gonna

Gonna is a nonstandard contraction of the phrase going to, used in informal American English. It functions as a marker of near-future intention and appears in everyday speech, dialogue in fiction, song lyrics, and informal writing.

Origin and usage: The form results from phonetic reduction of "going to" in casual speech. It has appeared in print since at least the late 19th century and became widely used in the 20th century with mass media and popular culture. Most standard dictionaries label it as informal or colloquial; it is generally considered inappropriate for formal writing.

Grammar and semantics: Gonna expresses near-future intent, as in "I'm gonna leave now" meaning "I am going to leave now." It can also appear in the past tense, "I was gonna go," to describe a prior intention, though the more formal variant would be "I was going to go."

Variants and register: Spelling variants include gon'na or goin' to in phonetic transcriptions. It is more common in American English and in media that depict casual speech, including music lyrics and dialogue. In formal contexts, writers typically substitute "going to."