--- In [email protected], Aaron Ackerson
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On Sunday, January 8, 2006, at 01:12 PM, ai3131 wrote:
>
> > I would like to know if double negatives exist in Japanese. For
> > example, would one say "nanimo mimasen", or "nanimo mimasu"?
>
> I'm pretty sure the correct one is "nanimo mimasen."
>
> Aaron
>
Double negatives exist in Japanese, but they are not the "you-ain't
seen-nothing-yet" type. Japanese does not have this kind of double
negatives meaning emphasized negation. The reason is simple:
Japanse has no equivalent words for "nothing", "nobody", "nowhere",
etc.
In Japanese, double negatives are used as follows:
-Kare ga suki ja nai wake ja nai. (It isn't that I don't like him.)
-Kanojo ga shiranai hazu ga nai. (It's impossible that she doesn't
know.)
Kamui
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