N5 · The basic sentence
Is not, was and was not
the negative and past of です
じゃありません or ではありません for "is not", でした for "was", and the two put together for "was not".
The negative of です is ではありません, and in speech じゃありません, which is simply a contraction of it. 学生ではありません and 学生じゃありません both mean "is not a student". A third form, じゃないです, is the one most people use in everyday conversation: still polite, a little less formal.
The past is でした: 学生でした, "was a student". The past negative adds でした to the negative: 学生ではありませんでした, or じゃありませんでした in speech, or じゃなかったです in conversation. That gives four meanings — is, is not, was, was not — and each one fits every noun without exception.
The は in では is the topic particle, so it is written は and read wa. Among friends the same four meanings are だ, じゃない, だった and じゃなかった. The pattern never touches the noun itself: Japanese nouns do not change, and everything happens in the ending.
English speakers make two mistakes here. One is to build a past from the conversational negative by adding でした to it, which produces a form that standard Japanese does not accept. The other is to use this pattern with i-adjectives. 高い makes its own negative, 高くないです, and does not take じゃありません to say "is not".
The form
| is (polite) | 学生です |
| is not (careful, written) | 学生ではありません |
| is not (spoken) | 学生じゃありません |
| is not (conversation) | 学生じゃないです |
| was | 学生でした |
| was not (careful, written) | 学生ではありませんでした |
| was not (spoken) | 学生じゃありませんでした |
| was not (conversation) | 学生じゃなかったです |
| plain: is, is not, was, was not | 学生だ・学生じゃない・学生だった・学生じゃなかった |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The negative of です is ではありません, or じゃありません in speech.
私は学生ではありません。I am not a student.
じゃないです is the everyday conversational form of the same thing.
それは私の傘じゃないです。That is not my umbrella.
The past is でした.
昨日は雨でした。It rained yesterday.
The past negative adds でした to ありません.
先週は休みじゃありませんでした。Last week was not a holiday.
A closer look
Where the forms come from
ではありません is built from pieces a learner already has: で, the topic particle は, and ありません, the negative of ある. Literally it says something like "as for being a student, there is none", which is why it is long and why it sounds careful.
じゃない is the plain negative, and じゃないです simply adds です to make it polite. So the three polite negatives are not three rules but three levels of formality: written, spoken, conversational. Use ではありません in writing and with strangers, and the shorter ones as the conversation relaxes.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the word before です is an i-adjective
it does not take じゃありません: the adjective forms its own negative, 高くないです.
この店は高くないです。This shop is not expensive.
An i-adjective conjugates by itself; です after it only adds politeness and has no tense or negative of its own.
How to spot it
- ではありません
- じゃありません
- じゃないです
- でした
- じゃなかった
Example sentences
田中さんは先生ではありません。Mr Tanaka is not a teacher.
今日は休みじゃありません。Today is not a day off.
昨日は私の誕生日でした。Yesterday was my birthday.
先週の試験は金曜日じゃなかったです。Last week's exam was not on Friday.
前は会社員でしたが、今は学生です。I used to be an office worker, but now I am a student.
あれは駅ではありませんでした。病院でした。That was not the station. It was a hospital.
8 more example sentences
これは日本の車じゃありません。This is not a Japanese car.
兄は医者じゃないです。看護師です。My older brother is not a doctor. He is a nurse.
昨日は晴れでした。It was sunny yesterday.
去年まで大阪の大学の学生でした。Until last year I was a student at a university in Osaka.
会議は三時からじゃありませんでした。The meeting did not start at three.
ここは前、公園でした。This used to be a park.
私は日本人じゃありません。イギリス人です。I am not Japanese. I am British.
子どものころは、野菜が好きじゃなかった。As a child I did not like vegetables.
Worth knowing (2)
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Answering no
To deny a question, answer いいえ and repeat the noun with the negative. Japanese prefers the full answer to a bare "no", and いいえ、ちがいます ("no, that is not right") is a common, polite alternative.
「学生ですか。」「いいえ、学生じゃありません。」"Are you a student?" "No, I am not."
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では is read dewa
In ではありません the second sign is the particle は, so it is read wa: dewa arimasen. Read as deha, it immediately marks the speaker as someone who learnt the word from paper.
ここは出口ではありません。This is not the exit.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
It looks logical to take じゃないです and put です into the past, but です here is only there for politeness and cannot carry the tense. The past goes into the negative itself — じゃない becomes じゃなかった — and です follows unchanged. The other correct form is じゃありませんでした.
Not is ではありません, was is でした, and was not puts the two together.
Your turn
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