Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Here's the context: a loan shark has asked a yakuza to help him collect a loan. The yakuza came back with the money. The loan shark paid for the yakuza's trouble and then tried to give the yakuza a little extra but the yakuza was reluctant. Then the loan shark said:
本職のきみが金もないんじゃサマんなんねぇだろ
source: 龍が如く0 誓いの場所 第一話, can be seen here on youtube at around 4:45 min.
I have no idea what サマ means. Could be slang or something since I can't find it in dictionaries. What is it and how does it work here?
That is no slang. It should be in any dictionary.
「サマんなんねぇだろ」＝
「[様]{さま}にならないだろう」← "dictionary" form
「ん」 is the colloquial contraction for 「に」 here.
「なんねえ」 is the mostly-Kanto colloquial way of saying 「ならない」.
「様になる」 means "to look good", "to look proper", etc.
「様になんねぇだろ」 = "You wouldn't look good."
