Contraction = short form In everyday spoken English forms of the verb 'to be' and other auxiliary verbs are usually contracted. In short forms we use 'm (= am), 're (= are), 's (= is/has), 've (= have), 'd (= had/would) and n't (= not) in combination with other words.

A contraction is when you make a word shorter. For example, "do not" is shortened to "don't" and also, "I have" is shortened to "I've"