Negative Verb - Japanese

Japanese

See also: Japanese verb conjugations#Negative

The basic pattern is u becomes anai.

Type Negative Examples Negative
Irregular verbs
suru shinai benkyō suru benkyō shinai
kuru konai
aru nai
da de wa nai
ja nai
masu stem masen ikimasu (go, polite) ikimasen
Regular verbs
u wanai tsukau (use) tsukawanai
ku kanai yaku (burn) yakanai
gu ganai oyogu (swim) oyoganai
su sanai hanasu (speak) hanasanai
tsu tanai matsu (wait) matanai
nu nanai shinu (die) shinanai
bu banai yobu (call) yobanai
mu manai yomu (read) yomanai
ru (consonant stem) ranai hashiru (run) hashiranai
iru, eru (vowel stem) inai, enai kaeru (change) kaenai
Adjectives
i adjectives ku nai itai (painful) itaku nai
na adjectives de wa nai
ja nai		 kantan da kantan de wa nai
kantan ja nai
  • The nai ending conjugates in two ways.
    1. As an i adjective. For example the past tense of tabenai is tabenakatta and the te form is tabenakute.
    2. There is a special te form made by adding de. For example, tabenaide. This is used, for example, in tabenaide kudasai: "Please don't eat (this)".

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