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植野：ちょっとからかってた的な…ことはあったかも
将也：まあ一応。僕もやめとけとは言ったんですけどね。聞かなかったし
石田：お前も一緒にやってたじゃん！女子なんてすげぇ悪口言ってたでしょ。ねえ！特に(植野)と(川井)が
川井：ひどい…。私そんなことしないよ。どうして…。石田くんひどいよ

Everyone's putting the blame on 石田 for bullying.

I would expect maybe しなかった to mean "No, I didn't do that". What does しない mean here? To me this seems like it would mean "I'm not going to do such things (making fun/teasing, etc.)" but that makes little sense to me, as they're talking about something that happened.

Is there something to しない that implies the past?

Chocolate
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firuvi
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1 Answers1

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Why is しない used for a past event?

This works in English as well in the present tense:

A: Didn't you do [something awful]?
B: No, I don't do that kind of thing.

私　そんなことしないよ。

In the sample text, as I read it, Kawai-san isn't saying that they didn't do XYZ, as a specific instance (i.e., "I didn't do that [at that time, that we're talking about now]") -- instead, they're saying that they don't do XYZ, as a general rule (i.e., "I never do that [at any time, ever]").

Is there something to しない that implies the past?

No. Not grammatically, and not here. In the context of the dialog, there's nothing "past" about the しない in what Kawai-san is saying.

Chocolate
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Eiríkr Útlendi
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    I think I would use the present tense here even if I'm talking about a specific instance. してないよ is more likely than しないよ, though. – aguijonazo Jul 28 '22 at 20:55
  • @aguijonazo, re: しないよ, ya, I think that's why I hear that as "I just don't do that kind of thing", talking about what one does or doesn't do as a matter of character and common practice. – Eiríkr Útlendi Jul 28 '22 at 23:58
  • @aguijonazo: FWIW, してないよ parses out in my head more like "I haven't done it", still referring to an event in the past even if it's not strictly the 過去形 in the Japanese. Do you have a different sense here? – Eiríkr Útlendi Jul 29 '22 at 00:07