-NAI / -ANAI verbs

Japanese for "doesn't" is (A)NAI.

Use NAI after verbs with vowel stems and ANAI after verbs with consonant stems.

Examples:

stem	present	past
KI-	KI LU "wears"	KI NAI "doesn't wear"
DE-	DE LU "goes out"	DE NAI
KAS-	KAS U	KAS ANAI
MAT-	MATS U	MAT ANAI
KAW-	KA U	KAW ANAI
KIR-	KIR U	KIR ANAI
KAK-	KAK U	KAK ANAI
NUG-	NUG U	NUG ANAI
YOB-	YOB U	YOB ANAI
YOM-	YOM U	YOM ANAI
SHIN-	SHIN U	SHIN ANAI

Exercise: translate the untranslated examples. See U / RU Verbs for the meanings of the roots.

These verbs have irregular negatives:

stem	present	negative
KI	kulu くるcomes	konai こないdoesn't come
AR	alu ある there's	nai ないthere ain't
IW	yuu ゆうsays	iwanai いわないdoesn't say
SHI	sulu する does	shinai しないdoesn't do

subject and object
How to Read Japanese Manga
U / RU verbs

Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/NET/manga/vnai.en.html
Last revised: 2008-10-26