Vocabulary

食べる(た・べる) ru-verb

to eat

寝る(ね・る) ru-verb

to sleep

何(なに／なん)

what

歯(は)

tooth

磨く(みが・く) u-verb

to brush; to polish

学校(がっ・こう)

school

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

宿題(しゅく・だい)

homework

する exception

to do

授業(じゅ・ぎょう)

class

止める(や・める) ru-verb

to stop

方(1) ほう; 2) かた)

direction; side;
person; way of doing

いい i-adj

good

先生(せん・せい)

teacher

相談(そう・だん)

consultation

この

this (abbr. of これの)

取る(と・る) u-verb

to take

こと

event, matter

出来る(で・き・る) ru-verb

to be able to do

彼(かれ)

he; boyfriend

言う(い・う) u-verb

to say

帰る(かえ・る) u-verb

to go home

そんな

that sort of

お酒(お・さけ)

alcohol

飲む(の・む) u-verb

to drink

当然(とう・ぜん)

naturally

酔っ払う(よ・っ・ぱ・らう) u-verb

to get drunk

勉強(べん・きょう)

study

東大(とう・だい)

Tokyo University (abbr. for 東京大学)

入る(はい・る) u-verb

to enter

思う(おも・う) u-verb

to think

Way back when, we learned how to express a sequence of actions and this worked fine for both positive and negative verbs. For instance, the sentence “I didn’t eat, and then I went to sleep” would become 食べなくて寝た。 However, this sentence sounds a bit strange because eating doesn’t have much to do with sleeping. What we probably really want to say is that we went to sleep without eating. To express this, we need to use a more generalized form of the negative request we covered at the very end of the giving and receiving lesson. In other words, instead of substituting the last い with くて, we need only append で instead.

Examples

1. 何も食べないで寝ました。
   Went to sleep without eating anything.

2. 歯を磨かないで、学校に行っちゃいました。
   Went to school without brushing teeth (by accident).

3. 宿題をしないで、授業に行くのは、やめた方がいいよ。
   It’s better to stop going to class without doing homework.

4. 先生と相談しないで、この授業を取ることは出来ない。
   You cannot take this class without consulting with teacher.

Hopefully not too difficult. Another way to express the exact same thing is to replace the last ない part with ず. However, the two exception verbs する and くる become せず and こず respectively. It is also common to see this grammar combined with the target に particle. This version is more formal than ないで and is not used as much in regular conversations.

Examples

1. 彼は何も言わず、帰ってしまった。
   He went home without saying anything.

2. 何も食べずにそんなにお酒を飲むと当然酔っ払いますよ。
   Obviously, you’re going to get drunk if you drink that much without eating anything.

3. 勉強せずに東大に入れると思わないな。
   I don’t think you can get in Tokyo University without studying.

Vocabulary

する exception

to do

来る(く・る) exception

to come

すまん

sorry (masculine)

すみません

sorry (polite)

知る(し・る) u-verb

to know

韓国人(かん・こく・じん)

Korean person

結婚(けっ・こん)

marriage

なる u-verb

to become

そんな

that sort of

こと

event, matter

皆(みんな)

everybody

今日(きょう)

today

行く(い・く) u-verb

to go

Finally, we cover another type of negative that is used mostly by older men. Since ない is so long and difficult to say (sarcasm), you can shorten it to just ん. However, you can’t directly modify other words in this form; in other words, you can’t make it a modifying relative clause. In the same manner as before, する becomes せん and くる becomes こん though I’ve never heard or seen こん actually being used. If you have ever heard ｢すまん"" and wondered what that meant, it’s actually an example of this grammar. Notice that すみません is actually in polite negative form. Well, the plain form would be すまない, right? That further transforms to just すまん. The word brings up an image of おじさん but that may be just me. Anyway, it’s a male expression.

Examples

1. すまん。
   Sorry.

2. 韓国人と結婚しなくてはならん！
   You must marry a Korean!

3. そんなことはさせん！
   I won’t let you do such a thing!

You can even use this slang for past tense verbs by adding かった.

• 皆、今日行くって、知らんかったよ。
  I didn’t know everybody was going today.

Vocabulary

する exception

to do

来る(く・る) exception

to come

知る(し・る) u-verb

to know

韓国人(かん・こく・じん)

Korean person

結婚(けっ・こん)

marriage

なる u-verb

to become

模擬(も・ぎ)

mock

試験(し・けん)

exam

何回(なん・かい)

how many times

失敗(しっ・ぱい)

failure

実際(じっ・さい)

actual

受ける(う・ける) ru-verb

to receive

思う(おも・う) u-verb

to think

結果(けっ・か)

result

出る(で・る) ru-verb

to come out

There is yet another version of the negative verb conjugation and it uses ぬ instead of the ない that attaches to the end of the verb. While this version of the negative conjugation is old-fashioned and part of classical Japanese, you will still encounter it occasionally. In fact, I just saw this conjugation on a sign at the train station today, so it’s not too uncommon.

For any verb, you can replace ない with ぬ to get to an old-fashion sounding version of the negative. Similar to the last section, する becomes せぬ and くる becomes こぬ. You may hear this grammar being used from older people or your friends if they want to bring back ye olde days.

Examples

1. 韓国人と結婚してはならぬ！
   You must not marry a Korean!

2. 模擬試験に何回も失敗して、実際に受けてみたら思わぬ結果が出た。
   After having failed mock examination any number of times, a result I wouldn’t have thought came out when I actually tried taking the test.