Dewanai And Janai Explained


Japanese word list 8


Carrot, potatoes and meat. What is this? Well, it's a Japanese dish called Nikujaga (肉じゃが). Looks like a normal home dish right?


The ingredients for making Nikujaga is really simple. They are potatoeJapanese Word List 8s, onion stewed in sweetened soy, vegetables and thinly sliced meat such as beef and pork.


You usually eat this with a bowl of white rice and miso soup!




So what's dewanai （ではない） and janai （じゃない）? There are the negative form of da and desu. In other words, dewanai and janai means is not or are not. Just like da and desu, you will place them at the end of a sentence to show that something is or are not. To express the polite for of dewanai, simple say dewa arimasen. For janai, it's ja arimasen.


So how do you express was not and were not? Well, you have to change dewanai and janai into the past negative form. It's really simple. Just change nai to nakatta. By the way, nai means "there isn't, there aren't or doesn't have" and nakatta means "there wasn't, there weren't or didn't have". So to express the polite form for janakatta it's ja arimasen deshita. For dewanakatta it's dewa arimasen deshita.


Japanese Word List 8




Just like da and desu, simply place dewanai and janai at the end of a sentence. We are also going to learn how to use dewanakatta and janakatta. Here are some examples to help you:


彼女は馬鹿ではない。
Kanojo wa baka dewanai.
She's not stupid.


私は先生じゃない。
Watashi wa sensei janai.
I'm not a teacher.


彼女は美人ではありません。
Kanojo wa bijin dewa arimasen.
She's not pretty.


私は弁護士じゃありません。
Watashi wa bengoshi ja arimasen.
I'm not a lawyer.


それは幽霊じゃなかった。
Sore wa yuurei janakatta.
That wasn't a ghost.


それは人間ではなかった。
Sore wa ningen dewa nakatta.
That's wasn't human.


彼女は貧乏ではありませんでした。
Kanojo wa bimbou dewa arimasen deshita.
She wasn't poor.


彼は失恋じゃありませんでした。
Kare wa shitsuren ja arimasen deshita.
He wasn't broken hearted.


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