Gramática del JLPT N5 じゃない・ではない (janai / dewa nai)

Aprende gramática del idioma Japonés: じゃない (janai) & ではない (dewa nai). Significado: to not be (am not; is not; are not).

Make sure you review «to be» Part 1, before starting this lesson: だ・です (da / desu).

Both じゃない and ではない are at the casual level, and can be interchanged freely.

Example A)

This literally translates to «I Tomoko-sensei am not». Remember that Japanese uses SOV (subject-object-verb), rather than SVO like English. This may be strange at first, but it will become natural after some practice.

Example B)

When speaking more politely

Using the more polite form is simple. Just drop the ない (nai) and change to ありません (arimasen):

• じゃないありません (ja nai arimasen)
• ではないありません (dewa nai arimasen)

How to use past tense (was/were not, etc)

Casual Past Tense:

• じゃなかった (ja nakatta)
• ではなかった (dewa nakatta)

Polite Past Tense:

• じゃありませんでした (ja arimasen deshita)
• ではありませんでした (dewa arimasen deshita)
• じゃなかったです (ja nakatta desu)
• ではなかったです (dewa nakatta desu)

There are many different conjugations that can be used, but within the same politeness level, they can be interchanged freely. Let’s look at some basic examples:

Past Tense Example A)

Past Tense Example B)

Extra Study Notes

• This lesson is only for the negative part of «to be». For part 1 of this lesson, check the だ・です (da / desu) lesson

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