Learning Japanese with Manga(Beginner Level)-JANAI

Today’s expression is じゃない（JANAI）.
You might think Janai always has negative meanings? It is sometimes used to ask for agreement or to blame someone, to show your surprise as well!

いいじゃん

Let us show you some examples from manga.

ケシゴムライフ 羽賀翔一 - マンガをTwitterに無料で使える！「マンガルー」

早子先生、婚活の時間です 立木早子 - マンガをTwitterに無料で使える！「マンガルー」

じゃない is made from 4 hiraganas, (し , や, な,い）so it is not too difficult to write JANAI in hiragana♪

• じゃ（JA）needs 2 dots at top right of し(SHI).

shi

ya

na

i

じゃない(JANAI) we practice today means ‘I think so’ or ‘Do you agree?’

You can add JANAI（じゃない） after adjectives/noun/ verbs(short forms).

For example…
かわいいじゃない！⤵(kawaiijanai) → It is cute!(accusingly/ surprisingly)
しずかじゃない！⤵(shizukajanai) →It is quiet!(accusingly/ surprisingly)
にちようびじゃない！⤵(nichiyoubijanai)→It is Sunday!(accusingly/ surprisingly)

But if you say janai with high pitch accent like when you ask a question,

かわいいじゃない？⤴(kawaiijanai?)→I think it is cute.Do you agree with me?
しずかじゃない？⤴(shizukajanai?)→I think it is quiet. Do you agree?
にちようびじゃない？⤴(nichiyoubijanai?)→I think it is Sunday. Do you agree?

You need to be careful with negative forms.

かわいい(kawaii) is いーadjective. かわいくない(kawaikunai) is ‘not cute.’
しずか(shizuka) is なーadjective.しずかじゃない(shizukajanai) is ‘not quiet.’
にちようび(nichiyoubi) is a noun.にちようびじゃない(nichiyoubijanai) is ‘not Sunday.’

As you can see, the negative form of Na-adjectives and nouns are the same with JANAI meaning ‘I think so’ ‘Do you agree?’ but the accent is different.

Let’s listen to some different JANAI below, listening to the difference carefully.

いろいろな 「じゃない」