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
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
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
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
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
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
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. 😎
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