Japanese 129 - Formal denial

When negating phrases with nouns and adjectives, we have until now used the phrase (じゃ)ないです. A more formal phrase meaning the same thing is (じゃ)ありません. So you can make your speech more formal by changing (じゃ)ないです into (じゃ)ありません.

While looking at the tables below, notice the different ways in which い-adjectives and な-adjectives are conjugated.

The past tense of (じゃ)ありません is (じゃ)ありませんでした.

Lastly, the じゃ in じゃないです and in じゃありません is actually a contraction of では. Though you probably won't hear the uncontracted form in speech, you may see it in writing.

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