Gonnae

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A Scottish dialect contraction of going to, marking the future tense ; a Scots phrase used to ask or order someone to do something, like please or would you
2. In Scottish speech, a shortened form of going to showing the future ; in Scots, a way of asking or telling someone to act, roughly meaning please or would you
3. Scots dialect for going to, indicating what will happen next ; a Scottish imperative used when requesting or commanding, similar to saying please or would you

Etymology: "Gonnae" is a Scots contraction of "going to" plus "you" or "ye" in its reduced form, so "Gonnae stop that" means "Are you going to stop that?" or, in imperative use, "Will you stop that?" It is most at home in Glasgow and central Scotland, where it appears in shop signs, bus notices and everyday speech. The pattern behind it is the same one that gave English "gonna" and "wanna." "Going to" lost its full vowels and consonants in speech, and the reduced form was then written phonetically. In Scots the verb "gae" (go) is pronounced close to "gay" in many dialects, which shapes how "gonnae" sounds, but the basic structure is simply "gonna" with Scots pronunciation and the addition of "ye." Because the form is a spoken contraction, dictionaries and writers have spelled it inconsistently, and it is often written "gonnae" in signs and comic strips rather than in formal prose. Its uses are mainly requests and commands, which is why it often sounds more demanding than "are you going to" in standard English.