Explanation
Use a negative contraction to make a short, natural negative form. Look at "I'm not hungry." Here, "I'm" means "I am," and "not" makes the sentence negative. English usually keeps a helper verb before "not," such as "am," "is," "are," "do," "does," or "can." Japanese often uses "〜じゃない" or "〜ません" without a helper verb, so learners may forget that English needs one. In speech, people often say "isn't," "don't," and "can't" instead of the full forms.
否定の短縮形は、短く自然に「〜ではない」と言うときに使います。例えば "I'm not hungry." では、"I'm" は "I am" の短縮形で、"not" が否定を作っています。英語では、"am," "is," "are," "do," "does," "can" などの助動詞の後ろに "not" を置くのが基本です。日本語は「〜じゃない」「〜ません」でそのまま否定できるので、英語でも助動詞を忘れやすいです。会話では "is not" より "isn't"、"do not" より "don't" のほうがよく使われます。
Examples
- I'm not hungry. 私はお腹が空いていません。
- She isn't at school today. 彼女は今日は学校にいません。
- We don't have a car. 私たちは車を持っていません。
- He can't swim very well. 彼はあまり上手に泳げません。
- Aren't you ready yet? まだ準備できていないの？
- It isn't raining, so we can go out. 雨は降っていないので、外に出られます。
Common Mistakes
Japanese learners often drop the helper verb and say "I not like coffee." English needs the helper verb, so say "I don't like coffee." Another common mistake is using "I is not" or "He no is." The correct forms are "I'm not" and "He isn't."
日本語では助動詞なしで否定できるため、"I not like coffee." のように助動詞を抜きがちです。正しくは "I don't like coffee." です。ほかにも "I is not" や "He no is" のように言ってしまうことがありますが、正しくは "I'm not" と "He isn't" です。