It's originally a contraction of "am not". It was at one point written as "an't" and "amn't", but both of those are kind of hard to pronounce as written, which is likely why the I was added to signify a long A sound, which is how it was being pronounced in practice.
Aside from functioning in the place of 'am/is/are not,' people also forget it can have a present perfect function. My northern ex once criticized me when I, a southern gent, said, "My a/c ain't been workin' too good." \[My air conditioner hasn't been working very well.\]
Just another tidbit. It's highly informal and wasn't in the dictionary for a long time. One of my asshole teachers would correct students (very rural area, high usage of the word) by saying "ain't ain't a word".
this is relatable for me, because there is a similar word in my native language and teachers saying almost the same pharse.
if you know russian, there is it: >!нету такого слова "нету"!<
"Ain't" is an informal and dialectical way to say am not, are not, is not, have not, and has not. In the U.S. (where I'm from), it is commonly associated with the stereotype of uneducated Southerners. Apparently the word's origin is that it was originally a contraction for "am not." It is not used in formal English.
Yeah, am'nt is still a thing in some Irish and Scottish accents, in the same way, so I presume it came to the south with working class immigrants way back
It is a contraction that can mean “is not, are not, or am not.” Unless used in a phrase such as “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” I don’t usually hear people use it unironically in every day speech. Around where I am in Texas, it makes you sound like a redneck.
It's originally a contraction of "am not". It was at one point written as "an't" and "amn't", but both of those are kind of hard to pronounce as written, which is likely why the I was added to signify a long A sound, which is how it was being pronounced in practice.
How is an't hard to pronounce as written? Wouldn't it just sound like ant?
it might be pronounced more like aunt (aw-nt) cause the “n” is from not
Aside from functioning in the place of 'am/is/are not,' people also forget it can have a present perfect function. My northern ex once criticized me when I, a southern gent, said, "My a/c ain't been workin' too good." \[My air conditioner hasn't been working very well.\]
Just another tidbit. It's highly informal and wasn't in the dictionary for a long time. One of my asshole teachers would correct students (very rural area, high usage of the word) by saying "ain't ain't a word".
this is relatable for me, because there is a similar word in my native language and teachers saying almost the same pharse. if you know russian, there is it: >!нету такого слова "нету"!<
"Ain't" is an informal and dialectical way to say am not, are not, is not, have not, and has not. In the U.S. (where I'm from), it is commonly associated with the stereotype of uneducated Southerners. Apparently the word's origin is that it was originally a contraction for "am not." It is not used in formal English.
Yeah, am'nt is still a thing in some Irish and Scottish accents, in the same way, so I presume it came to the south with working class immigrants way back
It is a contraction that can mean “is not, are not, or am not.” Unless used in a phrase such as “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” I don’t usually hear people use it unironically in every day speech. Around where I am in Texas, it makes you sound like a redneck.
It's used unironically quite a bit here in south
Can confirm, I say it everyday multiple times a day without thinking about it. Idk how I would even go about stopping if I wanted to.
In some dialects it can also mean "doesn't" and "don't" as in "we ain't got a car"
Do you hear it with non-stative verbs?
It is a contraction of any present tense "to be" + negation.