Ain't = have not

Question

Can you give me some examples where "ain't" is used in place of "have not".

According to Oxford Dictionary, ain't=am not,is not,are not,has not,have not.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t#Contractions_of_to_have_not — Damkerng T., Apr 22 '15 at 16:45

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 22 '15 at 20:14

7

It replaces have not when have not is an auxiliary verb, not when it's a a conjugation of to have:

"I have been racking my brain, but I ain't been able to come up with a good example."
<p>"I have done a lot of bad things, but I <em>ain't hit</em> a man with glasses or stolen from a baby."</p>

A very common combination is "ain't got" meaning have not got (or, briefly, don't have) A google search will reveal that "ain't got" turns up in lyrics all the time:

Gangsta rap (UZ's S**t I Ain't Got)
Guitar blues (Yardbirds I Ain't Got You)
R&B/Jazz (Nina Simone's Ain't Got No)
80's hair rock (David Lee Roth's Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody )
Country Western (Reba McEntire I Don't Need Nothing You Ain't Got.)
Folk roots (Woody Guthrie's I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore)

While we generally avoid the double negative in English, you can see in these examples that "ain't" often bucks that trend and pairs up with a second negation (nobody, no home, no)

Note: This would not be considered standard written English. In some parts of the U.S., it would be fairly common to hear it in spoken English (e.g. Texas), but from a second-language speaker, it would sound strange, unless you are extremely fluent.

edited Apr 22 '15 at 20:14

answered Apr 22 '15 at 16:35

Adam

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Unless you're in the south, particularly Texas. Where "ain't" and "ya'll" reign ;) – Catija Apr 22 '15 at 16:38
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I think you mean "Ah dun a heap o' bad things, but Ah ain't never hit no man with glasses nor stole from no baby." :-) – Hellion Apr 22 '15 at 18:45
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@catija Y'all; ya'll is "you will". If y'all'll observe this simple rule ya'll avoid the mockery of Southerners. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 22 '15 at 19:30
@StoneyB Sorry. I can't fix it now :( I'm not mocking. I'm from Texas and say it all the time, myself. – Catija Apr 22 '15 at 19:44
@catija No, no: I meant you will avoid being mocked by Southerners. (I too am of that ethnos.) – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 22 '15 at 20:06

Ain't = have not

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