ENGLISH
REFERENCE

ima

phr. v..
C2 Proficiency ima Archaic Dialect

phr. v.. a very informal way to say 'I am going to'. It is mostly used in texting or when speaking very quickly with friends.

phr. v.. a contracted form of 'I am going to', representing a phonetic reduction of 'I'm gonna'. Highly informal and restricted to specific dialects or casual digital communication.


SIMPLE

Ima head out now, see you later.

CONTEXTUAL

If you don't start getting ready soon, ima leave without you.

COMPLEX

While common in casual speech and song lyrics, using 'ima' in a professional email would likely be seen as a sign of extreme informality or a lack of attention to register.

Usage

Always followed by the base form of a verb; functions as a future-tense marker in casual speech.

Pitfall

Ima to go to the store.Ima go to the store.Like 'gonna', 'ima' already includes the sense of 'to' and is followed directly by the base verb.

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