Negation and Questions — じゃありません·ですか

What You Will Learn in This Unit

In this unit, you will learn じゃありません, which is attached after a noun to express 'is not,' and how to form a question by adding か at the end of a sentence. You will also learn how to answer questions with はい and いいえ, and the forms でした and じゃありませんでした that express the past. After completing this unit, you will be able to form affirmative, negative, past, and interrogative noun sentences.

Noun + じゃありません: Negating Nouns

The です after a noun expresses the meaning 'is.' To negate this and make it 'is not,' use じゃありません instead of です. Therefore, じゃありません attaches directly after the noun being negated. じゃ is a contraction of では. In writing, では is written as では, but it is read as [でわ] like the particle は; in speech, じゃ is used more often. ありません is the polite negative form of 'to exist,' but in this position it has become fixed with the meaning 'is not.' The negation of い-adjectives and な-adjectives is covered in Units 26 and 27.

Question か and Intonation

Adding か after 名詞 + です turns the sentence into a question. Because か marks the end of a sentence, learners distinguish declarative and interrogative sentences by whether か is present. A declarative sentence ends with a falling intonation, and an interrogative sentence ends with a rising intonation. Add ？ at the end of a question. The pair of sentences is as follows.

In a question, か is attached only at the end of the sentence and is not placed in the middle of a sentence. ね and よ are covered in Unit 21.

How to Answer: はい·いいえ·そうです·ちがいます

はい means 'yes' and いいえ means 'no.' If the content of the question is correct, begin with はい and confirm it with そうです. If the content of the question is incorrect, begin with いいえ and answer with ちがいます. そうです means 'That is right' and is a word that confirms the content of the question as it is. ちがいます means 'is different' and is used when the content of the question does not match the facts. You may also repeat the noun in your answer. In that case, the affirmative answer is はい、学生(がくせい)です。 and the negative answer is いいえ、学生(がくせい)じゃありません。