Negative forms

7.7. Negative forms

7.7.1. Negative forms of verbs

First of all, I would like to explain the difference between verbs and adjectives in Japanese. You have learned that Japanese adjectives have inflection like verbs, but their ways of inflection are quite different; present form verbs end with /u/, while present form adjectives end with /i/. The reason why their inflections are different is that their purposes are different. Verbs basically represent action, and adjectives represent condition. When you say "He runs", you mean his action, and when you say "He is ill", you mean his condition.

Doing something is action, so you use verbs for action in Japanese. Not doing something is condition rather than action, because that you don't do something is not what you do. So the negative forms of Japanese verbs become adjectives, which are used for condition.

Add the negative suffix

/nai/ to the root of a verb to create its negative form. For Group I verbs, insert /a/ between the root and the suffix. So you can memorize it as /(a)nai/. Irregular verbs require different padding vowels; use /inai/ for

/suru/ and /onai/ for

/ku'ru/.

The inflection of the suffix

/nai/ is the same as that of adjectives.

Here is a table of negative forms:

Group	Plain form		Negative form
Group	Hiragana	Phonemes	Hiragana	Phonemes
Group I		/hana'su/		/hanasa'nai/
		/kiku/		/kikanai/
		/oyo'gu/		/oyoga'nai/
		/ta'tu/		/tata'nai/
		/uru/		/uranai/
		/arau/		/arawanai/
		/sinu/		/sinanai/
		/tobu/		/tobanai/
		/yo'mu/		/yoma'nai/
Group II		/mi'ru/		/mi'nai/
		/oti'ru/		/oti'nai/
		/neru/		/nenai/
		/tabe'ru/		/tabe'nai/
suru		/suru/		/sinai/
kuru		/ku'ru/		/ko'nai/

You have two ways to create a polite negative form of a verb. One way is easy to understand; since negative forms are adjectives, just create the polite form in the same way as polite adjectives.

I don't like the other way, because it uses another negative suffix. But it is more formal way, so I cannot omit it. First, create the polite form of a verb using the politeness suffix

/masu/, then add the negative suffix

/N/ with the padding vowels of /e/ to its root. It means /en/ is actually added to /mas/, which is the root of

/masu/. So what you have to do is add

/maseN/ to the verb's root in the same way as

/masu/.

For there is no past form of the negative suffix

/N/, it uses the polite copula to make it past. Add

/desita/ after

/N/.

The first way (the negation-first way) is simpler, and works well in informal situations. For formal situations, the second way (the politeness-first way) is better. The suffix

/N/ is a rare word which came to the standard Japanese from the Ôsaka dialect, while most of the vocabulary came from the Tôkyô dialect. Perhaps that is because the grammar of

/N/ is not simple.

This table shows a summary of forms of the verb

/nana'su/ (speak):

Step

Hiragana

Description


ha	na'	su

Root + present.
Past form: Go to 1.
Polite form: Go to 2.
Negative form: Go to 4.


ha	na'	si	ta

Root + past.


ha	na	si	ma'	su

Root + politeness + present.
Past form: Go to 3.
Negative form: Go to 6.


ha	na	si	ma'	si	ta

Root + politeness + past.


ha	na	sa'	na	i

Root + negation + present.
Past form: Go to 5.
Polite form: Go to 8.


ha	na	sa'	na	ka	Q	ta

Root + negation + past.
Polite form: Go to 9.


ha	na	si	ma	se'	N

Root + politeness + negation + present.
Past form: Go to 7.


ha	na	si	ma	se'	N	de	si	ta

Root + politeness + negation + past.


ha	na	sa'	na	i	de	su

Root + negation + present + politeness.


ha	na	sa'	na	ka	Q	ta	de	su

Root + negation + past + politeness.

Step 6 and 8 have the same meaning, and step 7 and 9 have the same meaning. Step 6 and 7 are created by the formal way of polite negative form (the politeness-first way), and step 8 and 9 are created by the colloquial way (the negation-first way). Colloquial doesn't mean it is the only way to be used in colloquial Japanese; in fact the formal way is used as well even in colloquial Japanese. I recommend the colloquial way simply because I think it is easier. However, the colloquial way is rarely used in written Japanese, which is often formal.

7.7.2. Negative forms of the existential verbs

The existential verb is a verb to mean something exists. In English, the verb be is existential verb, such as "There is a pen on the desk" and "The pen is on the desk".

Japanese has two existential verbs; one for animates (including human beings in this case) and one for inanimates. Animates and inanimates are explained in the counter chapter.

The existential verb for animates is

/iru/, which is a Group II verb. So its negative form is

/inai/.

The existential verb for inanimates is

/a'ru/. It is a Group I verb, so you may expect its negative form to be

/ara'nai/, but actually its negative form is never used. Instead, you have to use the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/, which has the same origin as the negative suffix.

Look at samples below:

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	i	nu'	ga	(space)	i	ru
Structure:	noun (dog)		nominative marker		verb (exist)
Meaning:	There is a dog.

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	i	nu'	ga	(space)	i	na	i
Structure:	noun (dog)		nominative marker		verb + negation (not exist)
Meaning:	There is no dog.

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ya	ma'	ga	(space)	a'	ru
Structure:	noun (mountain)		nominative marker		verb (exist)
Meaning:	There is a mountain.

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ya	ma'	ga	(space)	na'	i
Structure:	noun (mountain)		nominative marker		adjective (not exist)
Meaning:	There is no mountain.

Keep in mind that animates and inanimates use different existential verbs, and the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/ is used instead of the negative form of

/a'ru/.

The polite negative form of

/a'ru/ is

/arimase'N/, and there is no problem to use it, unlike the plain negative form. Since the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/ has the opposite meaning of the existential verb

/a'ru/, it is considered to have two polite forms. One is the colloquial

/na'idesu/, and the other is the formal

/arimase'N/.

This table shows a summary of forms of the existential verb

/a'ru/:

Step

Hiragana

Description


a'	ru

Root (existential verb) + present.
Past form: Go to 1.
Polite form: Go to 2.
Negative form: Go to 4.


a'	Q	ta

Root (existential verb) + past.


a	ri	ma'	su

Root (existential verb) + politeness + present.
Past form: Go to 3.
Negative form: Go to 6.


a	ri	ma'	si	ta

Root (existential verb) + politeness + past.


na'	i

Root (nonexistential adjective) + present.
Past form: Go to 5.
Polite form: Go to 8.


na'	ka	Q	ta

Root (nonexistential adjective) + past.
Polite form: Go to 9.


a	ri	ma	se'	N

Root (existential verb) + politeness + negation + present.
Past form: Go to 7.


a	ri	ma	se'	N	de	si	ta

Root (existential verb) + politeness + negation + past.


na'	i	de	su

Root (nonexistential adjective) + present + politeness.


na'	ka	Q	ta	de	su

Root (nonexistential adjective) + past + politeness.

7.7.3. Negative forms of the copula

You have learned the plain copula

/da/ and the polite copula

/desu/. Please remeber they are contracted words which came from the old style copula

/de a'ru/. The copula's negative forms need the old copula.

Being a combination of the postposition

/de/ and the existential verb

/a'ru/, the old copula has a negative form of a combination of the word

/de/ and the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/, i.e.

/de na'i/. Consequently it has two polite negative forms, the colloquial

/de na'idesu/ and the formal

/de arimase'N/.

Look at the table for the forms of the existential verb

/a'ru/ and add the word

/de/ before them. Please be sure that there are more popular form for the combinations of

/de/ and step 0 through 3 in the table. There is no contracted form for the negative forms of the copula.

Here is an example:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

syu'

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(Yokohama)

topic
marker

noun
(capital)

copula
(is)

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

Meaning:

Yokohama is not capital.

The negative form of the copula consists of two words, while that of a verb is one word which consists of its root and the negative suffix. That makes a slight difference. It is explained later.

7.7.4. Negative forms of adjectives

Adjectives use the nonexistential adjective for their negative forms, as the copula does. They don't use the negative suffix for verbs. First, add

/ku/ to an adjective's root, which is a suffix to accept auxiliary verbs and adjectives, then add the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/ after it.

These are examples:

Plain form		Negative form
Hiragana	Phonemes	Hiragana	Phonemes
	/yo'i/		/yo'ku na'i/
	/atu'i/		/atu'ku na'i/
	/uresi'i/		/uresi'ku na'i/
	/oisi'i/		/oisi'ku na'i/

Since these negative forms contain the nonexistential adjective, there are two polite negative forms. For example, the polite forms of

/yo'ku na'i/ are

/yo'ku na'idesu/ and

/yo'ku arimase'N/.

Look at step 4 through 9 in the table for the forms of the existential verb

/a'ru/ and add the root of an adjective with the suffix

/ku/ before them. Look at the adjective page for the affirmative forms of adjectives.

This is a sentece example:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

yo'

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(war)

topic
marker

adjective
(good)

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

Meaning:

War is not good.

7.7.5. Negated topics

Let's compare these two conversations:

1.	A: What did you say you forgot to try in Kanazawa? B: I didn't try sushi. That's a big mistake.
2.	A: I heard you tried sushi yesterday. Was it nice? B: I didn't try sushi. It's John who went to a sushi bar yesterday.
3.	A: I heard you went to a Japanese restaurant. Did you try sushi? B: No, I didn't try sushi. I had sukiyaki.

The italic letters means words that are negated. The sentence 1-B is just new information, and there are not particular word to be negated. In the 2-B, the word I is negated. You can say "Not I but John went to a sushi bar". In the 3-B, the word sushi is negated. You can say "I had not sushi but sukiyaki".

In Japanese, the sentence for 1-B and 2-B is different from that for 3-B, because Japanese has a topic marker. Put the topic marker

/wa/ after the phrase that is negated. Since the subject of a sentence is likely to have a topic marker, negating the subject often has the same structure as a sentence with no specific negated word.

This is a sentence for "I didn't eat sushi" for 1-B and "Not I (but John) ate sushi" for 2-B:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

su'

(space)

be'

Structure:

noun
(I)

topic
marker

noun
(sushi)

accusative
marker

verb + negation
(didn't eat)

And this is a sentece for "I ate not sushi (but sukiyaki)" for 3-B:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

su'

(space)

be'

Structure:

noun
(I)

topic
marker

noun
(sushi)

topic
marker

verb + negation
(didn't eat)

In the first sentence, the subject may or may not be negated. You cannot tell which is right without knowing context, because a subject often has a topic marker even if it is not negated.

On the other hand, the object

/su'si/ is clearly negated in the second sentence, because it should be the first word in the sentence if it is an ordinary topic. So it should be a negated word. As you see, both the subject and the object have the same postposition, so it might be confusing if you don't know the meaning of the words. If two words have the same postposition, a subject is likely to appear before an object.

When you use a copula, the word that combines with the copula is a negated word. As I explained, the negative forms of the copula is actually a combination of the word

/de/ and the nonexistential adjective

/na'i/, so you can and should insert a topic marker between them.

Let's look at these examples:

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ri	N	go	wa	(space)	ku	da'	mo	no	da
Structure:	noun (apple)			topic marker		noun (fruit)				copula (is)
Meaning:	Apples are fruits.

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

de'

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(apple)

topic
marker

noun
(vegitable)

copula
(is)

topic
marker

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

Meaning:

Apples are not vegitables.

You can say the second sentence without using the topic marker for negation, such as

/yasaide na'i/, but inserting a topic marker is much more common.

In colloquial Japanese, the combination of

/de/ and

/wa/ is often contracted to

/zya/. The second sentence shown above would be like this:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

(space)

zya

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(apple)

topic
marker

noun
(vegitable)

copula +
topic
marker
(is)

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

The insertion of the topic marker can also occur for the negative forms of adjectives, but it is not as often as the copula. The following sentences have the same meaning, but the second one has an inserted topic marker for negation:

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

mi'

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(orange)

topic
marker

adjective
(blue)

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

Hiragana:

Phonemes:

mi'

(space)

na'

Structure:

noun
(orange)

topic
marker

adjective
(blue)

topic
marker

auxiliary
adjective
(not)

Both of the sentences mean "Oranges are not blue", but the second one is used to negate the word blue, such as "Oranges are not blue (but reddish yellow)". The first one simply denies the idea that oranges are blue.

Since the negative form of a verb is not a combinations of two words but a combinations of the root and the negative suffix, you cannot insert a topic marker between them. Japanese has a way to insert it between them, but you have to learn infinitives to do it.

Go to the previous page
Go to the next page
Return to the index