NEGATIVE DICTIONARY FORM VERBS

“I never thought a role model should be negative.” – Michael Jordan

This is where dictionary form verbs start to get tricky. We’ll begin with the easiest tense (negative) and then move on to the slightly more complicated (and more memory intensive) past tense form. You can keep your brain rested and relaxed for now, though.

The “formula” for putting together negative dictionary form verbs is pretty simple. If you remember correctly, there are three types of verbs we’ll have to look at. Group 1, Group 2, and the irregulars (If you don’t remember these, you should probably review). First, let’s learn how to turn dictionary form verbs negative.

Group 1 Negative Dictionary Form Verbs

Even though these are the most complex of the three groups, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it. There’s a solid set of rules you can follow that will get you to the correct result every time. Let’s go through one particular example step by step:

1. The first step is to take a look at the verb in dictionary form. Let’s use 行きます（いきます）for this. The dictionary form version of 行きます is 行く.
2. Take the last kana of the dictionary form verb, in this example it would be the く character (taken from 行く).
3. Change the last character to an あ sound. If you look at 行く, you’ll see that the く should be changed to a か, which would leave us with 行か. Now, there is one exception to this rule. Dictionary form verbs that end with an う don’t become an あ like you might think. う becomes わ instead. For example, 買う（かう）would become 買わ and not 買あ.
4. After you’ve gotten to 行か there’s still one more step. We have to make it negative. Do you remember how to make nouns negative in casual form? I hope so, you just learned it! With casual nouns, you use じゃない, which is pretty similar to verbs and should be a good way to help you remember things. At the end of 行か we’ll be adding ない, making 行かない our final product. 行かない is a casual way of saying “to not go” and means the same thing as 行きません (the neutral/formal way of saying “to not go.”).

Of course, I don’t expect you to remember all of that right off the bat. Go through the vocabulary below, one by one, and break things apart in your brain. Get a piece of paper and cover the three right side columns and see if you can figure out the next steps all by yourself!

Here are your vocab examples. For extra practice, go ahead and take a look at the longer list of verbs in this chapter and go through those as well!

Although you probably have a good handle on turning dictionary form verbs negative, let’s take a look at some “real life” examples.

私はワインを飲まない
I don’t drink wine

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/1-wine-nomanai.mp3|titles=1-wine-nomanai]

私はワインを飲みません
I don’t drink wine

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/2-wine-nomimasen.mp3|titles=2-wine-nomimasen]

私は東京（とうきょう）に行かない
I will not go to Tokyo

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/3-tokyo-ikanai.mp3|titles=3-tokyo-ikanai]

私は東京に行きません
I will not go to Tokyo

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/4-tokyo-ikimasen.mp3|titles=4-tokyo-ikimasen]

As you can see, these are used just like the neutral/formal forms we learned in Season 2. There’s not a lot we can do with these right now, but when we get through a few more verb forms your options really open up verb-wise. Let’s take a look at Group 2 verbs.

Group 2 Negative Dictionary Form Verbs

Group 2 verbs are even easier than Group 1 (aren’t they always?). With Group 2 verbs, it’s as simple as dropping the る at the end and replacing it with ない. No need to change う sounds to あ sounds or anything like that. Just a straight up trade. Let’s take a look at 食べる (たべる).

1. Get the dictionary form version of the verb. In this case it’s 食べる（たべる）
2. Remove the る to get the stem form of the verb. 食べる　→　食べ
3. Add a ない onto the end. 食べ　→　食べ ＋ ない →　食べない
4. The negative form of 食べる is 食べない. Easy right?

Let’s take a look at some Group 2 verb vocabulary. Go ahead and go through this process on your own. The hard part isn’t turning them negative, it’s remembering which verbs are Group 1 and Group 2. Concentrate more on differentiating Group 1 & 2 since converting them will be a cinch.

Super easy, super simple. Just bring it down to stem and add ない to it. As long as you can remember which ones are Group 1 and which ones are Group 2, you’ll be okay. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples before moving on to the irregulars.

私はすしを食べない
I don’t eat sushi

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/5-sushi-tabenai.mp3|titles=5-sushi-tabenai]

ボッビーさんはユーフォーを信じない
Bobby does not believe in UFOs

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/6-bobby-ufo.mp3|titles=6-bobby-ufo]

彼はテレビを見ない
He doesn’t watch television

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/7-kare-terebi-minai.mp3|titles=7-kare-terebi-minai]

Can you make some sentences too? Try replacing some of the nouns in the sentences above and writing them out for practice. What don’t you eat? What don’t you believe in? What don’t you watch (Twilight?)?

Irregular Negative Dictionary Form Verbs

Luckily there aren’t too many irregulars, so we can hit them out quick. You’ll just have to memorize these since they don’t follow any kind of rules.

The last irregular, ある, is probably a new word for you. Don’t pay too much attention to it, as we’ll be devoting an entire chapter to it and it’s accomplice (いる) later on. There will be an example below to help you understand how to use it a little bit, but this irregular verb is even more irregular than the other irregular ones.

今日、日本語を勉強しない
Today, I will not study Japanese

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/8-nihongo-benkyoushinai.mp3|titles=8-nihongo-benkyoushinai]

ひとみさんは鉛筆がある
Hitomi has a pencil

[audio:http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/9-hitomi-san-enpitsu-aru.mp3|titles=9-hitomi-san-enpitsu-aru]

If you take a look at the ある example, you’ll see that it uses が as it’s particle (and not を). I won’t go into much detail now, but the quick answer is this: Because the verb ある (to have / possess) isn’t a direct action (i.e. you aren’t directly doing something to something, like eating it or drinking it), you use the particle が instead of を. You’ll see the use of the particle が more and more as we move along to more complicated sentences, but for now simplicity is a virtue. We’ll be getting to が as a verb particle later this season, so it can wait a little bit. You have plenty to learn now anyways.

Extra Content:

• Negative Dictionary Form Verbs Practice
  

Before You Move On:

• Know how to change Group 1 Dictionary Form Verbs into Negative Dictionary Form Verbs
• Know how to change Group 2 Dictionary Form Verbs into Negative Dictionary Form Verbs
• Know how to change Irregular Dictionary Form Verbs into Negative Dictionary Form Verbs
• Complete this worksheet. It has you practice converting verbs into negative form.

Past Tense Negative Dictionary Form Verbs →

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