Is the sentence "where them girls at" grammarly correct?
myhotthing
I was listening to the song "where them girls at" and was wondering if it's the correct sentence
34 comments
Admirable-Freedom-Fr•
It's "grammatically," and no, it's not correct.
They're trying to ask, "Where are those girls?" But that doesn't mean the artist is wrong, many songs and poems break rules for stylistic purposes. To sort of quote Picasso, "To break the rules you have to know them."
internetexplorer_98•
It is grammatically correct in some dialects of English, but not in standard English.
Stepjam•
In formal English, no, it is incorrect. There are dialects that it would likely be used in though without anyone batting an eye.
iron-gauntlet•
It is not grammatically correct. The right way to say it would be “where are those girls” or “where are the girls” depending on what you’re trying to say
Constellation-88•
Definitely not. It’s slang. Never put it in an essay or formal writing.
Perspex-•
it's slang i believe
YankeeOverYonder•
Its a non-standard dialectal form. Youd hear it from aave speakers and rural southerners from the US. And probably some others too.
SteampunkExplorer•
It's definitely dialect. In standard forms of English, you would say "where are those girls", but in some places it's normal to say "them" for "those", and to say "where is XYZ at" instead of "where is XYZ".
I'm not familiar with the song, but I'm guessing it's some type of southern United States dialect, maybe exaggerated to sound funny or edgy. I live in the south, but I only hear old people talk this way in real life.
Or (now that I've read the other replies) I guess it's probably AAVE, like others are saying. I'm not super familiar with that type of dialect. I think black people and white people usually talk pretty similarly in my area. 🤔
AAVE and southern dialects are related, so sometimes they sound a lot alike!
cattdogg03•
It’s correct in certain dialects of English, particularly in the US
igotdahookup•
It’s grammatically correct amongst African Americans within Ebonics, but not with traditional English
eliminate1337•
What a great sentence! It demonstrates three features of colloquial English in just four words. It is grammatically correct in African American English. It's not arbitrary 'bad grammar' but uses different grammatical rules that are used in that dialect.
AAE allows [null copula](https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/null-copula). The rule is that wherever standard English can use a contraction, AAE can delete 'are' or 'is'. In this case the contraction is "where're" which is used in spoken but not written standard English.
* He is an expert → he's an expert → he an expert
The second is [demonstrative them](https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/demonstrative-them) used in AAE but also Appalachian English. Standard English doesn't allow 'them' as a demonstrative (like 'those', 'these', 'this', 'that') but AAE does.
The third is a stranded preposition, ending the sentence with 'at'. This isn't specific to AAE. I (not African American) would use this saying something like 'where's the bathroom *at*?' or 'what are you talking *about*?'.
So to get to this sentence from (pedantic) standard English:
* Where are those girls? → Where're those girls? (informal contraction) → Where those girls? (copula deletion) → Where them girls? (demonstrative them) → Where them girls at? (stranded preposition)
Every_Issue_5972•
Incorrect, but usually in songs they break grammar to make sentences easy to pronounce or to rhyme with other phrases
Helpful-Reputation-5•
For some speakers, yeah, but not in any standard variety.
load_bearing_tree•
It is dialect, but it’s 100% correct grammatically, just understand that the rules of dialect are just as uniform as the rules of standard speech and you can’t just apply the same rules everywhere, and people will judge you on whether or not you sound natural speaking it or not.
zebostoneleigh•
No. Not correct.
Songs should not be relied upon to use English properly.
memyselfandafew•
It sounds like it could be a form of AAVE, but I’m not sure
hipchecktheblueliner•
It's idiomatically correct.
DianKhan2005•
No, It is not grammatically proper because it is an informal way of saying "where the girls?".
gabrielks05•
It is grammatically correct in the sense it makes grammatical sense (any native speaker would understand its meaning), but it is not standard.
Hominid77777•
It's probably normal in some dialects. To me it sounds like African American English, but I don't speak that variety or hear it very often, so I'm not 100% sure.
However, it's definitely incorrect in standard varieties of English, so you should avoid that wording as a learner. "Where are those girls?" is a good alternative.
fionaapplejuice•
As others have said, it's African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a dialect of English
Emanuele002•
No, as others said, it's slang. I think mostly US slang.
I don't know why but I find these kinds of posts hilarious :)
Holleringseraph471•
Is all contracted to mean Where are the girls at.. if you listen pop, r&b, rap, you’ll see there is a bunch of sentences that are changed. Is the slang people use to talk. Is not wrong but it’s incorrect to use. It’s up to you and with who or what you use this English
ItsFxcus•
Technically it's "not" correct English as using "them" in that context is not the correct word. You'd probably use "are those" instead of "them". It's just slang that's used.
Low_Operation_6446•
Technically, no. In reality, yes, in many varieties.
Ok-Replacement-2738•
Where are those girls at?
maitiuiscool•
Not in a formal context. Though this would make sense and be understood by many native speakers - many people speak this way in both Southern US dialects and AAVE
RoundandRoundon99•
Ooooo they be looking for you too. They was here just a minute.
Yeah it’s not standard but quite common.
Embarrassed-Weird173•
It's not correct in proper English, but it is in slang/AVVE.Â
spiceFruits•
Yes, it is, though you may find that an alternative phrase: where them hoes at, is far more common in typical conversation
fjgwey•
As others have said; it's not standard English, so unless you actually speak in a dialect where this is used (e.g. AAVE), it's best not to use that phrasing.
Nondescript_Redditor•
No
brokilla8•
No
helikophis•
It’s correct, and quite a common form, but’s not found in standard English. I wouldn’t suggest learners try to use forms like this.