Why do you contract je ai to j'ai but leave tu as and not t'as ?

Lisa S.A0Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why do you contract je ai to j'ai but leave tu as and not t'as ?

It seems like tu never contracts with the following verb. Are there other words that end in vowels but never contract with the next word ?
Asked 8 years ago
LauraFrench expert and teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Lisa,

In grammatically correct French, E is the only vowel that contracts. So je, me, te, le, etc all contract, but tu, qui, etc do not.

The only exceptions are la and si, but the latter only when it means "if" and only in front of il and ils.

Lisa S.A0Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Is it perhaps because the French u followed by a doesn't have a glottal stop in the same way that French e followed by a has?
Lisa S.A0Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Oh, that is interesting. I don't think I've seen that pointed out anywhere. Merci.
Lisa S. asked:

Why do you contract je ai to j'ai but leave tu as and not t'as ?

It seems like tu never contracts with the following verb. Are there other words that end in vowels but never contract with the next word ?

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