LESSON NOTES

Learn Japanese Grammar Video Absolute Beginner S1 #11

Negative Forms of Adjectives in
Japanese

CONTENTS
2
2
2
2
2
3
3

Kanji
Kana
Romanization
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Grammar

11

COPYRIGHT 2012 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

KANJI
1.

2.

KANA
1.

2.

ROMANIZATION
1.

Atarashiku nai.

2.

Genkijanai.

ENGLISH
1.

It's not new.

2.

I'm not so good.

VOCABULARY
Kanji

Kana

R omaji

English

chikai

near, close;Adj(i)

JAPANESEPOD101.COM

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #11 - NEGATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

ti

far, distant; i-Adj

()

()

hansamu(na)

handsome; na-Adj

atsui

hot; Adj (na)

samui

cold

kirei

beautiful;Adj(na)

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Koko kara eki wa chikai desu ka.

Byin wa koko kara tooi desu ka.

Is the train station close from here?

Is the hospital far from here?

Kanojo wa hansamu na hito ga suki desu.

Ky wa atsui desu.

She likes handsome guys.

It's hot today.

Arasuka wa totemo samui desu.

Kono iyaringu wa kirei desu.

Alaska is very cold.

These earrings are beautiful.

GRAMMAR
T he Focus of T his Le sson Is Ne gat ive Forms of Adje ct ive s in Japane se

Ne gat ive Forms of i-Adje ct ive s

To make an i-adjective negative, remove the last -i () and replace it with -kunai ().
In informal Japanese, you don't need the copula.

For Example :

JAPANESEPOD101.COM

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #11 - NEGATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

Adje ct ive

"English"

Ne gat ive Form

"English"

atsui
()

"hot"

atsuku nai
()

"not hot"

samui
()

"cold"

samuku nai
()

"not cold"

chikai
()

"close"

chikaku nai
()

"not close"

t i
()

"far"

t ku nai
()

"not far"

For Example :
1.

Amari, kiku nai ne.

"It's not that big, is it."

2.

Atarashiku nai. Furui.

"It's not new. It's old."

You can use the word amari () along with an adjective in the negative form to soften
your statement a little. It's similar to adding the word "really" or "very" to a negative
phrase in English, as in "It's not really/very far," which sounds less assertive than "It's not
far."
For Example :
1.

T ku nai. "It's not far." (sounds more assertive)

2.

Amari t ku nai.
"It's not really far." (sounds a bit softer, less assertive)

Polit e Form: To make the negative form polite, simple add desu after -kunai or replace nai
with arimasen.
Ne gat ive Forms of Na Adje ct ive s and Nouns

JAPANESEPOD101.COM

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #11 - NEGATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

To create the negative form of na adjectives and nouns, we simply add the negative
copula janai () after it.
[Na adje ct ive + janai]
[Noun + janai]
Let's look at some different examples using common na adjectives.

Na Adje ct ive

"English"

Ne gat ive Form

"English"

kirei
()

"clean"/"beautiful"

kirei janai
()

"not clean"/
"not beautiful"

genki
()

"energetic," "fine"

genki janai
()

"not energetic"

hansamu ()

"handsome"

hansamu janai
()

"not handsome"

taihen
()

"tough"

taihen janai
()

"not tough"

kantan
()

"simple"

kantan janai
()

"not simple"

Let's look at some different examples using nouns.

Noun

"English"

Ne gat ive Form

"English"

nihonjin
()

"Japanese"

nihonjin janai
()

"not Japanese"

gakusei
()

"student"

gakusei janai
()

"not a student"

sensei
()

"teacher"

sensei janai
()

"not a teacher"

mizu
()

"water"

mizu janai
()

"not water"

JAPANESEPOD101.COM

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #11 - NEGATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

Polit e Form: To make the negative form polite, you simply add desu after janai. We saw
this in the dialogue when Kent switched from casual Japanese to polite Japanese by
changing hansamu janai to hansamu janai desu ("I'm not handsome").

For Example :
1.

Kanji wa kantan janai.

"Kanji is not easy."

2.

Kyo, sensei wa genki janai.

"The teacher isn't feeling well today."

3.

Kore wa mizu janai. Saida da.

"This isn't water. It's cider."

JAPANESEPOD101.COM

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #11 - NEGATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE