done

done pronunciation

/dun/

Meaning

In rural Southern and Appalachian talk, done sits in front of a past verb to stress that something is already over. I done told you means you already got the warning. He done left means he is gone. It can also intensify a state, like done tired or done dead. Different from plain finished, though you hear that too. This done is the little word that says the deal is settled.

How folks use it

• “I done told you not to mess with that fuse box.”
• “By the time we got to the creek, they done gone home.”

Origin and etymology

Past participle of do that took on helper-verb work. Etymonline and the OED note Southern U.S. uses like done gone by the early 1800s, with a sense of already or completely. Linguists call it completive or perfective done. It shows up in white Southern speech (including Appalachia and the Ozarks) and in African American English. Older Scots and Middle English had related patterns, so the roots run deep.

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