ない形の作り方

## What it means The **nai-form** is the plain, casual way to say a verb in the negative — it means "don't ~" or "doesn't ~". It's the opposite of the plain form you use to say "do ~".

## When to use it How you build it depends on the verb group: - **Group 1 verbs** (end in う, つ, る, む, ぶ, ぬ, す, く, ぐ): change the last sound from an "u" sound to an "a" sound, then add ない. 買う → 買わない, 飲む → 飲まない, 話す → 話さない. - **Group 2 verbs** (end in る, stem +る pattern): just drop る and add ない. 食べる → 食べない, 見る → 見ない. - **Group 3 (irregular)**: する → しない, くる → こない. Once you know the nai-form, you can plug it into many other patterns, like "please don't ~" or "must ~".

## Don't confuse it with The most common mistake is mixing up the two verb groups — trying to turn 食べる into 食べらない (wrong) instead of 食べない, or turning 飲む into 飲まない correctly but then treating 見る the same way. Also watch out for ある ("to exist"), which has a special negative form ない instead of the expected あらない.