Nai form in Japanese and how to make it, explained

Nai form in Japanese

Japanese native speakers use nai forms to make negative expressions and to ask questions. Denying and asking are an important part of any language; naturally, nai forms are important in the Japanese language. In this blog post, therefore, I will explain how to make nai forms of a verb, i-adjective, and na-adjective. I believe these explanations will help Japanese leaners. Let’s get started!

Contents

• How to make a nai form in Japanese
• Nai form of a verb
  • Example #1: how to use “ika nai”
• Nai form of an i-adjective
  • Example #2: how to use “utsukushiku nai”
• Nai form of a na-adjective
  • Example #3: how to use “kireide nai”
• Summary

How to make a nai form in Japanese

Let me start with the way to make a nai form in the Japanese language. We can make it in the following steps.

1. Add the auxiliary verb, “nai“, after a verb or an adjective.
2. Conjugate the word preceding “nai” to have the smooth connection between the two words.
3. Determine the pitch of “nai” depending on whether we want to deny the meaning or to make a question.

These steps are not so complicated, I think. The only problem is how we can conjugate verbs and adjectives. In the rest part of this blog post, I will explain especially conjugations of a verb, i-adjective, and na-adjective respectively.

For the better understanding of “nai”, please check the above link to the blog post about it.

Nai form of a verb

Like the other grammatical rules, the process of making a nai form has exceptions. For them, we need to conisder irregular steps. In this section, however, I will focus on a basic u-verb which ends with the “u” vowel in its plain form. “Iku” is it. Let me explain how to make its nai form step by step.

1. First, we need to add “nai” after “iku”. So, the formed phrase is now “iku nai”. This sounds weird, as the connection is not smooth.
2. To have a better connection, we need to conjugate “iku”. What we should do here is replace the last vowel “u” with the “a” sound. So, the formed phrase is now “ika nai”. This sounds natural.
3. We need to determine the pitch of “nai”. When we want to deny the meaning, ‘to go’, we should not raise the pitch; when we want to make a question or suggestion like ‘don’t go?’, we should raise the pitch.

These are the steps to make the nai form of “iku”. For most Japanese verbs ending with the “u” vowel, these steps work well. For verbs ending with the “ru” sounds, however, we need to consider a special step instead of the step 2 above.

Then, let me explain how to use this nai form through the example sentence below.

Example #1: how to use “ika nai”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, it is put after the pronoun, “watashi”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
• umi – 海 (うみ) : a noun meaning ‘sea’ or ‘ocean’ in Japanese.
• he – へ : a case particle used to indicate a particular place to which someone or something goes. In the example, it is put after the noun, “umi”, to indicate the particular place to which “watashi” doesn’t go.

This is a typical usage of the nai form of “iku”. In the example, it is used to mean ‘not to go’ in Japanese.

Nai form of an i-adjective

Next, let me explain how to turn an i-adjective to its nai form. Let me take “utsukushii” as an example, which means ‘beautiful’ in Japanese.

1. First, we need to add “nai” after “utsukushii”. So, the formed phrase is now “utsukushii nai”. This sounds weird, as the connection is not smooth.
2. To have a better connection, we need to conjugate “utsukushii”. What we should do here is replace the last vowel “i” with the “ku” sounds. So, the formed phrase is now “utsukushiku nai”. This sounds natural.
3. We need to determine the pitch of “nai”. When we want to deny the meaning, ‘beautiful’, we should not raise the pitch; when we want to make a question like ‘beautiful?’, we should raise the pitch.

These are the steps to make the nai form of “utsukushii”. For most i-adjectives, these steps work well.

Then, let me explain how to use this nai form through the example sentence below.

Example #2: how to use “utsukushiku nai”

Below are the new words and particle used in the example sentence.

• fuyu – 冬 (ふゆ) : a noun meaning ‘winter’ in Japanese.
• no – の : a case particle used to limit the meaning of its following word with the meaning of its preceding word based on relations like possessing and belonging. In the example, it is used to limit the meaning of “umi” with the meaning of “fuyu”. The role of this particle is quite similar to that of the English preposition, “of”. In this example, the formed phrase, “fuyu no umi”, has been translated as “the sea in the winter”, though.
• wa – は : the same as explained in the last example. In this example, it is put after the noun phrase, “fuyu no umi”, to make the subject in the sentence.

This is a typical usage of “utsukushiku nai”. When we want to deny the meaning of ‘beautiful’ in Japanese, this nai form is a good option.

Nai form of a na-adjective

Lastly, let me explain how to make the nai form of a na-adjective. Let me take “kireina” as an example, which means ‘beautiful’ in Japanese.

1. First, we need to add “nai” after “kireina”. So, the formed phrase is now “kireina nai”. This sounds weird, as the connection is not smooth.
2. To have a better connection, we need to conjugate “kireina”. What we should do here is replace the last “na” sounds with the “de” sounds. So, the formed phrase is now “kireide nai”. This sounds natural.
3. We need to determine the pitch of “nai”. When we want to deny the meaning, ‘beautiful’, we should not raise the pitch; when we want to make a question like ‘beautiful?’, we should raise the pitch.

These are the steps to make the nai form of “kireina”. For most na-adjectives, these steps work well.

Then, let me explain how to use this nai form through the example sentence below.

Example #3: how to use “kireide nai”

Below are the new words and particle used in the example sentence.

• tokuni – 特に (とくに) : an adverb meaning ‘especially’ in Japanese.
• nami – 波 (なみ) : a noun meaning ‘wave’ in Japanese. It can also be used as a plural noun meaning ‘waves’. Learn more about Japanese plural.
• no – の : the same as explained in the last example. In this example, it is used to limit the meaning of “awa” with the meaning of “nami”. The formed phrase, “nami no awa”, literally means ‘foam of a wave (or waves)’. It has been translated just as ‘the sea foam’, though.
• ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is put after the noun phrase, “nami no awa”, to make the subject in the sentence.

This is a typical usage of “kireide nai”. When we want to say “not beautiful” in Japanese, this nai form is also a good option.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained how to make nai forms of a verb, i-adjective, and na-adjective in detail. Let me summarize the common steps as follows.

1. Add the auxiliary verb, “nai”, after a verb or an adjective.
2. Conjugate the word preceding “nai” to have the smooth connection between the two words.
3. Determine the pitch of “nai” depending on whether we want to deny the meaning or to make a question.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.