Lesson 10: Negative Japanese Sentences

Objective: Learn to read and write negative Japanese sentences.

Key Words

  • じゃありません = negative sentence marker (i.e., isn't)

    [ja arimasen]

Grammar

In a negative sentence, じゃありません replaces the usual sentence marker です. However, with adjectives that end in い, like おもしろい or　たのしい, the じゃ is omitted and the adjective's い-ending　is replaced with a く-ending before ありません follows without the addition of じゃ.

New Vocabulary

Japanese Nouns

えいが = movie

[eiga]

りょうり = dish (of food)

[ryoori]

うた = song

[uta]

しゃしん = photograph

[shashin]

Japanese Adjectives

おいしい = delicious

[oishii]

こわい = scary

[kowai]

すばらしい = great; super

[subarashii]

ハンサム = handsome

[hansamu]

Examples

  • あれはいぬじゃありません。 = That (over there) is not a dog.

    [are wa inu ja arimasen]

  • このえいがはおもしろくありません。 = This movie is not interesting.

    [kono eiga wa omoshiroku arimasen]

Translation Practice

Write the following sentences in Japanese using hiragana/katakana.

  1. My dish is not delicious. Your dish is delicious.
  2. He is not very clever. Is he American?
  3. This movie is not scary.
  4. Our song is great. Her song is not beautiful.
  5. They are incorrect. We are correct.

Translate the following Japanese sentences to English.

  1. このしゃしんはすばらしいです。そのしゃしんはすばらしくありません。
  2. ごめんなさい、あなたはただしくありません。
  3. それはわたしのふねじゃありません。わたしのふねはふるいです。
  4. かれらはがくせいじゃありません。
  5. わたしはカナダじんじゃありません。わたしはアメリカじんです。

Review

Write the following sentences using hiragana/katakana.

  1. Are your students clever? Yes, my students are very clever.
  2. Am I correct? Is that your photograph? You are very handsome.
  3. Thank you. This book is great.
  4. A: Are you Scottish? B: I am Irish.
  5. We are sleepy. Is that our house?
  6. A: What is that over there? Is it a person? B: No, that (over there) is not a person. That over there is a bird.
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