hadn't

See also: hadnt

English edit

Alternative forms edit

hadna, hadnae (nonstandard or dialectal)
hant, hedn't (pronunciation spellings)

Etymology edit

had +‎ -n't

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ˈhæd(ə)nt/
Audio (US) (file)

Verb edit

hadn't

(informal) Contraction of had not. (negative auxiliary^[1])

Usage notes edit

“Hadn’t” (and “had not”) is mainly used as auxiliary, but can be also he used in place of “did not (or didn’t) have”, as in “I hadn’t a reason to do that.” instead of “I didn’t have a reason to do that.” The latter use is mostly limited to British English.

References edit

^ Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

[1] Arnold M. Zwicky and Geoffrey K. Pullum, Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n’t, Language 59 (3), 1983, pp. 502-513

[1]