Pronunciation
janai
Meaning / Usage
Noun + じゃない
Verb + じゃない (Order not to do something)
Adjective + じゃない (just mean “isn’t it?”)
When it is used for a negative sentence, It negates the preceding part.
Casual version of ではない
- In conversational Japanese, it can be used for positive sentence, implying “isn’t it?” or “Don’t you think so?”
When this is used after adjective, it often becomes a positive sentence.
In this positive usage, it is often followed by a question mark. See じゃない？
Examples
日本語は難しいけど、諦めるんじゃない！
にほんごはむずかしいけど、あきらめるんじゃない！
The Japanese language is hard, but don’t give up!
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Chart
Impolite ・・★・・ Polite Informal ・★・・・ Formal Macho ・・★・・ Cute Written ・・・★・ Spoken Uncommon ・・・★・ Common
Audio