Question about 離せねえ

[Jakarta]

I was flipping through Japanese in Mangaland book 1, trying and pick up some new vocabulary and grammar concepts, and I came across the line:

いま手が離せねえんだよ！

Japanese in Mangaland translates this as "I can't now, I'm busy!" This is obviously not a very literal translation; Japanese in Mangaland says "now hand release (neg)" as the more literal translation--it seems they didn't want to bother with んだ　or よ yet. I understand all of this except 離せねえ. How does this become negative?

どうもありがとう。

[furrykef]

I'm pretty sure that ねえ is a colloquial alteration of ない. "Ai" and "ae" often become "ee" in colloquial speech, maybe because it requires slightly less mouth movement.

離せない in turn comes from 離せる, which is the potential form ("can let go") of 離す.

[Jakarta]

I'm pretty sure that ねえ is a colloquial alteration of ない. "Ai" and "ae" often become "ee" in colloquial speech, maybe because it requires slightly less mouth movement.

離せない in turn comes from 離せる, which is the potential form ("can let go") of 離す.

分かります。　ありがとう、furrykefさん。　

[ss]

There are many different forms of colloquialism, these are just a few examples：

ない → ねえ　　
死にたくない →　死にたくねえ　

ね → ねぇ
いい天気だねぇ（ね）

ら・り・る・の →　ん
お帰りなさい　→　お帰んなさい
わからない　→　わかんない
とうするの　→　とうすんの
いろいろな　→　いろんな
のだ　→　んだ
もの　→　もん

ない→　ん
わからない　→　わからん
かもしれない　→　かもしれん

いま手が離せねえんだよ！ →　今手が離せないのだよ！
（Thanks Furrykef, Good catch!　 　　）

[furrykef]

The ordering of your items is a little inconsistent there, SS... you start with contraction → full form, then you switch to the other way around... ^^;

Also, a detail you missed (though most of us already know this one, and it's pointed out earlier in your list):

いま手が離せねえんだよ！ →　今手が離せないのだよ！

[ss]

Eh? Sorry, I don't get you?　　
We can always compare the other way around, no?

[furrykef]

The problem is that in your list it's unclear which is the colloquial form and which is the standard form unless you're already familiar with the examples, since you change the order in the middle of the list. For example, your first one is ねえ　→　ない, but you wouldn't change おねえさん to おないさん, right?

[ss]

あっ。ごちゃごちゃに、ごめんね。