Negative verb
A negative verb is a type of auxiliary that is used to form the negative of a main verb. The main verb itself has no personal endings, while the negative verb takes the inflection. The English auxiliary don't or doesn't performs a similar function: one says we don't make, where make has no inflection, and don't is essentially a negative verb that indicates the person/number of we (contrast he doesn't with a different person/number).
English
In English, ordinary verbs take the auxiliary do when negated by not.
| Tense | Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| With a negative verb | With a negative adverb | ||
| Nonpast | I go there he goes there |
I don't go there he doesn't go there |
I never go there he never goes there |
| Past | I went there he went there |
I didn't go there he didn't go there |
I never went there he never went there |
Uralic languages
The negative verb is typical of the Uralic languages. Uralic languages inflect by person, thus one word, the negative verb corresponds to e.g. "I don't" (Finnish en) or "doesn't" (ei).
Finnish
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Finnish. In the present tense, the form of the main verb is just the stem of the present form without a personal ending, e.g. lähden – en lähde ("I leave" – "I do not leave"), menisit – et menisi ("you would go" – "you would not go"), syönee – ei syöne ("he/she may eat" – "he/she may not eat"), ottakaamme – älkäämme ottako ("let's take" – "let's not take"). In the imperfect tense, the form of the main verb is the past participle, e.g. otin – en ottanut ("I took" – "I did not take"), otimme – emme ottaneet ("we took" – "we did not take").
Indicative, conditional, and potential
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | en | emme |
| 2. | et | ette |
| 3. | ei | eivät |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | - | älkäämme |
| 2. | älä | älkää |
| 3. | älköön | älkööt |
Estonian
In Estonian, the negative verb is evident only in the imperative mood.
Indicative, conditional, and oblique
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ei | ei |
| 2. | ei | ei |
| 3. | ei | ei |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | - | ärgem; ärme |
| 2. | ära | ärge |
| 3. | ärgu | ärgu |
Inari Sami
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Inari Sami:
Indicative, conditional, and potential mood
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | jie´m | eän | ep |
| 2. | jie´h | eppee | eppeđ |
| 3. | ij | eä´vá | eä |
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | eällum | eäl´loon | eällup |
| 2. | ele | ellee | elleđ |
| 3. | eä´lus | eällus | eällus |
Northern Sami
The negative verb is conjugated in moods and personal forms in Northern Sami.
Indicative, conditional, and potential mood
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | in | ean | eat |
| 2. | it | eahppi | ehpet |
| 3. | ii | eaba | eai |
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | allon | allu | allot |
| 2. | ale | alli | allet |
| 3. | allos | alloska | alloset |
Hungarian
Hungarian has lost most evidence of a negative verb, but the negation particle nem becomes ne before verbs in the jussive/imperative (also sometimes called the conditional mood, or J-mood).
Furthermore, the 3rd person present indicative of the copular verb (lenni) has unique negative forms nincs(en) and nincsenek as opposed to nem van and nem vannak, but only when the particle and verb would occur adjacently. In all other instances the copular verb acts regularly. These forms are also unique in that they have an existential role "there is (not)" and "there are (not)". In the present indicative 3rd person, copular verbs are not used, rather the absence of a verb (with or without a negation particle) implies the copula.
Japanese
The basic pattern is u becomes anai.
| Type | Negative | Examples | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irregular verbs | |||
| suru | shinai | benkyō suru | benkyō shinai |
| kuru | konai | ||
| aru | nai | ||
| da | de wa nai ja nai |
||
| masu stem | masen | ikimasu (go, polite) | ikimasen |
| Regular verbs | |||
| u | wanai | tsukau (use) | tsukawanai |
| ku | kanai | yaku (burn) | yakanai |
| gu | ganai | oyogu (swim) | oyoganai |
| su | sanai | hanasu (speak) | hanasanai |
| tsu | tanai | matsu (wait) | matanai |
| nu | nanai | shinu (die) | shinanai |
| bu | banai | yobu (call) | yobanai |
| mu | manai | yomu (read) | yomanai |
| ru (consonant stem) | ranai | hashiru (run) | hashiranai |
| iru, eru (vowel stem) | inai, enai | kaeru (change) | kaenai |
| Adjectives | |||
| i adjectives | ku nai | itai (painful) | itaku nai |
| na adjectives | de wa nai ja nai |
kantan da | kantan de wa nai kantan ja nai |
- The nai ending conjugates in two ways.
- As an i adjective. For example the past tense of tabenai is tabenakatta and the te form is tabenakute.
- There is a special te form made by adding de. For example, tabenaide. This is used, for example, in tabenaide kudasai: "Please don't eat (this)".
Korean
Korean verbs can be negated by the negative verbs 않다 anta and 못하다 mothada or by the negative adverbs 안 an and 못 mot. The copula 이다 ida has a corresponding negative copula 아니다 anida.
| Verb | Tense | Affirmative | With a negative verb | With a negative adverb | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 않다 anta | 못하다 mothada | 안 an | 못 mot | |||
| 가다 gada |
Nonpast | 간다 ganda |
가지 않는다 gaji anneunda |
가지 못한다 gaji mothanda |
안 간다 an ganda |
못 간다 mot ganda |
| Past | 갔다 gatda |
가지 않았다 gaji anatda |
가지 못했다 gaji mothaetda |
안 갔다 an gatda |
못 갔다 mot gatda | |
| 먹다 meokda |
Nonpast | 먹는다 meongneunda |
먹지 않는다 meokji anneunda |
먹지 못한다 meokji mothanda |
안 먹는다 an meongneunda |
못 먹는다 mot meongneunda |
| Past | 먹었다 meogeotda |
먹지 않았다 meokji anatda |
먹지 못했다 meokji mothaetda |
안 먹었다 an meogeotda |
못 먹었다 mot meogeotda | |
Dravidian languages
Kannada
The negative mood in Kannada is conjugated by adding the PNG (Person-Number-Gender) marker to the root without a tense marker. It is occasionally used in common speech conjugated, usually with a few common defective verbs in the Negative Mood. e.g. ಸಾಲದು (saaladu) - It is not sufficient, ಕೂಡದು (kUDadu) - It is not fitting ( Not possible / Should not) However, it is very often used in negative adjectives derived from verbal roots' participial forms.
| Singular | Meaning | Plural | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಮಾಡೆನು (maaDenu) | I do (will) not do | ಮಾಡೆವು (maaDevu) | We do (will) not do |
| ಮಾಡೆ (maaDe) | You (Informal) do (will) not do | ಮಾಡರಿ (ಮಾಡಿರಿ) (maaDari (maaDiri)) | You (Formal) do (will) not do |
| ಮಾಡನು (maaDanu) | He does (will) not do | ಮಾಡರು (maaDaru) | They do (will) not do (This can also be used to refer formally to the third person) |
| ಮಾಡಳು (maaDaLu) | She does (will) not do | ಮಾಡರು (maaDaru) | They do (will) not do |
| ಮಾಡದು (maaDadu) | It does (will) not do | ಮಾಡವು (maaDavu) | They do (will) not do |
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