じゃない - Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

is not

Structure

  • Noun or なAdjective +
    • じゃない・ではない
    • じゃありません・ではありません
    • じゃない・ではない
    • じゃありません・ではありません

[It can be shortened to じゃねえ in very casual speech.]

:warning: Cannot be used with

  • い-adjectives

View on Bunpro

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#2

The grammar point have entries for Nouns and Na adjectives, but seems it is used the same in both cases, so I think it will be better to merge all together.

#3

Great video on this grammar point here, starting at 5:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS4Z9-3XauA

2 Likes
#4

Noob question! Sorry for the bump. Before using Bunpro, I learned to use ではありません. Then, the video linked above says that じゃ is another version of では. So, what’s the difference between ではありません and じゃありません? Is one more formal than the other, or are they totally interchangeable? Thanks.

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#5

@colaceirios

Hey and welcome on the community forums :partying_face:

So, what’s the difference between ではありません and じゃありません? Is one more formal than the other, or are they totally interchangeable?

ではありません is more polite than じゃありません。
Because じゃ is a contraction of では。

There is another way of polite negation, which is nowadays really popular - じゃないです。It feels “softer” than ありません ones.
It also has more polite variant, ではないです。

When it comes to mean they are all identical.

are they totally interchangeable?

Most of the time yes, though in some situations, where you have to be extremely polite (talking with boss, university professor,) then it’s better to use ではありません。But in normal life, its good to stick to じゃないです.

I hope it helps,
Cheers!

8 Likes
#6

Hello!

In the reviews, one of the questions says to use [polite] form, but ではありません is refused, giving じゃありません as the correct answer.

Isn’t this casual?

Edit: わ —> は

#7

It’s still polite compared to じゃない, but more casual than ではありません.

#8

Thanks for the reply and the correction.

My interrogation remains though: why is ではありません refused as an answer?

#9

It’s not refused. I tested it. I assumed you made the same typo you edited out of your earlier post.

If the example sentence uses じゃ it will display that as the solution even when you answer では, but it will not refuse では.

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#10

Weird. I don’t think I made the typo, but let’s give that as the answer.

I just had a restest now, and it was accepted, so your explanation is the simplest one.

Thanks!