Eurospeak Language School

I AIN’T ABLE TO USE AIN’T!

Ain’t: you’ve heard people using this word – and you might even have seen it written down – but you’re not really sure what it means or how to use it. Well, read on and you won’t go wrong!

 

Here’s the short explanation:

ain’t = am not / isn’t / aren’t

OR

ain’t = haven’t / hasn’t

And here’s more detail:

Ain’t exists in the same form for all persons:

I ain’t

you ain’t

he / she / it ain’t

we ain’t

you ain’t

they ain’t

You can basically use it any time when you would normally use am not / isn’t / aren’t or haven’t / hasn’t:

We ain’t finished yet. = We aren’t finished yet. OR We haven’t finished yet.

Ain’t you finished yet? = Aren’t you finished yet? OR Haven’t you finished yet?

You ain’t gonna be finished on time. = You aren’t going to be finished on time.

(More on gonna in a future post!)

Ain’t also exists in some fixed expressions, for example:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. = If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

(Yes, this fixed expression does contain a grammatical error –  broke instead of broken!)

And there even used to be a comedy TV show in Britain with ain’t in the title:

It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

Ain’t only exists as a contraction – there is no full form. Contractions are informal; full forms are formal, so you can deduce from this that ain’t must be a pretty informal word. In fact, it is extremely informal – use it with your friends, maybe post it on social media, but definitely don’t write it in an academic assignment for university!

So, the next time you’re using English in a very informal situation, try using ain’t. There ain’t nothing stopping you!

 

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