否定. Questions regarding the various words, particles, inflections, and constructions employed to negate a word or sentence from its positive form.
Questions tagged [negation]
221 questions
73
votes
4 answers
Is じゃないです equally correct as じゃありません?
Text books normally teach that the negative of です is じゃありません.
However it seems very common to hear native Japanese use じゃないです.
Is this slang or somehow less correct than じゃありません?
Would it be marked as incorrect in a JLPT exam?
If they are both…
Niall Murphy
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72
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7 answers
What is the difference between the negative forms -ず and -ぬ?
-ず and -ぬ are two alternatives to the negative form -ない / -ません. But I noticed that depending on the word, it's either -ず or -ぬ, although it seems like some words can take both suffixes. Some examples I have encountered:
-ず
知らず (lyric in song "タッチ"…
Lukman
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41
votes
6 answers
Does -ou / -you / -mashou conjugation have a negative form?
Does the -ou / -you / -mashou (the "let's X") form have a negative counterpart? For example, how do I say "let's not X" for the following?:
行こう
食べよう
寝ましょう
As far as I can remember, the Japanese courses I took in college did not teach me the…
Lukman
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35
votes
1 answer
Why is the topic marker often used in negative statements (ではない, ～とは思わない)?
What function does は provide in statements such as 本ではない or 本だとは思わない? I notice the は after と is often left out, at least if a Google search for 思わない is any indication, but there still seems to be a general trend of sticking は into negatives where I…
Kef Schecter
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33
votes
3 answers
The reason for using 何も+negative, but 何でも+positive
In one of the Japanese classes I attended, I've been taught that while we use 「何も出来ない」to say "He cannot do anything", to say "He can do anything" we use 「何でも出来る」 instead of 「何も出来る」.
Why is there a grammar rule that says 「何も」 is used before negative…
Lukman
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27
votes
2 answers
Why is it なさそう and not なそう
"It seems there is none" is なさそう, which escapes the usual rule for 形容詞 (イ-adjectives), which says "drop the い and add そう".
Is there a historical explanation for this exception? And does it have anything to do with なさいません?
Earthliŋ
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27
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1 answer
ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs
Can you use 〜なくて instead of 〜ないで in the following sentence without changing the meaning?
病気になると、一切化学薬品や抗生物質を使わないで、鍼や指圧や漢方薬で直します。風邪の時は何もしないで暖かくして、寝ているだけです。
In general, what's the difference between 〜ないで and 〜なくて?
Ross
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22
votes
4 answers
The reality of answering いいえ to a negative question
tl;dr: when answering a negative question, can いいえ be used to affirm what the question states as a whole?
I came to Japan at the age of six, and I guess I pass as a normal native speaker of Japanese to most people (aside from some personal quirks…
ento
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16
votes
3 answers
About the な part in negative imperative verb form (e.g. 飲むな)
In the Japanese version of "don't drink and drive" slogan, 【乗るなら飲むな】 (also 【飲んだら乗るな】), what part of speech is the な that follows the plain verb 飲む (or 乗る in the second variation) to form the negative imperative verb form?
At first I thought it was…
Lukman
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15
votes
5 answers
How would a fluent speaker understand ありがとうございません?
How could that forced negation of a common phrase be interpreted?
This came up as just a part of some free exploration of linguistics, and my friends and I were pondering if it could perhaps be understood as something akin to the English phrase…
JoonasD6
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15
votes
2 answers
Is verb ending ない shortened to ん?
Off the top of my head I remember hearing these sentences, which I assume are just shortenings:
すみません, 分からん
絶対許さん!
Along with these two I've seen in sentence examples:
もう我慢できん
彼にはその文の意味が理解できんかった - this one is a little funky, since there is no…
Daniel Safari
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15
votes
4 answers
To not have: 持っていません or ありません？
Whenever I go to the Life supermarket near my house, they ask me at the check out:
ライフカードを持っていますか？ (Do you have a Life
[members] card?)
I always respond with something like:
いいえ、持っていません。
持っていません (motteimasenn) means I don't have it, but I…
Questioner
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14
votes
1 answer
Difference between ~なきゃ and ~なくちゃ
I know that one of them is なくてはいけません and the other one なければなりません, I just don't know which is which, also a few example sentences would help a lot, thank you.
Raido
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13
votes
4 answers
In what way is the negative form of a verb an adjective?
I was reading the wikipedia page on "predicate," where it mentioned that in Japanese, the negative form of a verb is an adjective. I thought that this was too expansive a statement to be true, but what does the writer mean? Does the writer mean…
yadokari
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13
votes
3 answers
Omission of く in negative form of い-adjective
I learnt that the negative form of い-adjective is: remove the trailing い, then add くない. Example: 赤い→赤くない
However, I've been watching Japanese livestream and following her twitter. Sometimes, she omit the く in negative form of い-adjective. Example:…
Andrew T.
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