hadn't
See also: hadnt
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editVerb
edithadn't
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