Gonna

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈɡʌ.nÉ™/, /É¡É”.nÉ™/; unstressed
• AAVE IPA: /ɡõ/
• Aus IPA: /É¡É™.nÉ™/
• Homophones: gunner non-rhotic accents

Alternative forms

• gon
• gunna

Origin

Written form of a reduction (linguistics) of "going to". The pronunciation of present participles with the sound "n" rather than "ng" has a long history (see ).

Full definition of gonna

Contraction

1. (with bare infinitive) when followed by an infinitive verb: used to express a future action.
• 1987, Stock Aitken Waterman (writers), (singer), “” (song), in (album), RCA Records (label), refrain:Never gonna give you up,
  Never gonna let you down,
  Never gonna run around and desert you.
  Never gonna make you cry,
  Never gonna say goodbye,
  Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

Usage notes

This spelling, like any nonstandard spelling, risks appearing condescending. Even when going to has the pronunciation that gonna denotes, it is usually spelled <going to>.

Gonna, like the pronunciation it denotes, only occurs when indicating a future tense (something that is bound to happen or is planned); hence “I’m gonna go now”, but not *“I’m gonna the mall.”