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Ain't?

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Jul 28th 2011 22:05 ain't dialect English word
I hear this word once in a while, for example in a song, a film or on radio.
It's a short term of "am not"/"is not"/"are not", right?
But I've never used it myself before. I'm not sure when you use it. Or you shouldn't.
Can you help me out?
Thank you!

Jul 28th 2011 22:18
1 平叙文でam notの短縮形.

2 付加疑問文でam not？の短縮形.

3 are ［is, have, has］ notの短縮形. ▼am notの短縮形amn'tのmが消えその補足としてaが長母音化を伴って高母音となり変形.

[語法]

(1)平叙文ではI'm ［I am］ notが標準語法であるが, 付加疑問の場合は適当な形がないため, ain't I？が用いられ, 1よりも2の用法のほうが許容度が高い.

(2)3の用法は1, 2の用法が拡大されたもの. ⇒AMN'T, AN'T

ain't no good nohow

どのみちよくない［役に立たない］.

You ain't seen ［heard］ nothing.

もっと驚くことがある.

ご参考まで

トシアキ
Jul 28th 2011 22:32
Ain'tって言ったら、田舎者だと思われることもある。　会話言葉だけど、あんまり使っていない。
Jul 28th 2011 22:38 Uniko
Thank you! Oh, I didn't remember the usage of (1). I understand now.
"ain't"って田舎くさいんですか？！Never knew that. I thought it would sound cool.
Beckett
Thank you for your correction!
Jul 28th 2011 22:45
  • I hear this word once in a while, for example in a song, a film or on radio.

  • I hear this word once in a while in songs, movies or on the radio. ("film" is generally used to talk about movies as art. In this case, movies sounded more natural to me.)

 
  • It's a short term of "am not"/"is not"/"are not", right?

  • It's a contraction of "am not"/"is not"/"are not", right?

 
  • Or you shouldn't.

  • Or perhaps you shouldn't?

 
As the above commenter posted, "ain't" is dialect. It most commonly appears in rural American speech, and has a distinctly uneducated sound, though occasionally it will make its way into general conversation through quotation, idiom or humor.

I'm from a rural area myself, and when I was a child I used this word fairly frequently. I can't think of any situation where I would use it now, though, other than perhaps as a joke.

It does appear fairly frequently in media, so it's a good idea to be familiar with it. I would probably suggest avoiding using it yourself, though.

Hope that helps!
Jul 28th 2011 23:52 Uniko
Thank you so much for the correction! I learned so many new information about "ain't". :) It was kind of surprising that even a child use this word. I thought it was a rural old men who use it.

Oh, I have one more question: is "Say it ain't so" a common phrase in English? I think I've seen this phrase several times in lyrics.
Jul 29th 2011 00:00 Beckett
"Say it ain't so" is a cliche （常套句、決まり文句）. We don't really use it very often in conversation, but it does turn up in song lyrics sometimes. This is the kind of thing I was referring to above as idiom.

In English, we rarely use cliches in a straightforward manner. If you were to use this in a real conversation, the listener would likely think you were making a joke, or perhaps being sarcastic. Song lyrics, however, constitute a privileged space that permit this sort of utterance in earnest. I think this is true for Japanese songs as well - some lines may sound good in a song, but in real life, they would sound strange, or hackneyed.
Jul 29th 2011 00:10 Uniko
I see! That's true, Japanese has also such idioms. Your explanation really helped! Thanks a lot, Beckett:D
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I hear this word once in a while, for example in a song, a film or on radio. It's a short term of "am not"/"is not"/"are not", right? But I've never used it myself before. I'm not sure when you use it. Or you shouldn't. Can you help me out? Thank you!


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