な-Adjectives, but negative

な-Adjectives, but negative

Negative descriptor

As mentioned in the introductory lesson to な-adjectives, a lot of the conjugation rules that apply to nouns apply to な-adjectives as well. We can use this knowledge to easily remember how to turn な-adjectives into their negative form.

To negate な-adjectives, simply add the expression じゃない​ to the adjective. Notice that this is the same pattern used to negate だ​.

Special Note

The な-adjective 大丈夫(だいじょうぶ) all right is normally negated, like any other な-adjective, by just adding じゃない​. But there is also a frequently used slang version of this negation. Instead of 大丈夫(だいじょうぶ)じゃない​, だいじょうばない​ is used.

This comes from the fact that verbs that end in ぶ, like 飛(と)ぶ​ fly, turn into 飛(と)ばない​ in negative form. This change from ぶ to ば is then applied to the ぶ of だいじょうぶ​ and therefore turns its negative form to だいじょうばない​.

Formation