～ない

RuleVerb nai-form: the plain negative, matching the polite -masen.

Curiosity

How do you make the plain negative "do not eat" from "tabemasen"?

Intuition

nai conjugates like an i-adjective (~nai → ~nakatta). Think of it as turning the verb into a "not happening" state-adjective.

Visualization

taberu (dictionary) → tabenai (nai-form). Tap each step to see the change.

飲むdictionary form

Essence

Ichidan: drop ~ru, add ~nai (taberu → tabenai). Godan: shift the u-row to the a-row + nai (kaku → kakanai, nomu → nomanai); ~u becomes ~wanai (kau → kawanai). Irregular: suru → shinai, kuru → konai, aru → nai.

Examples

私はお酒を飲まない。

I do not drink alcohol.

今日はどこへも行かない。

I am not going anywhere today.

時間がないので来ない。

I will not come because I have no time.

Mini-quiz

What is the nai-form of "nomu" (to drink)?