jamais

See also: ja mais

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ja mais (“any more”, only in reference to the future), the two components deriving from Latin iam and magis. Compare Spanish jamás, Italian giammai, Occitan jamai and Portuguese jamais.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒa.mɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Paris) IPA^(key): /ʒa.me/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [ʒɑ̃me], [hɑ̃mɛ̃], [ʒɔ̃mɛ̃]

Adverb

jamais

1. (ne ... jamais) never

   Je ne l’ai jamais vue. ― I’ve never seen her.

2. ever

   Es-tu jamais allé en France ? ― Have you ever been to France?

Derived terms

• à jamais
• à tout jamais
• au grand jamais
• comme jamais
• c’est le moment ou jamais
• il ne faut jamais dire jamais
• jamais de la vie
• jamais deux sans trois
• mieux vaut tard que jamais
• ne jamais dire jamais
• on ne sait jamais
• on n’est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même
• plus que jamais
• sait-on jamais
• si jamais

 

Descendants

• Saint Dominican Creole French:
  • Haitian Creole: janmen
• Louisiana Creole: zamein

Further reading

• “jamais”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Adverb

jamais

1. reintegrationist spelling of xamais

Further reading

• “jamais” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

Norman

Etymology

From Old French ja mais.

Adverb

jamais

1. ever

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese jamais, from Old Occitan ja mais, from Latin iam magis. Cognate with Galician xamais, Spanish jamás, Occitan jamai, French jamais and Italian giammai.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒaˈmajs/ [ʒaˈmaɪ̯s]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒaˈmajs/ [ʒaˈmaɪ̯s]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ʒaˈmajʃ/ [ʒaˈmaɪ̯ʃ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒɐˈmajʃ/

• Hyphenation: ja‧mais

Adverb

jamais (not comparable)

1. never

   Synonym: nunca

   Jamais estive na Inglaterra. ― I’ve never been to England.

Further reading

• “jàmais” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “jamais”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2024
• “jamais”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024