If you listen to native speakers, you will hear that most of the time, they use contractions.

What is a contraction?

Well, a contraction is a word that is shorter than the original word or words.

Let me tell you five common examples.

I have becomes:

'I've.' 'I've.'

He is becomes:

'He's.' 'He's.'

It is becomes:

'It's.' 'It's.'

They are becomes:

'They're.' 'They're.'

And they have becomes:

'They've.' 'They've.'

Listen to this example.

I have been going to the park a lot because it is where I exercise.

Now, listen to this example.

I've been going to the park a lot because it's where I exercise.

Which one do you think sounds more like a native speaker?

The second one, right?

Because we used two contractions.

We said 'I've', and we said 'it's'.

So when you're speaking English, try and use more contractions.

This will make you sound more like a native speaker.

But, please note that when speaking or writing quite formally, it's better to NOT use contractions.

But in everyday situations, it's fine to use contractions.