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June 28, 2021

JLPT N5 Grammar: Adjectives: Negative and Past

Negative and Past


 ABOUT: 

Making the negative for verbs and adjectives is fairly easy in Japanese.

-na Adjectives: The adjective stays the same. Simply negate the verb. For です or だ, the negative is じゃない (or the more polite ではありません or ではない).

元気(げんき)です。 (I'm) fine.
元気(げんき)ではありません。 (I'm) not well
[Or the less formal: 元気(げんき)ではない or 元気(げんき)じゃない]

()きです。 (I) like.
()ではありません。 (I) do not like.
[Or the less formal: ()ではない or ()じゃない]




To make the past negative of a な adjective, simply drop the な and make the verb past negative:

元気(げんき)ではありませんでした。 (I) was not well
()ではありませんでした。 (I) did not like.

-i Adjectives: Replace the with くない after the adjective.

うれしい happy ð うれしくない not happy


The only exception is the い adjective "good" いい. The negative is よくない. This is because いい originally was よい.


To make the past negative of い adjectives, remove the くない and add くなかった.

うれしくない
not happy
)

うれしくなかった
was not happy

おいしくない
not delicious
)

おいしくなかった
was not delicious

(おお)くない

not big))

(おお)くなかった
was not big



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