じゃない: Affirmative vs. Negative

[masaegu]

***Native speakers and those who claim to be fluent, please refrain from answering.　This will be too easy for you.　

Tell me in which sentences 「じゃない」 is being used for affirmative rather than negative.　Do not hesitate to post your answer. Make mistakes or you never will learn Japanese.　

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？

Vocab Aid:
車（くるま） = a car
日本人（にほんじん） = a Japanese person
信（しん）じる = to believe
結婚（けっこん） = a marriage
約束（やくそく） = a promise
日本語（にほんご） = the Japanese language
ペラペラ = fluent
顔（かお） = a face
買（か）う = to buy

I will be posting the answers in a couple of days.

[KyleGoetz]

I claim to be nearly fluent, but I'm going to hazard a guess anyway because this structure gives me problems sometime.















(spoiler space)

Originally Posted by masaegu

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！affirmative
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！affirmative
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　affirmative

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。negative
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。negative
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！affirmative?

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！ negative
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・affirmative
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！double affirmative

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！negative
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？affirmative

I'm going to attempt a rule: if the structure is not grammatically correct as a negative sentence, it's positive. Otherwise it's negative.

This ends up being true for all but #2 and half of #9 I think.

[evanny]

Originally Posted by masaegu

***Native speakers and those who claim to be fluent, please refrain from answering.　This will be too easy for you.　

Tell me in which sentences 「じゃない」 is being used for affirmative rather than negative.　Do not hesitate to post your answer. Make mistakes or you never will learn Japanese.　

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？

Vocab Aid:
車（くるま） = a car
日本人（にほんじん） = a Japanese person
信（しん）じる = to believe
結婚（けっこん） = a marriage
約束（やくそく） = a promise
日本語（にほんご） = the Japanese language
ペラペラ = fluent
顔（かお） = a face
買（か）う = to buy


I will be posting the answers in a couple of days.

1.Tshirt isn't good looking.
2. it is not ok, since (you) did "that" thing.
3. "iku.te" is like "iku soudesu?" then negative, like "she/he didn't tell that it looks like they are going to Disney land.
4.car isn't...orange?
5. i don't think he is japanese.
6. isn't easy?
7.she isn't like that..
8. someone received a proposal..but you didn't keep your promise.
9. Johnson isn't awesome. his japanese isn't fluent.
10. can't see ( he doesn't have?) a face because of the hat?
11. this takii isn't tasty. where did you buy it?

i have an exam so i am running late. i'll check up once i am back.
hope i didn't fail too hard.

.............
or was this about like...aa. hard to put it into words. like when asked. but...ahh. i don't have time...ill tell you later.

[yuriyuri]

I'm no where near fluent so here are my answers:

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！affirmative
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！affirmative
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ affirmative

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。negative
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。negative
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！affirmative

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！ negative
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・affirmative
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！affirmative

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！negative
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？affirmative

[evanny]

hei. i just noticed that all of my texts are in negative. i guess i f***ed up with my translations, huh?

[blutorange]

Spoilers: Don't read if you intend to take on the test.

Originally Posted by evanny

そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！
1.Tshirt isn't good looking.

It looks good. This phrase is usually used to express the affirmative.

３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　
3. "iku.te" is like "iku soudesu?" then negative, like "she/he didn't tell that it looks like they are going to Disney land.

って言う is just a more casual version of と言う here. Thus, "You said we would go to disneyland, didn't you?"

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。
4.car isn't...orange?

オレの＝俺の=mine
=> This isn't my car.

８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・
8. someone received a proposal..but you didn't keep your promise.

Not someone, more like, "Didn't you promise you'd marry me?".

９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！
9. Johnson isn't awesome. his japanese isn't fluent.

The opposite. じゃん is definitely affirmative (「…じゃないかの意」・「(『じゃない』の変化したも� ��。俗な話し言葉)…ではないか。…だね。」). He's good at Japanese.

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！
10. can't see ( he doesn't have?) a face because of the hat?

This isn't meant to be taken literally. Literally, it means "As for a man, it's not the face. It's the heart [that counts.]" => "It's not about the looks/outward appearance, but about the inner values."

１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？
11. this takii isn't tasty. where did you buy it?

クッキー is a cookie. Other than that, i's more likely one would want to know where you bought it if is tasty indeed. "This cookie tastes nice. Where did you buy it?"

[evanny]

now i see. in my rush i didn't even notice the じゃん　and read everything like じゃない.
i even miss-read cookie. ク　mixed up with タ.

man i have lot to learn

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by evanny

now i see. in my rush i didn't even notice the じゃん　and read everything like じゃない.
i even miss-read cookie. ク　mixed up with タ.

man i have lot to learn

Almost every single one is じゃない. This is often contracted to じゃん.

[evanny]

i meant the very fact that i didn't notice it up until now. even my teacher said that i sometimes rush over some sounds when trying to read fast.

btw. i still can't explain. but when is this connected to like questions?
it was something to do with...
子供はいませんか。
いいえ。います

はい。いません。

[ryuurui]

Originally Posted by evanny

man i have lot to learn

Cheer up man, we all do. I have more to do that I could fit in 3 lifetimes. That why life is so exciting.

I believe that じゃん is the old Aichi pref. local dialect (三河弁（みかわべん). It somehow migrated to Tokyo through Yokohama.