student asking question

What does "ain't" mean here? If "ain't" has "not" inside, how should I accept the "no" right next it? Does "ain't no" have a special meaning?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Ain't" is a contraction for "am/are/is not" or "has/have not." It is technically grammatically incorrect and considered to be non-standard English, however, it is still a speaking pattern seen commonly in some parts of the United States. The speaker says "I ain't no clown-town snitch baby" to mean "I'm not a snitch (person who reports others to the police/other people)." The "no" here does not actually mean "no," it functions as an extra point of emphasis here. "Ain't no" here can be understood as "am not a" in this context. Ex: I ain't no snitch. (I'm not a snitch.) Ex: Ain't nobody here but us. (There is nobody here except us.) Ex: We ain't got no options now. (We don't have any options now.)

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