Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 6: 6/13

じゃなかったWas not, Wasn't

Structure

［な］Adjective + では(1) + なかった
Noun + では(1) + なかった

(1)じゃ

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Verb

  • Word Type

    Auxiliary Verb

  • Register

    Standard

About じゃなかった

じゃなかった is the casual form of ではなかった. では itself is regularly contracted to じゃ in Japanese, so is worth remembering as its own structure. じゃなかった (casual), or ではなかった (semi-polite) are the structures used for creating the negative-past form of nouns and な-Adjectives.

Either じゃなかった or ではなかった will simply be added to the base form of a noun or な-Adjective.

じゃ and では may also be used with the negative-past ます form of ある, to create the polite variant.

Examples

--:--

    りんごじゃなかった。

    It was not an apple.

    先生(せんせい)じゃなかった。

    They were not a teacher.

    晩(ばん)ごはんが好(す)きではなかった。

    Dinner was not liked by me.

    その動物(どうぶつ)は、牛(うし)じゃなかった。

    That animal was not a cow.

    宿題(しゅくだい)は大変(たいへん)ではありませんでした。

    The homework was not terrible/hard.

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      じゃなかった – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (12 in total)

      • lorenzosama

        lorenzosama

        Hi! I’m confused on when to use this " じゃありませんでした" and when to use ”じゃない". In the sentence below why is " じゃありませんでした" the correct usage? Thank you in advance

        朝あさごはんを作つくったのは、お父とうさん じゃありませんでした

      • Pushindawood

        Pushindawood

        @lorenzosama Hey! It really comes down to what level of politeness you want to use/wish to express. This particular review question actually accepts all of the following answers:

        じゃなかった
        ではなかった
        じゃなかったです
        ではなかったです
        じゃありませんでした
        ではありませんでした

        When it comes to choosing the best answer, it would be best to refer to the post made by @mrnoone above. Let us know if you have any further questions. Cheers!

      • Peter_Wilson

        Peter_Wilson

        The accepted answer for the following question is shown
        風邪を [ひくつもりはなかった]

        Why is じゃなかった not accepted for the past tense as じゃない is shown in the grammar notes for the present tense?

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