Everyday modern Japanese negates with ない. But three older negatives never left, and you will meet them in signs, speeches, novels, idioms, and stiff writing every week: the attributive/sentence-final 〜ぬ（〜ん）, the adverbial 〜ず／〜ずに ("without doing"), and the negative-volitional まい ("surely won't / won't let / I'll never"). All three attach to the 未然形（みぜんけい, the irrealis stem） you already build ない on — so 行く → 行か is the launchpad for 行かない, 行かぬ, and 行かず alike. This page is the compact reference; the deep classical account of the whole ず paradigm lives on ず／ぬ／ざる: classical negation. The anchor is 行く → 行かず／行かぬ／行くまい.
The three at a glance
| Form | Attaches to | 行く | Rough meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 〜ぬ／〜ん | 未然形 | 行かぬ／行かん | does not (before a noun / sentence-final) | ぬ literary; ん casual or regional |
| 〜ず | 未然形 | 行かず | does not / (連用) not doing | formal, written |
| 〜ずに | 未然形 | 行かずに | without going | formal-ish, fully current |
| まい | 五段: 終止形 / 一段: 未然形 | 行くまい | surely won't; I'll never; won't let | literary, formal |
〜ぬ: the classical "not" before a noun and at sentence end
ぬ is the classical 連体形（attributive）negative — historically it modified nouns, and that is where it survives most vividly, in frozen phrases and elevated prose. It is one mora, replacing the whole ない. Everyday ない has all but displaced this ぬ over the centuries, but both are the same negation built on the very same 未然形 — so ぬ reads as the older, graver twin of the ない you already use.
知らぬ間に、外はすっかり暗くなっていた。
shiranu ma ni, soto wa sukkari kuraku natte ita
Before I knew it, it had gone completely dark outside. (知らぬ間に = 'while not knowing' — a set phrase, everyday despite the classical ぬ)
親の心、子知らず。
oya no kokoro, ko shirazu
A child never knows a parent's heart. (proverb — 知らず ends the saying)
のっぴきならぬ事情で、欠席いたします。
noppikinaranu jijō de, kesseki itashimasu
I'll be absent due to unavoidable circumstances. (literary/formal — のっぴきならぬ 'inescapable')
〜ん: same ぬ, two very different registers
The ぬ contracts to ん, and here English speakers meet a real trap, because that ん lands in two opposite registers that happen to share a shape:
- Casual/dialectal 知らん, 分からん, 行かん — blunt, masculine-leaning, and strongly Kansai-flavoured. This is the ん you hear in everyday rough speech.
- Stiff/literary ならん, たまらん, 〜ねばならん — the same ん used to sound formal or old-fashioned, as in 我慢ならん（"I won't stand for it"）.
Same etymology, opposite feel — you tell them apart by context and surrounding register, not by the form.
そんなこと、俺は知らんよ。
sonna koto, ore wa shiran yo
I've got no idea about that. (casual/blunt — 知らん, everyday spoken)
こんな理不尽は、断じて許さん。
konna rifujin wa, danjite yurusan
I will absolutely not tolerate this injustice. (stiff/literary — 許さん for dramatic weight)
〜ず / 〜ずに: "not doing" / "without doing"
The 連用形（adverbial）negative ず links clauses formally — "does not …, and" — and, with に, gives the very common 〜ずに meaning "without doing." 〜ずに is the polished twin of casual 〜ないで, alive in ordinary careful speech and writing. See 〜ずに / 〜ず for its full range.
朝ご飯を食べずに出てきたから、お腹ぺこぺこだ。
asagohan o tabezu ni dete kita kara, onaka pekopeko da
I left without eating breakfast, so I'm starving. (食べずに = 'without eating')
何も言わず、彼女は静かに部屋を出て行った。
nani mo iwazu, kanojo wa shizuka ni heya o dete itta
Saying nothing, she quietly left the room. (連用 ず links the clause — literary narration)
細かいことは気にせず、思い切りやってみよう。
komakai koto wa ki ni sezu, omoikiri yatte miyō
Let's not sweat the details and give it our all. (せず = the する irregular)
The irregular 未然形: せず and 来ず（こず）
ず and ぬ attach to the 未然形, and two verbs hide an irregular one. する → せ, so the negative is せず／せぬ, never ×しず／×しぬ. 来る → こ, so it is 来ず／来ぬ, read こず／こぬ, never ×きず／×きぬ. This mirrors the classical stems せ・こ that also feed 来ない（こない）and しない.
| Verb | 未然形 | 〜ず | 〜ぬ | Modern ない |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 行く | 行か | 行かず | 行かぬ | 行かない |
| 言う | 言わ | 言わず | 言わぬ | 言わない |
| 食べる | 食べ | 食べず | 食べぬ | 食べない |
| する | せ | せず | せぬ | しない |
| 来る | こ | 来ず（こず） | 来ぬ（こぬ） | 来ない（こない） |
彼女はとうとう最後まで来ず、連絡もなかった。
kanojo wa tōtō saigo made kozu, renraku mo nakatta
In the end she never came, and there was no word either. (来ず = kozu, the カ変 irregular)
まい: the negative volitional / negative conjecture
まい is the negative counterpart of the volitional 〜う／よう. It carries two senses that share one form: strong negative intention ("I'll never / I won't do it") and negative conjecture ("surely won't / probably isn't"). It is (literary)/(formal) — you meet it in editorials, novels, and set expressions like 〜ではあるまいし（"it's not as if …"）and 〜まいか（"might it not …?"）. The attachment differs by class:
| Class | Base for まい | Example | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 五段 | 終止形 (dictionary) | 行くまい／言うまい | iku mai / iu mai |
| 一段 | 未然形 (stem); dict. also heard | 食べまい（＝食べるまい） | tabe mai |
| する | すまい／しまい／するまい | すまい | su mai |
| 来る | こまい／来（く）るまい | 来まい（こまい） | ko mai |
あんな失礼な店には、二度と行くまい。
anna shitsurei na mise ni wa, nido to iku mai
I'll never set foot in such a rude shop again. (五段 dictionary + まい — firm resolve)
彼のことだから、約束を忘れることはあるまい。
kare no koto da kara, yakusoku o wasureru koto wa aru mai
Knowing him, he surely won't forget the promise. (negative conjecture 'surely won't')
子供ではあるまいし、それくらい自分で考えなさい。
kodomo de wa aru mai shi, sore kurai jibun de kangaenasai
You're not a child — think that much through yourself. (〜ではあるまいし, a fixed rebuke frame)
Common mistakes
❌ 勉強しずに、寝てしまった。
Wrong stem — する negates on the irregular 未然形 せ, so it is せず／せずに, never ×しず／×しずに.
✅ 勉強せずに、寝てしまった。
benkyō sezu ni, nete shimatta
I fell asleep without studying. (する → せず + に)
❌ 誰も来ぬ（きぬ）まま、時間だけが過ぎた。
Wrong reading — 来る's 未然形 is こ, so 来ぬ is read こぬ, not きぬ.
✅ 誰も来ぬ（こぬ）まま、時間だけが過ぎた。
dare mo konu mama, jikan dake ga sugita
With no one coming, only time went by. (来ぬ = konu)
❌ レポートに「行かん」と書いた。
Register clash — casual/dialectal ん doesn't belong in a written report. Use 行かない, or the formal 行かず if you want the elevated tone.
✅ レポートに「行かない」と書いた。
repōto ni 'ikanai' to kaita
I wrote 'I won't go' in the report. (plain ない for neutral writing)
❌ 五段の「行く」に、まいは行かまいと付く。
Wrong base — 五段 verbs take まい on the 終止形 (dictionary form), giving 行くまい, not the 未然形 ×行かまい.
✅ 五段の「行く」には、行くまいと付く。
godan no 'iku' ni wa, iku mai to tsuku
With the 五段 verb 行く, it attaches as 行くまい. (dictionary form + まい)
Key takeaways
- Three classical negatives survive in modern use, all on the 未然形: 〜ぬ／〜ん (attributive/final), 〜ず／〜ずに (adverbial, "without doing"), and まい (negative volition/conjecture).
- ぬ vs ん: 知らぬ is (literary); 知らん is (casual/regional) — same word, opposite register. Don't swap them.
- 〜ずに is the polished twin of casual 〜ないで and is fully current in careful speech and writing.
- Irregular 未然形: する → せず／せぬ (not ×しず) and 来る → 来ず／来ぬ = こず／こぬ (not ×きず).
- まい attaches to the 終止形 for 五段 (行くまい) but the 未然形 for 一段 (食べまい, dictionary 食べるまい also heard); する → すまい／しまい／するまい, 来る → こまい／来るまい.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- Negative ない: Formation TableN4 — How to build the plain negative 〜ない across every class — the 五段 あ-row stem (with the わ trap), 一段 drop-る, the irregulars, and the suppletive ある → ない.
- Classical 活用: The Six Bases (Bridge Page)N2 — The traditional six 活用形 — 未然・連用・終止・連体・已然/仮定・命令 — worked through 書く and mapped onto the modern forms this guide teaches, so you can read any 活用表 or grammar reference that still uses the classical labels.
- Auxiliary Attachment: Which Base Takes WhatN2 — The cross-reference that maps every auxiliary to the verb base it rides — 未然形 for ない・れる・せる・う, 連用形 for ます・た・たい・appearance-そう, 終止形 for らしい・hearsay-そう・だろう, 仮定形 for ば — worked through 書く.
- ず / ぬ / ざる: Classical NegationN1 — ず, ぬ, ね, and ざる are not four random archaisms but one classical negative auxiliary conjugating — and reading it as simply 'not' decodes dozens of everyday fossils at once, from やむを得ず to 〜ざるを得ない.
- 〜まい: Literary Negative VolitionN2 — The classical auxiliary that is the mirror of the volitional 〜よう — 'I will not, on principle' (resolve) and 'it surely isn't so' (conjecture) — with its tricky attachment and literary register.