Language/Burmese/Grammar/Negation
Hi Burmese learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will explore how to express negation in Burmese. It is a commonly used language feature that can often change the meaning of a sentence.
Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Plurals, Adjectives, Nouns & 0 to A1 Course.
Basic Negation[edit | edit source]
The most common way to express negative sentences in Burmese is to use the word "ma" (မ) in front of the verb. For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| မောက်ယွင်း | mauk ywinn | not beautiful |
To negate a sentence with a verb that ends with a vowel, "ma" changes to "mau" (မော). For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ရွှေသောင်းသည် | hwesang tane | not delicious |
Additionally, to express double negation, the word "yay" (ရေး) can be added at the end of the sentence. It is equivalent to "not... at all" in English. For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ကြီးမားရေးမချော်လား။ | kyi ma yay hkyau lar? | You don't like it at all? |
Negation with Nouns and Adjectives[edit | edit source]
When negating a statement with a noun, the word "ma" is not used. Instead, the particle "bu" (ဘူး) is used. For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| မီးပီးတယ်ဘူး။ | mit pi tai bu | It is not a fish |
When negating a sentence with an adjective, the word "bu" follows the adjective. For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ကျန်းမားမထိပါဘူး။ | kyanma ma htay bu | It is not delicious |
Using "ma hte" for emphasis[edit | edit source]
To emphasize the negation in a sentence, "ma hte" (မထောတဲ့) is often added at the end of a sentence. For example:
| Burmese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ခိုင်မရောက်သွားပေးနေတာလားပဲပါ။ မထိုးရက်ပို့လို့ | hkyin ma yaung taw pyan nay tar lar? Ma hte? | You won't go on a trip because it's raining? Really not going? |
Examples in Context[edit | edit source]
Here is an example dialogue where the negative sentences are emphasized:
- Person 1: ချန်းနေချိန်းမရှိလို့။ (Chin ne khain ma hse loe?)
(You can't see the moon, can you?)
- Person 2: ချန်းနေပဲလား။ မြင်ရလို့ရ (Chin ne pya lar? Myin yar loe)
(Can't see the moon? I see it.)
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
Negation is an essential feature in Burmese grammar that can often change the meaning of a sentence. Don't be afraid to use it in everyday conversations. To improve your Burmese Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!
Sources[edit | edit source]
Impressive work on finishing this lesson! Explore these additional pages to enhance your understanding: Pronouns, Burmese Grammar → Sentence Structure → Simple Sentences, How to Use Be & Connecting Ideas.
➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]