13 . Base 1 + nai - The Plain Negative Form

Lesson 13
Base 1 + nai - The Plain Negative Form

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      Before we look at Base 1, let's quickly review the types of verbs. There are yodan, like kau, iku, matsu, and yomu; ichidan, like taberu and miru; and the two irregulars kuru and suru. If you don't remember the meanings of these please go back and review them.

      Ichidan are easy to convert into Base 1 because you just knock off the ru. In other words, their Base 1 is the same as their Base 2. The yodan group are changed so they end in a: iku changes to ika, matsu to mata, yomu to yoma, and etc. If the verb ends in u with another vowel before it, like kau, just change the u to wa; so kau becomes kawa. The irregular kuru changes to ko, and suru to shi, just like its Base 2 form.

      Below are some tables to help clarify the way the three types of verbs are converted into Bases 1 and 2 from their plain forms, which happen to be Base 3. For the sake of simplification I didn't mention it then, but all the verbs introduced in Lesson 1 were in their Base 3 forms, which, again, is their true, unconjugated root form, and how they will usually look in a dictionary. Please note the changes carefully.

Yodan verbs:
 

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kau	kai-	kawa-
aruku	aruki-	aruka-
isogu	isogi-	isoga-
kasu	kashi-	kasa-
matsu	machi-	mata-
shinu	shini-	shina-
asobu	asobi-	asoba-
yomu	yomi-	yoma-
kaeru	kaeri	kaera-

Ichidan verbs:
 

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
taberu	tabe-	tabe-
oboeru	oboe-	oboe-
kimeru	kime-	kime-
deru	de-	de-
kariru	kari-	kari-
miru	mi-	mi-

Irregular verbs:
 

Base 3 (root form)	Base 2	Base 1
kuru	ki-	ko-
suru	shi-	shi-

      Now what we want to do is use Base 1 + nai to change some verbs into their plain negative form: kau (buy) becomes kawanai (won't buy); kariru (borrow) becomes karinai (won't borrow); kuru (come), konai (won't come); and suru (do), shinai (won't do).

Look at these example sentences:

• John wa kasa o kawanai. (John isn't going to buy an umbrella.)
• Jim wa manga o yomanai. (Jim doesn't read comic books.)
• Ojii-san wa sugu kaeranai. (Grandpa isn't going to return soon.)
• Watashi wa terebi o minai. (I'm not going to watch TV.)
• Sachiko wa konai. (Sachiko won't be coming.)

      It will be noticed that this ending can be used to mean "not going to do (something) for the time being" as well as "don't do at all," as a matter of personal policy. For example, Jim wa manga o yomanai could mean that Jim never reads comic books, or that he just isn't going to read a comic book now or in the near future. As in English, Japanese used in actual conversation would be modified as needed in order to make meanings clearer.

      Please remember that the ending nai by itself is plain, and should only be used in very informal settings. Depending on the situation, you may want to upgrade it to a polite form, like Base 2 + masen, which we already covered in Lesson 4, or by simply adding desu on the end after nai:

• John wa kasa o kaimasen. (or) John wa kasa o kawanai desu.
• Jim wa manga o yomimasen. (or) Jim wa manga o yomanai desu.

Etc.

Can you get a good feel for the changeover between Base 2 + masen and Base 1 + nai here?