Speaking Practice
Look at the following sentence: I am going to do my homework.
Now, read it out loud.
How did you say it? Did you pronounce "going to" like "goeeng two"? If so, you do not have native-like (American) pronunciation of the phrase. Instead, most Americans run the pronunciation of these two words together to sound like "gun-nah" and occasionally you will even see it spelled like "gonna." (This usually happens only in novels when an author is trying to replicate actual speech or when someone writes like they talk.)
Now try this sentence: I am going to the store.
In this sentence, the "going to" should be pronounced more carefully. The "gonna" sound only occurs when the "going to" is used in place of the future tense modal verb "will," as in the first sentence. In the second sentence, "going" is part of the verb "am going" which indicates a present tense action and "to" introduces a prepositional phrase that tells the listener where the speaker is going. A speaker cannot say "I am gonna the store."
Activity
Speak the following sentences aloud. Decide which sentences have the "gonna" pronunciation. After you have spoken all the sentences, click on the link below to see if you were correct.
1) We are going to school.
2) They are going to go to work.
3) Who is going to the movie?
4) Everyone who sees the movie is going to like it.
5) I like going to the mall.
6) We were going to shop at the mall, but it was closed.
Click here to see the correct "going to" pronunciations.