မဟုတ်ပါဘူး
ma.hutpabhu:
In Burmese, 'no' can be expressed as မဟုတ်ပါဘူး (ma.hutpabhu:) or ဟင့်အင်း.
Meaning: used to show disagreement or negation (particle)
Ways to say it
| Burmese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| မဟုတ်ပါဘူး | ma.hutpabhu: | |
| ဟင့်အင်း | hang.ang: | /hɪ̰ɴʔɪ́ɴ/ |
The term မဟုတ်ပါဘူး is used to negate a statement of fact or identity, such as saying 'It is not (so)' when correcting a statement like 'It is not a cat' or 'I am not a student'.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase မဟုတ်ပါဘူး is composed of the verb 'to be not' (မဟုတ်) and polite particles (ပါဘူး).
Which one should you use?
မဟုတ်ပါဘူး is the standard polite way to say no, while ဟင့်အင်း is a colloquial version similar to 'nope' or 'nah' in English.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
ma.hutpabhu:
Did you know?
- The colloquial 'no', ဟင့်အင်း, is a combination of two distinct emotional expressions: one signaling 'surprise' and the other signaling 'resignation'.
- When Burmese speakers want to say 'no' to a request, they frequently use a phrase meaning 'it is difficult' rather than using the word မဟုတ်ပါဘူး.
- In Burmese, the negation particle is often placed at the very end of the sentence, which means a listener must wait until the final syllable to know if the speaker is saying 'yes' or 'no'.
Examples in context
- မဟုတ်ပါဘူး။No.This example shows how to use the form မဟုတ်ပါဘူး to say 'No'.Tatoeba #3189903 by sithu015, translation #477061 by Ricardo14
- ဒါက ကျွန်တော့်စာအုပ် မဟုတ်ပါဘူး။da ga kyun daw sa ot ma hoke par buu.This is not my book.
- သူက ဆရာ မဟုတ်ပါဘူး။thu ga sayar ma hoke par buu.He is not a teacher.
Example conversation
A young man and woman are discussing whether a person is a doctor.
- စုစု Su Suသူက ဆရာဝန်လား။thu ga sayar woon lar?Is he a doctor?
- မင်းမင်း Min Minမဟုတ်ပါဘူး။ သူက အင်ဂျင်နီယာပါ။ma hoke par buu. thu ga in jin nee yar par.No, he is an engineer.
- စုစု Su Suဪ၊ ဟုတ်ကဲ့။aw, hoke ke.Oh, I see.
- မင်းမင်း Min Minဟုတ်ပါတယ်။hoke par tal.That's right.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “no” translations and entries ဟင့်အင်း, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ဟင့်အင်း, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
