| Stroke order |
|---|
 |
- The realization of this phoneme depends on its phonetic context, as follows:
- IPA(key): [n] beforet,d,n,r,ts,z (phonetically: [t, d, n, ɾ, ts, dz])
- IPA(key): [m] beforem,p,b
- IPA(key): [ŋ] beforek,g
- IPA(key): [ɲ] beforeni,ch,j (phonetically: [ɲ, tɕ, dʑ])
- IPA(key): [ɴ] at the end of utterances
- IPA(key): [ɰ̃] before vowels,approximants (w,y), and fricatives (h,f,s,sh), often causingnasalization of the preceding vowel
- When speakers wish to convey the consonant very clearly, for example in classical singing or when spelling things out to someone who can't hear the speaker well, [m] may be used in place of [ɴ], and potentially even in all other positions.
Derived in theHeian period from writing theman'yōgana kanji无 in thecursivesōsho style.ん andむ were originally both used for both then andmu sounds;ん was designated asn in thescript reform.
ん• (n)
- Thehiragana syllableん(n). Its equivalent inkatakana isン(n). It is the forty-eighth syllable in thegojūon order.
/nu/ →/n/,/ŋ/
Anabbreviation of the negative endingぬ(nu).
ん• (-n)
- (after the未然形(mizenkei,“incomplete form”) of a verb):negative form of verbs
- 分からん
- wakaran
- Idon't know.
- 許せんぞ
- yurusen zo
- This isunforgivable!
- 北大路魯山人,『味覚馬鹿』
- あるといえばあるが、しかし、ほんとうのことはわからん。[1]
- Aru to ieba aru ga, shikashi, hontō no koto wa wakaran.
- There is, to be sure, but, I don't know the facts.
- The negative usage ofん (-n) is a colloquial form ofぬ(nu), and this is mainly used in western Japanese dialects.
- Sinceない is adopted as a standard form for the negative suffix in modern Japanese,ん gives a dialectal or very casual impression compared toない today except that it is standard when forming the negative ofます(-masu),ません(-masen).
- On the other hand,ん is common in fictional dialogue attributed to archaic or pompous characters.
- This is potentially ambiguous with thevolitionalん as both attach to the irrealis, so the intended meaning must be discerned from context.
- This word is morphologically aninflectionalsuffix. It is classified as助動詞(jodōshi,“auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
- (casual)ない(nai)
- (formal)ません(masen)
- (written formal)ず(zu)
- (Kansai)へん(hen)
Japanese basic inflections
| | | Verbs | -i adjectives | nouns and-na adjectives |
|---|
| Nonpast | Plain | Affirmative | Use the dictionary form | stem +い (-i) | noun +だ (da)
(noun +である (de aru)) |
|---|
| Negative | mizenkei +ない (-nai) | stem +くない (-ku nai) | noun +で（は）ない (de [wa] nai) |
|---|
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei +ます (-masu) | stem +いです (-i desu) | noun +です (desu) |
|---|
| Negative | ren'yōkei +ません (-masen) | stem +くないです (-ku nai desu)
stem +くありません (-ku arimasen) | noun +で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu)
noun +で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen) |
|---|
| Past | Plain | Affirmative | ren'yōkei (withonbin sound changes for Group I verbs) +た (-ta) | stem +かった (-katta) | noun +だった (datta)
(noun +であった (de atta)) |
|---|
| Negative | mizenkei +なかった (-nakatta) | stem +くなかった (-ku nakatta) | noun +で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta) |
|---|
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei +ました (-mashita) | stem +かったです (-katta desu) | noun +でした (deshita) |
|---|
| Negative | ren'yōkei +ませんでした (-masen deshita) | stem +くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu)
stem +くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita) | noun +で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu)
noun +で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita) |
|---|
| Volitional | Plain | mizenkei (of Group I verbs) +う (-u >-o)
mizenkei (of other verbs) +よう (-yō) | †stem +かろう (-karō)
(stem +いだろう (-i darō)) | noun +だろう (darō)
(noun +であろう (de arō)) |
|---|
| Polite | ren'yōkei +ましょう (-mashō) | (stem +いでしょう (-i deshō)) | noun +でしょう (deshō) |
|---|
| Conjunctive | ren'yōkei (withonbin sound changes for Group I verbs) +て (-te) | stem +くて (-kute) | noun +で (de)
(noun +であって (de atte)) |
|---|
| Hypothetical conditional | kateikei +ば (-ba) | stem +ければ (-kereba) | (noun +であれば (de areba)) |
|---|
/mu/ →/n/,/ŋ/
Anabbreviation of the intentional, volitional, and suppositional endingむ(mu).
- (reflex in modern language)う(-u)
ん• (-n)
- (no longerproductive, archaic)(after the未然形(mizenkei,“incomplete form”) of a verb):volitional form of verbs
- いざ行かん
- iza yukan
- Let's go.
- 神の御加護があらんことを
- kami no go-kago ga aran koto o
- God bless you.
- (literally, “May God's protection be with you.”)
- 北大路魯山人,『味覚馬鹿』
- 高級食器、美器をつくらんとするものは、美食に通ずべし。[2]
- Kōkyū shokki, biki o tsukuran to suru mono wa, bishoku ni tsūzu beshi.
- He whotries to make high-class tableware and beautyware, must be familiar with epicurism.
2004, Murakoshi, Suguru and trans. Blaustein, Jeremy, et al., quoting note on door,Silent Hill 4: The Room, Tokyo:Konami,PlayStation 2;Xbox;PC, level/area: One Truth room:汝、最深部へ行くには 一つの真実を倒せ
さすればこの扉開かれん- nanji, saishinbu e iku ni wa / hitotsu no shinjitsu o taose
sa sureba kono tobira hirakaren - To reach the deepest part, you must / defeat the One Truth.
Do so and this doorwill open. - (literally, “Thou, in going to the deepest part, / defeat the One Truth
If you do thusly this doorwould be opened”)
- The volitional usage ofん(-n) is a colloquial form ofむ(mu), and this is usually used to impart a literary style in modern Japanese.
- This is potentially ambiguous with thenegativeん as both attach to the irrealis, so the intended meaning must be discerned from context.
- In modern Japanese, this is more commonly realized as theう(-u > -ō) orよう(-yō) volitional verb ending. Seethe etymology of suffixよう(-yō) for more.
- This word is morphologically aninflectionalsuffix. It is classified as助動詞(jodōshi,“auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
/no/ →/n/,/ŋ/
Regularcontraction of thepossessive ornominalizing particleの(no). This contracted form is consideredinformal.
ん• (n)
- (informal)contraction ofの(no)
- 俺ん家に来ない？
- Oren chi ni konai?
- Wanna come tomy place?
- あの、聞きたいことがあるんだけど。
- Ano, kikitai koto ga arun da kedo.
- Excuse me, I have a questionthat I would like to ask.
- 甲賀三郎,『蜘蛛』
- 「とたてぐもの一種なんだよ。潮見君は毒蜘蛛と間違えたんだよ」[3]
- “Totategumo no isshu nan da yo. Shiomi-kun wa dokugumo to machigaetan da yo”
- "It's a type of trapdoor spider. You've mistaken it for a venomous spider."
/r-/ →/r/ →/n/,/ŋ/
Regularcontraction of variousmorae preceding anothermora starting with a nasalized consonant, such as/n/ or/d/. This contracted form is consideredinformal.
ん
- contraction ofら(ra)
- 家に帰らなきゃ。 →家に帰んなきゃ。
- Ie ni kaeranakya. → Ie ni kaennakya.
- I must go home.
- 涙が止まらない →涙が止まんない
- namida ga tomaranai → namida ga tomannai
- the tears won't stop
- contraction ofり(ri)
- 入りなさい！ →入んなさい！
- Hairi nasai! → Hain nasai!
- Come in!
- contraction ofる(ru)
- 何しているの？ →何してるの？ →何してんの？
- Nani shite iru no? → Nani shiteru no? → Nani shiten no?
- What are you doing? → What ya doing? → What'cha doin'?
- ふざけるな！→ふざけんな！
- Fuzakeru na! → Fuzaken na!
- Stop playing around!
- 気にするな →気にすんな
- ki ni suru na → ki ni sun na
- Don't mind.
- contraction ofれ(re)
- 信じられない。 →信じらんない。
- Shinjirarenai. → Shinjirannai.
- I can't believe it.
- それで→そんで
- sore de → son de
- and so
- contraction ofろ(ro)
- 色々な物。 →色んな物。
- Iroironamono. → Ironnamono.
- various things
- In this case, い is contracted by being dropped, similar to 〜ている → 〜てる (as evidenced by instances of 色々な being realized in speech as いろろな), and ろ is contracted by undergoing a sound change. This sound change almost never happens, and as such, it is more of an etymological explanation of 色んな (or similar, if any) rather than a general combining form of ん for ろ.
Possibly a reduced form ofちゃん.
ん• (-n)
- (women's speech) added to female names or parts of them to express affection
- 栞 → しおりん,一美 → ずみん,茜 → ねん
- Shiori → Shiorin, Kazumi → Zumin, Akane → Nen
- Shiori → Shiorin, Kazumi → Zumin, Akane → Nen (nicknames)
FromProto-Ryukyuan*ni, fromProto-Japonic*ni. Cognate withJapaneseに(ni).
ん (n)
- (locative marker)in;to;for;at
