- Negative verb
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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).
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Negative Verb in 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 us take’ – ’let us 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
Although the negative verb is conjugated for mood and person in Estonian, the indicative, conditional and potential no longer have distinctive forms for each person (cf. the Finnish negative verb above).
Indicative, conditional, and modus obliquus
Person Singular Plural 1. ei ei 2. ei ei 3. ei ei Person Singular Plural 1. - ärgem 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
See also: Japanese verb conjugations#NegativeThe 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 shimesu (show) shimesanai 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 kigaeru (change clothes) kigaenai Adjectives i adjectives ku nai itai (painful) itakunai na adjectives de wa nai
ja nai
kantan 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 negative verbs With negative adverbs 않다 anta 못하다 mothada 안 an 못 mot 가다
gadaNonpast 간다
ganda가지 않는다
gaji anneunda가지 못한다
gaji mothanda안 간다
an ganda못 간다
mot gandaPast 갔다
gatda가지 않았다
gaji anatda가지 못했다
gaji mothaetda안 갔다
an gatda못 갔다
mot gatda먹다
meokdaNonpast 먹는다
meongneunda먹지 않는다
meokji anneunda먹지 못한다
meokji mothanda안 먹는다
an meongneunda못 먹는다
mot meongneundaPast 먹었다
meogeotda먹지 않았다
meokji anatda먹지 못했다
meokji mothaetda안 먹었다
an meogeotda못 먹었다
mot meogeotdaDravidian 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 West Flemish
West Flemish makes use of such a verb as well:
Singular Plural nink I don't niew we don't nèjg you don't nèjg you don't nieg one doesn't nèns they don't Categories: - The nai ending conjugates in two ways.
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