月: 2026年1月

Japanese Learning: Present-Negative of Noun Predicate Sentence; [Noun1]wa [Noun2]dewa arimasen.

Japanese sentences are classified in three by the type of predicates;

1. Noun predicate sentences

2. Adjective predicate sentences (I-adjectives and Na-adjectives)

3. Verb predicate sentences

Today, too, we are going to learn “1. Noun predicate sentences”. Yesterday’s “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.” is a positive sentence. A negative sentence is as follows;

[Noun1]wa [Noun2]dewa arimasen.

“Arimasen” is actually a negative form of a verb “aru/arimasu” that means something exists. However, now we are learning noun predicate sentences, not verb predicate sentences. Therefore, I recommend you just remember “dewa arimasen” like a one word. In conversations, “dewa arimasen” is usually contracted to be “ja arimasen”.

Let’s look at the sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]dewa arimasen.”

-Noun1: a name of something.

-wa: this is the particle (post position) to indicate that preceding word is the topic of the sentence. When the topic and the subject are identical in the sentence, “-wa” can be a subject marker as well as topic marker.

-Noun2: a name of something.

-dewa arimasen (-ja arimasen): Being placed at the end of a sentence, this functions to make the sentence present-negative. This ending is polite. Do not use the short form “dewa nai (ja nai)” for an ending of the sentence because it sounds rude.

Let’s make a noun predicate sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]dewa arimasen.” by putting real Japanese words.

Watashi: I (prenoun)

wa: topic marker (particle) — also subject marker in this case

Koukousei : a high school student. Although its spelling is “koukousei”, the pronunciation is like “Koh-koh-se-e”

dewa arimasen: present-negative, polite ending

Watashi wa Koukousei dewa arimasen. (I am not a high school student.)

Japanese Learnig: Noun predicate sentence; [Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.

Japanese sentences are classified in three by the type of predicates;

1. Noun predicate sentences

2. Adjective predicate sentences (I-adjectives or Na-adjectives)

3. Verb predicate sentences

Out of three, it is better to start with “1. Noun predicate sentences” when you learn Japanese as a second language. Today’s sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.” is a noun predicate sentence.

“Noun” means a group of words which means a name of something. Pronouns are also included in this category “Nouns”.

You find the sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.” consists four parts. They are as follows.

-Noun1: a name of something.

-wa: one of particles (post-positions) to indicate that preceding word is the topic of the sentence. We can call “-wa” a topic marker. However, a topic of a sentence coincides the subject of the sentence in many cases. Although there is another particle “-ga” that is subject marker, you need to know that particle “-wa” can also be a subject marker as well as topic marker.

-Noun2: a name of something.

-desu: At the end of a sentence, “desu” is attached to the behind of the noun predicate of a sentence. The function of “desu” is to make the sentence present-positive and to end the sentence politely.

Or you can think that the sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.” is comprising two segments. Then you will know that each segment is a combination of [meaningful word] plus [functional word]. And a meaningful word has a certain length, but a functional word is short as one letter, or two letters.

Let’s make a noun predicate sentence “[Noun1]wa [Noun2]desu.” by putting real Japanese words.

Watashi: I (prenoun)

wa: topic marker (particle) — also subject marker in this case

Dai-Gakusei : a university student

desu: present-positive, polite ending

Watashi wa Dai-Gakusei desu. (I am a university student.)