Just in case you didn't get enough the first time
More negative verbs
We already learned the most common type of negative verbs; the ones that end in 「ない」. However, there are couple more
different types of negatives verbs. The ones you will find most useful are the first two, which expresses an action that was done without having done
another action. The others are fairly obscure or useful only for very casual expressions. However, you will run into them if you learn Japanese for
a fair amount of time.
Doing something without doing something else
Way back when, we learned how to express a sequence of actions and this worked fine for both positive and negative verbs.
For instance, the sentence "I didn't eat, and then I went to sleep" would become 「。」 However, this sentence sounds a bit strange because eating
doesn't have much to do with sleeping. What we probably really want to say is that we went to sleep without eating. To express this, we need to use
a more generalized form of the negative request we covered at the very end of the giving and receiving lesson.
In other words, instead of substituting the last 「い」 with 「くて」, we need only append 「で」 instead.
Doing something without doing something else
- To indicate an action that was done without doing another action, add 「で」 to the negative of the action that was not done.
- 例） → → で
Examples
（１） で。
- Went to sleep without eating anything.
（２） をで、に。
- Went to school without brushing teeth (by accident).
（３） をで、にのは、がよ。
- It's better to stop going to class without doing homework.
（４） とで、をは。
- You cannot take this class without consulting with teacher.
Hopefully not too difficult. Another way to express the exact same thing is to replace the last 「ない」 part with 「ず」.
However, the two exception verbs 「」 and
「」 become 「」 and
「」 respectively. It is also common to see this grammar combined with the target 「に」 particle.
This version is more formal than 「ないで」 and is not used as much in regular conversations.
Doing something without doing something else
- Another way to indicate an action that was done without doing another action is to replace the 「ない」 part of the negative action that was not done with 「ず」.
例） → →
例） → →
- The two exception verbs 「」 and 「」 become 「」 and 「」 respectively.
例外1） →
例外2） →
Examples
（１） は、しまった。
- He went home without saying anything.
（２） ににをとよ。
- Obviously, you're going to get drunk if you drink that much without eating anything.
（３） ににとな。
- I don't think you can get in Tokyo University without studying.
A casual masculine type of negative that ends in 「ん」
Finally, we cover another type of negative that is used mostly by older men. Since 「ない」 is so long and difficult to say (sarcasm), you can
shorten it to just 「ん」. However, you can't directly modify other words in this form; in other words, you can't make it a modifying subordinate clause.
In the same manner as before, 「」 becomes 「」 and
「」 becomes 「」
though I've never heard or seen 「」 actually being used.
If you have ever heard ｢」 and wondered what that meant, it's actually
an example of this grammar. Notice that 「」 is actually in polite negative form. Well,
the plain form would be 「」, right? That further transforms
to just 「」. The word brings up an image of
but that may be just me. Anyway, it's a male expression.
A shorter way to say negative verbs
- A shorter way to say a negative verb is to use 「ん」 instead of 「ない」.
例） → →
- The two exception verbs 「」 and 「」 become 「」 and 「」 respectively.
例外1） →
例外2） →
Examples
（１） 。
- Sorry.
（２） とはならん！
- You must marry a Korean!
（３） は！
- I won't let you do such a thing!
You can even use this slang for past tense verbs by adding 「かった」.
（４） 、って、よ。
- I didn't know everybody was going today.
A classical negative verb that ends in 「ぬ」
There is yet another version of the negative verb conjugation and it uses 「ぬ」 instead of the 「ない」 that attaches to the end of the verb.
While this version of the negative conjugation is old-fashioned and part of classical Japanese, you will still encounter it occasionally.
In fact, I just saw this conjugation on a sign at the train station today, so it's not too uncommon.
For any verb, you can replace 「ない」 with 「ぬ」 to get to an old-fashion sounding version of the negative.
Similar to the last section, 「」 becomes 「」 and 「」
becomes 「」. You may hear this grammar being used from older people or your friends if they want to bring back ye olde days.
An old-fashioned way to say negative verbs
- An old-fashioned way to say a negative verb is to use 「ぬ」 instead of 「ない」.
例） → →
- The two exception verbs 「」 and 「くる」 become 「」 and 「」 respectively.
例外1） →
例外2） →
Examples
（１） とはならぬ！
- You must not marry a Korean!
（２） にも、にみたらが。
- After having failed mock examination any number of times, a result I wouldn't have thought came out when I actually tried taking the test.
This page has last been revised on 2005/2/24