Example

“I must have left my phone at the movie theater — I can’t find it anywhere!”

Here, the last place the speaker saw her phone was at the movie theater, and since she can’t find it anywhere else, she concludes that the only possible option left is that the phone is still at the movie theater.

Notice that I said “must’ve” instead of “must have”.

As the previous lessons on contracted verbs have already shown you, the music of English comes from the way native English speakers:

•  stress their content words (meaning, they say them longer, louder, and higher in pitch); as well as
•  de-stress their function words (meaning they say them quicker and more relaxed).

Function words in English are those that form the grammar and structure of a sentence and do not carry much content. These include auxiliary verbs, which accompany a main verb and add some grammatical meaning to the sentence.

Because “have” is an auxiliary verb, we tend to de-stress it and contract it, then attach it to the verb preceding it. So, to contract

“have”, simply:

•  delete the first consonant sound [h];
•  de-stress and relax the vowel sound ([æ] → [ə]); and
•  connect it to the verb before it.

“have” → [əv]

“must” + “have” → “must’ve” [mʌstəv]

Did you hear how much more relaxed the vowel sound in “have” is?

“must’ve” [mʌstəv]

Remember that because “have” now begins with a vowel sound, you should connect your speech and pronounce the [t] in “must” at the beginning of “‘ve” [əv] → [təv].

“must’ve” [mʌstəv]