[headerLesson]Conjugating Adjectives and Nouns[/headerLesson] We
arrive at our last lesson relating to Japanese adjectives and while
in the next lesson we will be learning more about them and
certainly will be including new information about adjectives as we
progress with more difficult lessons, conjugating is a good way to
wrap up adjectives.
[headerLesson]How to say "Not Something" in Japanese[/headerLesson]
It’s great that we can state that something is something but what
if that something isn’t something? Let’s take an い adjective and
append くない to say “not ____”.
[tab][/tab]あか ⇒ Red
[tab][/tab]あか[hl]くない[/hl] ⇒ Not Red
We added くない to modify the い adjective. This works very well, try
it with other い adjectives. Of course, the root word is あか and not
あかい therefor we must observe the correct root word and understand
when to remove い if necessary.
[tab][/tab]1) [b]Black[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Not Black[/b] =
__________
[tab][/tab]2) [b]Tall[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Not Tall[/b] =
__________
[tab][/tab]3) [b]Hot[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Not Hot[/b] =
__________
[tab][/tab]4) [b]Old (ふるい)[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Not Old[/b] =
__________ [ NEW WORD!]*
[i]* ふるい is a な adjective and is properly written as 古い.[/i]
If we wanted to do the same, but conjugate it for the past tense,
then instead of using くない we would instead use かった (katta, small つ.
The small っ extends the following syllable). Let’s give it a
try.
[tab][/tab]1) [b]White[/b] = しろい ⇒ [b]Was not[/b] しろかった
[tab][/tab]2) [b]Short[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Was not short[/b] =
____________________
[tab][/tab]3) [b]Cold (さむい)[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Was not cold[/b]
= ____________________ [ NEW WORD! ]
[tab][/tab]4) [b]Young (わかい)[/b] = __________ ⇒ [b]Was not
young[/b] = ____________________ [ NEW WORD! ]
Please keep in mind that saying something is not, is not the same
as using the antonym. For instance, saying someone is not young and
someone is old might have a different connotation depending on its
usage, but they can both be used depending on how you speak or
write. Saying something is not hot may imply that it’s not warm,
but saying that something is cold gives the listener the impression
that you are affirmative with your opinion. Likewise, you cannot
say that your water is さむい because the concept of hot and cold is a
little different in Japanese. In fact, the concept of hot and cold
used in different expressions is entirely different and we will
learn more about them in this homework assignment.
[headerLesson]Negative な Adjectives[/headerLesson] な adjectives are
not true adjectives but can be used as one. な adjectives are a type
of noun and as such we need to treat it differently than い (true)
adjectives. To conjugate な adjectives into the negative present
tense (is not), add じゃない。
[tab][/tab]1) [b]Healthy[/b] = げんき ⇒ [b]Not Healthy[/b] =
げんきじゃない
[tab][/tab]2) [b]Dangerous[/b] = きけん ⇒ Not Dangerous[/b] =
__________
[tab][/tab]3) [b]Terrible[/b] = たいへん ⇒ Not Terrible[/b] =
__________
[tab][/tab]4) [b]Polite[/b] = ていねい ⇒ Not Polite[/b] __________
[u]Negative な Adjectives (Past)[/u] To make a negative adjective in
past form, simply add かった after じゃな。
[tab][/tab][b]Example:[/b] きれいじゃなかった。 ⇒ Was not pretty.
Notice that we had to also conjugate [hl]じゃない[/hl] to [hl]じゃな[/hl]
to make this work. Using the following examples, conjugate each to
negative-past.
[tab][/tab]1) [b]Wonderful / enviable[/b] = けっこう ⇒ [b]Was not
wonderful[/b] = ____________________
[tab][/tab]2) [b]Useful[/b] = べんり ⇒ [b]Was not useful[/b] =
____________________
[tab][/tab]3) [b]Important / precious[/b] = たいせつ ⇒ [b]as not
important / precious[/b] =____________________
[tab][/tab]4) [b]Special[/b] = とくべつ ⇒ [b]Was not special[/b] =
____________________
[headerLesson]くない vs じゃない vs じゃありません[/headerLesson] Let’s talk
about くない vs じゃない and じゃありません because this is very important.
じゃないcan be used on its own in every day Japanese. If someone will
ask you if something is or isn’t something, you may just say じゃ or
じゃない as a reply. じゃありませんisn’t used in most conversational Japanese,
it is too formal and over the top polite. Instead, use じゃない if you
are with friends or じゃないです with anyone else to add politeness.
Simply put, your professor might require you to use ありません but this
is rarely used.
Keep in mind that there is a rule to using じゃない; you may only use
it with nouns / な adjectives and cannot use it with い
adjectives.
Unlike じゃない, you cannot use くない on its own. くない has one purpose and
that’s to make い adjectives negative. Red = あかい but Not Red =
あかくない. In a later lesson we will learn how to combine it with ~たい
verbs as well.
[u]きらいじゃないです。[/u]
This phrase is a great combination of both きらい (hate) and じゃない and
simply means “I don’t dislike / hate” and can be used to politely
say you don’t like something but also don’t hate it either. If you
profess your love in Japanese and that person replies with
きらいじゃないです it would mean that the person politely rejected you. If
that person says すきじゃないです it is very blunt and straight to the
point, there’s no room for any kindness, that person simply
dislikes you to the point of being rude.
Please keep in mind that the topic doesn’t need to be of a person
but anything such as if someone is asking you if you like the food,
or video game, a movie, or anything else.
[headerLesson]Conjugating Japanese Nouns[/headerLesson] Because な
adjectives are actually a type of noun, we can expand this concept
a little bit further by realizing that we can pair a noun with じゃない
to make a valid sentence. For example, let’s combine わたしwith じゃない
to make わたしじゃない which means “not me”. If someone asks if you’ve
done something, you could say わたしじゃない 。
If you like something you would say すきです。 But if you don’t like
something you could say すきじゃないです。We’ve previously used a more
polite form in this lesson to say this depending on the context;
hopefully you remember what it was.
We can use じゃない with all sorts of nouns such as animals.
[tab][/tab][b]It is a dog:[/b] いぬです
[tab][/tab][b]Not a dog:[/b] いぬじゃない。
[tab][/tab][b]No, it is not a dog:[/b] いいえ、いぬじゃないです。
[u]Now it is your turn, try making your own:[/u]
[tab][/tab][b]It is a [Noun]:[/b] ___________________________
[tab][/tab][b]Not a [Noun]:[/b] ___________________________
[tab][/tab][b]No, it is not a [Noun]:[/b]
___________________________
[headerLesson]Homework Assignment[/headerLesson] Congratulations,
you’re on your way to mastering Japanese! While textbook Japanese
is much more different than conversational Japanese, your first
steps here have been leaps beyond others whom have spent a
significant more time studying. Pat yourself on the back for
another fantastic day of studying and when you are ready, you may
proceed to the homework assignment.