FORMING NEGATIVE VERB TENSES

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Also Read: The Basics: Forming Japanese Sentences | Writing Japanese Verbs |

In order to learn 'verb conjugation' in Japanese, it is also good to know how a Japanese sentence is structured. In this lesson we will explain about both.

Common to both English and Japanese sentences are a subject, verb, and an object.

In Japanese, however, the order of these is different than an English sentence. In English, the order is:

subject, verb, object,

whereas in Japanese, it is:

subject, object verb.

In Japanese, the verb is written at the end of the sentence.

Look at this example simple sentence.

English - I drink wine.
Japanese - I wine drink - wastashi wa wain o nomu

Meaning: wastashi wa -I, wain - wine, nomu - drink
o is particle wo, usually just written as o. Particles follow nouns/pronouns in Japanese writing and are used to define the noun's meaning in a sentence.

Although it appears odd, this is how a sentence is written in Japanese; with the subject at the beginning and the verb at the end.

Also, there are 'formal' and 'informal' verb tenses in Japanese writing. Additionally, the verbs can be informal 'present tense' and, informal 'present tense negative'.
Informal is used when speaking with someone you know, whereas, formal is used in a formal setting, like when meeting someone for the first time.

For this verb lesson, we will learn about conjugating informal verbs to 'negative form for present and past' tenses, and view example sentences with them.

Conjugation Rules For 'Present Tense Negative Verbs'

Changing Japanese Present Tense Verbs to Negative Form:

To change a present tense verb to the negative form:

Change the ending letter or letters as shown;

verb that ends with 'u',

remove the 'u', and use - anai

Example verb: kiku becomes kikanai

IF, the verb ends with a 'vowel + u',

remove the 'u', and use - wanai

Example verb: au becomes awanai.

verb that ends with 'ru',

remove the 'ru', and use - nai

Example verb: miru becomes minai

Changing Present Tense Negative Verb to Past Tense Negative Form:

To change a present tense negative form to past negative form:

Change the ending letter or letters as shown;

Remove the 'nai', and use 'nakatta'.
Example verb: konai becomes konakatta

SIMPLE SENTENCES WITH NEGATIVE VERB FORMS - INFORMAL

Verb: to walk
Present tense aruku Present tense negative: arukanai

Example Sentence with verb arukanai in Japanese:

English Present Tense: I am walking,
Japanese Present Tense: Watashi wa aruku,
Japanese Present Tense Negative: I am not walking - Watashi wa arukanai

Past Tense Negative :

English - I did not walk yesterday

Japanese:
Yesterday I did not walk - Kino wa watashi o arukanakatta

As you can see from our examples, verbs are written at the end of the sentence in Japanese. As well, the Sentence Topic is followed by a 'particle' like 'wa'. Wa is used to identify the 'topic/subject' in a sentence. For this sentence, I (watashi) is the topic, therefore it is followed by the particle 'wa'.

For the past tense negative sentence, the topic is kino (yesterday), therefore it is followed by the particle wa. For our verb, we used the 'past tense negative' form - arukanakatta.

In Japanese verbs are important in defining the sentence meaning. Using the wrong verb tense can change the sentence meaning. When first learning Japanese verbs, you can learn the present tense informal; the past tense informal, and the negative form for present and past tenses.

To learn about 'past tense informal' verbs in Japanese writing with example sentences:
gohere

Verb: to write
Present tense kaku Present tense negative: kakanai

Example Sentence with verb kakanai:

English Present Tense: I write
Japanese Present Tense: Watashi wa kaku
Japanese Present Tense Negative Form: I do not write - Watashi wa kakanai.

Past Tense Negative Form:

English: I did not write

In Japanese: Watashi wa kakanakatta.

For the negative form of the present tense verb kaku, we remove the u from kaku and added anai. Then to change the verb to past tense negative form, we remove the anai and add nakatta.

Verb: to teach
Present tense oshieru Present tense negative: oshienai

Example Sentence with verb oshienai:

English Present Tense: I teach
Japanese Present Tense: Watashi wa oshieru
Japanese Present Tense Negative Form: I do not teach - Watashi wa oshienai

Past Tense Negative Form:

English: I did not teach

In Japanese: Watashi wa oshienakatta

For the negative form of the present tense verb oshieru, we remove the ru, and add nai. Then to change it to past tense negative form, we remove the nai, and add nakatta.

ALSO READ: Learn How To Use Japanese particles in Japanese Writing

For additional reading on 'Understanding Japanese ' read our article - The Basics: Speaking and Writing in Japanese

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