "go to a place." For example, "I'm gonna New York this summer" is NOT correct.
2007-05-05 17:40:36 · answer #1 · answered by Frosty Lemmon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As umpteen people have noted, it is an informal version of "going to". But note:
1) it is NOT a "southernism". Not sure who first used it, but it is WIDESPREAD, including in many areas where Southern speech patterns have no influence
2) as one answer began to say -- "gonna" is ONLY used for "going to" in a specific meaning of that expression
"going to" is a synonym of "will", used to form the FUTURE tense. It is especially used to announce someone's PLANS to do something, or a PREDICTION.
"going to" in this use if followed by a MAIN verb (usually stated, but sometimes implied by the context) -- "I'm going to [or 'gonna'] STAY home today"
see:
http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/verb/SimpleFuture.htm
2007-05-07 07:19:51 · answer #2 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a singlish form of "going to".
It is often used in conversations between 2 friends or someone related to you.
eg. I'm gonna do something in 5 minutes...
2007-05-06 00:43:24 · answer #3 · answered by Student G 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Really it means going to.
Some people are really saying "leave me alone. I don't want to deal with this now" like when Mom says "take out the trash" and the kid says "I'M GONNA"
2007-05-06 00:37:30 · answer #4 · answered by upallnight 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"gonna" is an informal spoken form for "going to".
2007-05-06 00:35:38 · answer #5 · answered by Guy P. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Short and informal way to say "Going to"
2007-05-06 00:34:24 · answer #6 · answered by Tac_aipes 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Americanism for ' going to'
2007-05-06 03:01:06 · answer #7 · answered by Santosh 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is an informal pronunciation of going to.
2007-05-06 21:22:44 · answer #8 · answered by fatboycool 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Going to" shortened equals "Gonna".
2007-05-06 00:38:46 · answer #9 · answered by Aroinak 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
going to...it's what's called a "southernism" like "fixin' ta" (gettin' ready to) and "gaw-on-na" (go on now) - heeheehee - do ya'll (you all) get it?! LOL
2007-05-06 00:51:44 · answer #10 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋