Negative Verbs

posted by tae kim

Now that we've seen how to declare things and perform actions with verbs, we want to be able to
say the negative. In other words, we want to say that such-and-such action was not performed. This
is done by conjugating the verb to the negative form just like the state-of-being for nouns and
adjectives. However, the rules are a tad more complicated.
Conjugating verbs into the negative
We will now make use of the verb classifications we learned in the last section to define the rules for
conjugation. But before we get into that, we need to cover one very important exception to the
negative conjugation rules: 「ある」.
 ある (u-verb) - to exist (inanimate)
 いる (ru-verb) - to exist (animate)
「ある」 is an u-verb used to express existence of inanimate objects. The equivalent verb for
animate objects (such as people or animals) is 「いる」, which is a normal ru-verb. For example, if
you wanted to say that a chair is in the room, you would use the verb 「ある」, but if you wanted to
say that a person is in the room, you must use the verb 「いる」 instead. These two verbs 「ある」
and 「いる」 are quite different from all other verbs because they describe existence and are not
actual actions. You also need to be careful to choose the correct one based on animate or inanimate
objects.
Anyway, the reason I bring it up here is because the negative of 「ある」 is 「ない」 (meaning that
something does not exist). The conjugation rules for all other verbs are listed below as well as a list
of example verbs and their negative forms.
※ = exceptions particular to this conjugation

Conjugation rules for negative verbs

1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat
2. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) - to buy
3. 待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) - to wait
4. する (exception) - to do
5. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) - to come
1. For ru-verbs: Drop the 「る」 and attach 「ない」
Example: 食べる + ない = 食べない
2. ※For u-verbs that end in 「う」: Replace 「う」 with 「わ」 and attach 「な
い」
Example: 買う + わ + ない = 買わない
 3. For all other u-verbs: Replace the u-vowel sound with the a-vowel equivalent and
attach 「ない」
Example: 待つ + た = 待たない
4. Exceptions:
1. する → しない
2. くる → こない
3. ※ある → ない

1. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) - to see

2. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) - to sleep
3. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) - to wake; to occur
4. 考える 【かんが・える】 (ru-verb) - to think
5. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) - to teach; to inform
6. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) - to come out
7. 着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) - to wear
8. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) - to speak
9. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) - to ask; to listen
10. 泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) - to swim
11. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) - to play
12. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) - to drink
13. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) - to go home
14. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) - to die

ru-verb u-verb exception

見る →　見ない 話す →　話さない する →　しない
食べる →　食べない 聞く →　聞かない くる → こない
寝る →　寝ない 泳ぐ →　泳がない ※ある → ない
起きる →　起きない 遊ぶ →　遊ばない
考える →　考えない 待つ →　待たない
教える →　教えない 飲む →　飲まない
出る →　出ない ※買う →　買わない
着る →　着ない 帰る →　帰らない
いる →　いない 死ぬ →　死なない
Negative form conjugation examples
Examples
Here are the example sentences from the last section conjugated to the negative form.
1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) - to eat
2. 来る 【く・る】 (exception verb) - to come
3. する (exception verb) - to do
4. お金 【お・かね】 - money
5. ある (u-verb) - to exist (inanimate)
6. 私 【わたし】 - me, myself, I
7. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) - to buy
8. 猫 【ねこ】 - cat
9. いる (ru-verb) - to exist (animate)
1. アリスは食べない。
As for Alice, does not eat.
2. ジムが遊ばない。
Jim is the one that does not play.
3. ボブもしない。
Bob also does not do.
4. お金がない。
There is no money. (lit: Money is the thing that does not exist.)
5. 私は買わない。
As for me, not buy.
6. 猫はいない。
There is no cat. (lit: As for cat, does not exist.)

Home » Japanese Grammar Guide » Basic Grammar » Negative Verbs

Negative Verb Practice Exercises

posted by tae kim

Vocabulary used in this section

This is the same list of verbs from the previous practice exercise. We will use the same verbs from
the last exercise to practice conjugating to the negative.

Kanji
I have listed the kanji you will need for the vocabulary for your convenience. The link will take you to
a diagram of the stroke order.
However, it doesn't clearly show the direction (though you can kind of tell by the animation) so you
should check with a kanji dictionary if you're not sure.
I recommend practicing the kanji in the context of real words (such as the ones below).
1. 見 - see
 2. 来 - come; next
3. 行 - go; conduct
4. 帰 - go home
5. 食 - eat; food
6. 飲 - drink
7. 買 - buy
8. 売 - sell
9. 持 - hold
10. 待 - wait
11. 読 - read
12. 歩 - walk
13. 走 - run
14. 遊 - play

Vocabulary

Here is a list of some common verbs you will definitely want to learn at some point.
1. する - to do
2. しゃべる - to talk; to chat
3. 見る【みる】 - to see
4. 来る【くる】 - to come
5. 行く【いく】 - to go
6. 帰る 【かえる】 - to go home
7. 食べる 【たべる】 - to eat
8. 飲む 【のむ】 - to drink
9. 買う 【かう】 - to buy
10. 売る 【うる】 - to sell
11. 切る 【きる】 - to cut
12. 入る 【はいる】 - to enter
13. 出る 【でる】 - to come out
14. 持つ 【もつ】 - to hold
15. 待つ 【まつ】 - to wait
16. 書く【かく】 - to write
17. 読む 【よむ】 - to read
18. 歩く 【あるく】 - to walk
19. 走る 【はしる】 - to run
20. 遊ぶ 【あそぶ】 - to play
Practice with Negative Verb Conjugations
We learned how to classify the following verbs in the previous practice exercise. Now, we are going
to put that knowledge to use by conjugating the same verbs into the negative depending on which
type of verb it is. The first answer has been given as an example.

verb negative
行く 行かない
出る 出ない
する しない
買う 買わない
売る 売らない
食べる 食べない
入る 入らない
来る こない
飲む 飲まない
しゃべる しゃべらない
見る 見ない
切る 切らない
帰る 帰らない
書く 書かない
Toggle answers