Carmen
I have a grammatical question about the contraction "ain't"

Hello!

I have read the contraction "ain't" in a song and I know its translation, but I don't know which tense corresponds.

The sentence is: "But ain't done much healing" (Hello!, song of Adele)

I can understand that corresponds with the present perfect but I had never seen before.

It can be used with other tenses?

Thank you so much



2016年1月27日 00:05
评论 · 2
6

"ain't" can mean "have/has not" (as an auxiliary) or "am/are/is not" (as an auxiliary or a main verb). It can occasionally mean "do/does/did not", but this is much rarer.

 

Ain't sometimes even breaks the rule against double negatives (eg. "I ain't done nothing" = I haven't done anything)

 

Obviously, as I think you probably know, "ain't" is not standard English, so I don't encourage you use it yourself.

<em>
</em>

<em>If it ain't broke, don't fix it</em> = an idiom meaning "don't try to change something if it doesn't have any problems". A bit like the new italki! ;-)

2016年1月27日
1

Aveces significa no he o no ha y funciona no importa de quien esta hablando. I aint done that he aint done that etc...

Pero es MUY INCORRECTO si no lo usa charlando. 

Básicamente significa que no es/esta y casi siempre funciona. 

2016年1月27日