different between woulda vs coulda

English

Etymology

Eye dialect form of a reduction of would have.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?w?d?/
• Rhymes: -?d?

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

English

Etymology

Written form of a reduction of could have.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?d?/, [?k??d.?]
• Rhymes: -?d?

Contraction

coulda

1. (chiefly slang) Could have.

   You coulda told him the truth.

Usage notes

Like other similarly formed contractions, speakers only use coulda to replace the modal sense of could have, i.e. where have precedes a past participle: We coulda seen each other. They do not use it to replace could followed by the verb have used lexically, e.g. *We coulda coffee. See also gonna.

Synonyms

• could of
• could've

Derived terms

• woulda, coulda, shoulda

Related terms

• couldna
• shoulda
• woulda
• mighta
• musta