"二時ではありません。"
Translation:It is not two o'clock.
57 Comments
I'm glad to learn any scrap of language I get taught in these lessons, but sometimes the method makes me laugh. I doubt the people of Japan spend very much time telling each other what time it's not.
Well, if you add one little word, it would make perfect sense: It isn't 2 o'clock YET
It makes sense in a conversation when it comes up. True it might not come up often, but it could help when trying to plan events and times to hang out and maybe remind someone that an event doesn't start at a usual time.
Can anyone explain the de after the ji? I know from my experience in Japanese that de is like "at", but why is it de and then also ha(wa)?
二時です It's two o'clock. an affirmative sentence
二時ではありません It's not two o'clock. a negative sentence
This 'de' of 'dewa-arimasen' is different from 'de' means 'at'.
Actually is just a nagative way to say desu(des).
Desu = "it is" before Noun or Adjective Dewaarimasen = "it is not"
Masu (mas) = "it is" before Verb Masen = "it is not"
And their's more and past tense about them. What i know.
I think ではありません is a longer, more formal version of ありません. So the は here is not the same as the は-particle which indicates the topic of a sentence. ありません is the negative form of あります (dictionary form ある) which can be translated with "there is" or "(I) have". Instead of ではありません, you could also use じゃないです which is the negative form of です (though there also exists a more formal version). (no guaranty on the above as I'm still learning as well.)
You are pretty close. "dewa arimasen" is the negative form of desu, not a more formal version of arimasen. However, these two words are very closely related, etymologically. Although both are used to expression existence, they have slightly different applications in speech.
Basically, if you would use "arimasu" for the affirmative version of a sentence, you could use "arimasen" for the negative. If you would use "desu" for the affirmative, then you could use "dewa arimasen" to form the negative.
However, there are a couple of other ways of getting to the same place with varying degrees of formality. Both arimasen and dewa arimasen are formal.
ja arimasen is still formal, but a little less so.
ja nai desu is also formal, but even less so.
ja nai is pretty casual.
dewa nai is another casual version of negative desu/da.
As for the "wa" in "dewa", it is definitely acting as a particle, but it is serving a different function from the stand-alone "wa" that has been introduced so far in the course. In this case, it can be seen as simply part of the "conjugation" of desu to the negative form and left at that.
Be aware, the word "dewa" can also be used on its own in a more complex sentence, to add additional meaning. Here's an article discussing it, if you are interested:
And another resource describing how to conjugate desu and aru.
http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com/BeingVerbs.asp
Thanks a lot for the in depth description. I'm still getting a bit confused with all these different forms especially considering which is more formal than what other one. The article is quite interesting as well. :)
That would be more akin to saying "the concept of two o'clock does not exist." The で here is a shortened form of です. The literal translation ends up being something like "'It is two o'clock' is not true."
No. In this sentence, ではありません is the negative form of です, the copula. The grammar involved in this construction is pretty advanced, but the whole thing basically means "is not" (in polite speech).
You should be careful to avoid confusing ではありません with ありません. They look similar, but the difference between them is significant.
いぬがありません。(inu ga arimasen)
"There is no dog."/"A dog does not exist."
いぬではありません。 (inu dewa arimasen)
"(It) is not a dog."
2時がありません。(ni ji ga arimasen.)
"There is no Two o'clock"/"Two o'clock does not exist."
2時ではありません。(ni ji dewa arimasen)
"(It) is not Two o'clock."
Kinda confused why it's so short to say something "is" but "is not" is a whole long string-? De/wa/arima/sen seems like four functions?
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I don't know a ton, but it basically boils down to - in Japanese verbs have suffixes that make it positive, and suffixes rhat make it negative. Ive seen the suffix -massen used to make things negative.
Masen is used for verbs, tabemasu = eat, tabemasen = not eat. Dewa arimasen is used for nouns.
No, a couple of errors. First, it's では or じゃ not でわ, but also ではありません is the negation of ではあります, which is nowadays usually shortened to です. じゃないです is arguably the actual negative form of です, since it is typically nothing more than a politeness marker.
The ～ではありません here is a bit more formal and/or polite. But both negative forms are fine.
I recommend using other resources to actually learn Japanese. For a similar app that does Japanese much better, I recommend LingoDeer.
DuoLingo has a great community, but the app itself does not explain much. This style works okay for learning hiragana and some vocab, but fails utterly at providing an adequate grammar foundation to a person with no prior knowledge of this language. You will need to use other resources to get that knowledge in place. Then you can use DuoLingo to test yourself and strengthen your recall.
In English, whenever the time is a whole hour (1:00, 2:00 et cetera, but not 2:30 et cetera), you say, "It is [hour] o'clock." We used to say "of the clock," but this got shortened down and nobody at all says that anymore.
２時です。
にじです。
It is two o'clock.
２時半です。
にじはんです。
It is half past two o'clock.
２時３０分です。
にじさんじゅっぷんです。
It is two thirty.
You can also leave out the "o'clock" on conversation, although this may cause confusion if the person whom you're talking to doesn't know you're talking about time.
何時ですか？
なんじですか？
What time is it?
２時です。
にじです。
It's two.
You cannot leave out the 時 (じ) in Japanese.
It's of the clock, so 2 o'clock is just saying 2 AM/PM. Kind of old but we still use it today.
I got "there's typos in your answer" when I put in the answer "it's two o'clock" instead of "it is". However, the only available answer here is "it's" as the is no "it is".
２時です。
It is two o'clock.
２時ではありません。
It is not two o'clock.
You're lucky they counted it as a typo!
ではありません is the polite negative form of the copula. It means "is/are/am not" The subject is separate. Frequently, in Japanese, the subject is left out completely and implied based on context. In many cases, the default implied subject is the speaker.
In this case, the subject is not specified, but it doesn't make sense to say "I am not two o'clock." So the implied subject is "it".
"(It) is not two o'clock."
Just a clarification, the (it) is in parentheses because it isn't literally in the Japanese sentence—it's still required in English. Please don't report "Is not two o'clock," as a correct response.
What is the difference between denwaarimasen vs masen? I think understand they both make the sentences negative, but im not sure when to use each instance.
ではありません is the polite negative form of the Japanese copula, です. While -ません is the polite negative ending for a verb, like "to talk" or "to go".
If you want to say "My brother does not go to school." 兄は学校に行きません。And if you want to say "My sister is not a student." 妹は学生ではありません。
Just be careful to avoid confusing ありません (negative form of ある) and ではありません. ある and です are related, but not the same.
学校はありません。 "There is no school."
学校ではありません。 "(It) is not a school."
二時じゃないでした。which is a bit more informal or 二時ではありませんでした。if you want to keep the more formal form with ではありません.
For putting verbs in the past tense, you change the ～ます-ending to ～ました for the affirmative and ～ません to ～ませんでした for the negative meaning.
With adjectives and nouns it's a bit more complicated as you have to adjust the ending according to wether it's an い- or な-adjective (nouns conjugate same as な-adjectives).
For い-adjectives (i.e. たかい), you loose the final ～い and add ～かったです for the affirmative and ～くなかったです for the negative. (Note: いい is irregular and changes to よかったです/よくなかったです).
For な-adjectives (i.e. げんきな), you loose the ～な and add ～でした and ～じゃなかったです respectively.
I wrote, no, its not 2 o clock and it shows its wrong. I have cleared JLPT N5. I am just practicing further with this bit this really is closed.
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As a shift manager at my job, I could use this sentence a lot.
Lazy co-worker: Welp! I'm off. Later, losers!
Me: Hey! 二時ではありません。Get back to work!
Seems a little polite for that, doesn't it? Maybe as a polite refusal if you told someone they could go home early..
