Japanese Negation: How to Say "Not" in Japanese
Japanese negation works differently depending on whether you are negating a verb, adjective, or noun. Each has its own form, and tense changes affect the negative too.
Verb negation
Plain negative: Group 1 → あ-row + ない. Group 2 → remove る + ない. する→しない, くる→こない. Polite negative: ～ません.
Common mistakes
Using ないで and なくて interchangeably
Rightないで = without doing X; なくて = not doing X, so/and...
食べないで来た = came without eating. 食べなくて困った = didn't eat, so I was in trouble. ないで connects a negative action to what follows; なくて shows cause/reason.
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What is the difference between ないで and なくて in Japanese?
ないで means "without doing X" — describing the manner of the main action. なくて is the te-form of ない and indicates reason/cause: "because I didn't do X". 朝ご飯を食べないで学校に行った (went to school without eating breakfast) vs 朝ご飯を食べなくて元気が出なかった (because I didn't eat breakfast, I had no energy).