Japanese

<p>
	There are multiple ways to make a sentence negative in Japanese, depending on the politeness of your speech.
	In the beginning of this course we will only focus on <strong>neutral</strong> speech, which is polite enough for most situations.
	This is more polite than <strong>casual</strong> speech, and less polite than <strong>formal</strong> speech.
	You will learn the other forms in later lessons.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="24845"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	Study the table below.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="24846"></tr>
		<tr data-item="24854"></tr>
		<tr data-item="24855"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	In the question and the responses in the table, note that in the case of a negative question, Japanese speakers say <strong>yes</strong> to affirm that the situation in the question is the case, that it is indeed not a dog.
	By responding with <strong>no</strong>, you deny that the situation the question describes is the case.
</p>

<p>
	This is the opposite of how English speakers use <strong>yes</strong> and <strong>no</strong>, so it can be quite confusing.
	However, when you think about it, the Japanese way is actually more logical.
</p>

Negating nouns

hiragana character

kanji

adnominal

adverb

auxiliary

conjunction

compound

i-adjective

interjection

noun

na-adjective

numeral

particle

case particle

conjunctive particle

discourse particle

prefix

pronoun

suffix

verb

sentence

hiragana writing

kanji writing

kanji component

reading vocabulary

katakana writing

katakana character

godan - group 1

itidan - group 2

group 3

transitive

intransitive

proper noun

discourse

phrase

expression

Word	犬いぬ　じゃ　ない　です　か？ inu zya nai desu ka?
Meaning	Isn't it a dog? / Is it not a dog?
Part of speech	sentence
Pronunciation

to be	です desu
dog	犬いぬ inu
question particle	か ka
it is not the case	じゃ　ない zya nai

Japanese

inu zya nai desu ka?

Breakdown of inu zya nai desu ka?

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