# Contraction question: "You aren't" or "You're not" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329 "2012-09-30T19:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/21 "2012-12-22T11:49:33Z")
I don’t think so. “You’ve not” sounds distinctly British to me, like something an American wouldn’t say. “You’re not” doesn’t sound to me like something an American wouldn’t say. So there isn’t a parallel here. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/22 "2012-12-22T12:56:31Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I don’t think so. “You’ve not” sounds distinctly British to me, like something an American wouldn’t say. “You’re not” doesn’t sound to me like something an American wouldn’t say. So there isn’t a parallel here. I think “you’ve not” is more of a northern British thing. “You haven’t” would be more common in the south, although I’m sure both forms are used throughout. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/23 "2012-12-22T13:06:36Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Nitpick: “Y’all,” not “ya’ll.” “Yaw!” “You sound like a karate movie. Y’all!” –Lee and Carter, _Rush Hour_ /hijack Either is acceptable. If I think about it, I tend to use “you’re not” more frequently than “you aren’t.” “Y’ain’t” if I’m feeling particularly redneck, which I almost never do except in “folsky, trying-to-get-you-to-relate-to-me” situations. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/24 "2012-12-22T13:32:02Z")
You’ren’t? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/25 "2012-12-22T13:41:57Z")
So how come the contraction “amn’t” was never coined for the singular? As in “I amn’t going to do it”. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/26 "2012-12-22T14:28:03Z")
If you say “You aren’t” in Thailand, the Thais always think you’re saying “You are,” so it’s best always to go with “You’re not.” (For the same reason, I never say “several,” because they think I mean “seven” exactly.) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/27 "2012-12-22T14:36:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If you say “You aren’t” in Thailand, the Thais always think you’re saying “You are,” so it’s best always to go with “You’re not.” > > (For the same reason, I never say “several,” because they think I mean “seven” exactly.) Why? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/28 "2012-12-22T14:40:56Z")
Because syllables in Thai don’t end with “-nt,” and the ones who speak English have to know it pretty fluently, such as the wife, even to hear the sound. Syllables don’t end with the “L” sound, and I’ve noticed that most Thai speakers of English, when you say “several” to them, they’re hearing “seven.” ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/29 "2012-12-22T14:48:01Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > No it’s not, a lot of language development has to do with things like phonetics and other things that it is possible to theorize about. This is what linguists do. I’m not sure why you would say that a lot of it is chance, because that’s clearly false. I have rarely been so certain that someone speaking with authority, on a subject I know next to nothing about, is completely wrong. As an analogy, evolution has to do with a lot of things that it is possible to theorize about, but that doesn’t mean that chance doesn’t play a large role. On second thought, I do know something about computer languages, and unlike English, they are constructed from the ground up to be logical and consistent. Yet the reason why something is X and not Y, when X and Y would work equally well, may be completely arbitrary. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/30 "2012-12-22T15:46:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So how come the contraction “amn’t” was never coined for the singular? As in “I amn’t going to do it”. It does exist in some dialects of English, principally in Scotland and Ireland, as far as I know. As for why it’s not more popular, I don’t know. I was going to say it’s an awkward cluster of consonants, but it really isn’t really any more difficult than any of the other standard “[pronoun] [to be conjugation]” contractions. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/31 "2012-12-22T19:46:33Z")
You shouldn’t’ve resurrected this thread – there’s no such thing as doubly contracted words! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/32 "2012-12-22T20:30:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It does exist in some dialects of English, principally in Scotland and Ireland, as far as I know. As for why it’s not more popular, I don’t know. I was going to say it’s an awkward cluster of consonants, but it really isn’t really any more difficult than any of the other standard “[pronoun] [to be conjugation]” contractions. I say it but for some reason a lot of people discourage it in their kids or what not because they think it is incorrect English. :rolleyes: I amn’t changing my ways for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/33 "2012-12-22T23:46:02Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I say it but for some reason a lot of people discourage it in their kids or what not because they think it is incorrect English. :rolleyes: I amn’t changing my ways for anyone. Yeah, they do the same thing for “ain’t,” as I’m sure is probably the case where you’re at. Although with “ain’t,” I think it’s also an aversion to what I will dub “wildcard conjugations” that can be used regardless of subject, and thus perceived as “lazy.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329/34 "2012-12-23T00:10:17Z")
There’s also “ye bain’t,” but I’ve been reading a lot of Valdemar novels lately. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraction-question-you-arent-or-youre-not/636329.md?page=1)