ぬ
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Japanese Edit
Stroke order | |||
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Pronunciation Edit
Etymology 1 Edit
Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 奴 in the cursive sōsho style.
Syllable Edit
- The hiragana syllable ぬ (nu). Its equivalent in katakana is ヌ (nu). It is the twenty-third syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行う段 (na-gyō u-dan, “row na, section u”).
See also Edit
- (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐ゐ゙, 𛄟, ゑ𛅑ゑ゙, を𛅒を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ
Etymology 2 Edit
Originally the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of Classical Japanese negative suffix ず (zu). In modern Japanese, the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) (lemma, originally ず (zu)) assimilated to ぬ (nu). In turn, from Old Japanese. For further detail, see ず (zu).
Suffix Edit
- (archaic) (after the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of a verb) the negative: indicates negation of the action, ending without starting or occurring: not
Usage notes Edit
Word | dictionary form | mizenkei + -nu | historical kana |
---|---|---|---|
godan verbs (type 1) | |||
書く | かく (kaku) | かかぬ (kakanu) | |
泳ぐ | およぐ (oyogu) | およがぬ (oyoganu) | |
話す | はなす (hanasu) | はなさぬ (hanasanu) | |
待つ | まつ (matsu) | またぬ (matanu) | |
死ぬ | しぬ (shinu) | しなぬ (shinanu) | |
呼ぶ | よぶ (yobu) | よばぬ (yobanu) | |
読む | よむ (yomu) | よまぬ (yomanu) | |
作る | つくる (tsukuru) | つくらぬ (tsukuranu) | |
買う | かう (kau) | かわぬ (kawanu) | かはぬ |
ichidan verbs (type 2) | |||
見る | みる (miru) | みぬ (minu) | |
開ける | あける (akeru) | あけぬ (akenu) | |
irregular verbs (type 3) | |||
来る | くる (kuru) | こぬ (konu) | |
する | する (suru) | せぬ (senu) |
- This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
Conjugation Edit
Stem forms | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Imperfective (未然形) | - | - | ||
Continuative (連用形) | ず ん |
zu n | ||
Terminal (終止形) | ぬ ん |
nu n | ||
Attributive (連体形) | ぬ ん |
nu n | ||
Hypothetical (仮定形) | ね | ne | ||
Imperative (命令形) | - | - | ||
Key constructions | ||||
Passive | - | - | ||
Causative | - | - | ||
Potential | - | - | ||
Volitional | - | - | ||
Negative | - | - | ||
Negative continuative | - | - | ||
Formal | んです | ndesu | ||
Perfective | んだ | nda | ||
Conjunctive | んで | nde | ||
Hypothetical conditional | ねば | neba | ||
The missing forms are usually suppleted by the forms of ない. |
- For classical conjugation, see ず.
Synonyms Edit
(negative verb ending):
- (very casual, also archaic, also dialectal) ん (n)
- (casual) ない (nai)
- (formal) ません (masen)
- (written formal) ず (zu)
- (Kansai) へん (hen)
Etymology 3 Edit
From Old Japanese.[1][2][3]
Many monolingual Japanese dictionaries[1][2][3] derive this as a contraction of Old Japanese 往ぬ (inu, “to go away; to pass (such as time); to pass away, to die”); however, the meaning does not seem to make sense in the context of the verb ending -nu.
More recent work by Bjarke Frellesvig and others suggests that -nu may have originated from an ancient copular or stative verb.
Suffix Edit
- (Classical Japanese or literary) (after the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb) the perfective: indicates completion of the action, ending after starting or occurring: has done, has happened
- 風が立ちぬ
- kaze ga tachinu
- the wind has risen / has picked up
- 風が立ちぬ
Usage notes Edit
- In Old Japanese and continuing in classical and later Japanese, the ending ぬ (nu) and the ending つ (tsu) have both been used to mark the completion of an action. ぬ (nu) was used mainly for verbs that indicated intransitive, naturally occurring, or unintentional actions, while つ (tsu) was used mainly for verbs that indicated transitive or intentional actions. In the shift to modern Japanese, this distinction was lost, and Classical つ (tsu) developed into modern た (ta).
- In classical Japanese, perfective ぬ (nu) conjugates differently from negative ぬ (nu) (ず (zu)) as shown in the following table:
Negative ぬ (nu) (ず (zu)) Perfective ぬ (nu) Attaches to verb stem conjugated to → Irrealis / 未然形 (mizenkei) Continuative / 連用形 (ren'yōkei) Conjugates to ↓ Irrealis / 未然形 (mizenkei) ず (zu) な (na) Continuative / 連用形 (ren'yōkei) ず (zu) に (ni) Terminal / 終止形 (shūshikei) ず (zu) ぬ (nu) Attributive / 連体形 (rentaikei) ぬ (nu) ぬる (nuru) Realis / 已然形 (izenkei) ね (ne) ぬれ (nure) Imperative / 命令形 (meireikei) - ね (ne)
- In modern Japanese, ぬ (nu) is rarely encountered, and it often imparts a formal or archaic sense.
- This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
Conjugation Edit
Synonyms Edit
(perfective verb ending):
References Edit
Kunigami Edit
Etymology Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Particle Edit
ぬ (nu)
- possessive particle
Miyako Edit
Etymology Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Particle Edit
ぬ (nu)
- possessive particle
Okinawan Edit
Etymology Edit
From Proto-Ryukyuan *no, from Proto-Japonic *nə (“nominative and genitive case marker”). Cognate with Japanese の (no).
Pronunciation Edit
Particle Edit
ぬ (nu)
- genitive case marker
- nominative case marker
- Indicates the subject of a sentence.
- 天道ぬ上がゆん。
- Tīda-nu agayun.
- The sun rises.
- 鳥ぬ鳴ちゅん。
- Tui-nu nachun.
- The birds sing.
- Indicates the subject of a sentence.
Usage notes Edit
References Edit
- “ヌ” in Okinawa Center of Language Study, Shuri-Naha Dialect Dictionary (archived; reopens 2024).
Old Japanese Edit
Etymology Edit
The conjugation of this auxiliary verb appears to follow that of a defective n-row 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō) paradigm rather than a ナ行変格活用 (na-gyō henkaku katsuyō) paradigm, despite the fact that there was never an n-row 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō) paradigm.
Notably, this verb has no attested 終止形 (shūshikei); uses and conjugations off of にす (nisu) are seen instead. This verb also has no attested 命令形 (meireikei).
Suffix Edit
ぬ (-nu)
- (following the irrealis stem of verbs)
- expresses negation; not
Conjugation Edit
Stem forms | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Irrealis (未然形) | な | na | ||
Continuative (連用形) | に | ni | ||
Terminal (終止形) | [1] | - | ||
Attributive (連体形) | ぬ | nu | ||
Realis (已然形) | ね | ne | ||
Imperative (命令形) | - | |||
Key constructions | ||||
Negative | - | |||
Contrasting conjunction | ねど | nedo | ||
Causal conjunction | ねば | neba | ||
Conditional conjunction | - | |||
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | - | |||
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | - | |||
Perfect tense (conscious action) | - | |||
Perfect tense (natural event) | - | |||
Perfect-continuative tense | - | |||
Adverbial | に | ni | ||
[1]にす (nisu) is used instead. |
Descendants Edit
- ず (zu)
Yaeyama Edit
Etymology Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Particle Edit
ぬ (nu)
- possessive particle
Yonaguni Edit
Etymology Edit
Pronunciation Edit
Particle Edit
ぬ (nu)
- possessive particle