How to Say “I Don’t” in Japanese: ～ません (Masen) for Beginners

Someone asks whether you drink coffee, but you do not:

A useful answer is:

The short answer

To make a polite action negative, change the ending ～ます (masu) to ～ません (masen). For polite beginner Japanese, this is one of the easiest ways to turn an action from positive to negative:

• たべます (tabemasu), “eat,” becomes たべません (tabemasen), “do not eat.”
• いきます (ikimasu), “go,” becomes いきません (ikimasen), “do not go.”
• のみます (nomimasu), “drink,” becomes のみません (nomimasen), “do not drink.”

If you already know the polite ～ます form of a verb, you can start making negative sentences immediately.

Answer a question with yes or no

Imagine someone asks this polite question:

If the answer is yes, repeat the verb. If the answer is no, change its ending:

1. はい、たべますHai, tabemasu.Yes, I do.
2. いいえ、たべませんIie, tabemasen.No, I don’t.

Only the verb ending changes: たべます (tabemasu) becomes たべません (tabemasen). That contrast is worth learning as a pair: ～ます (masu) means do or will do, and ～ません (masen) means do not or will not do.

Change ます into ません

For the polite verbs in this lesson, the transformation is straightforward. Keep the part before ます and swap ます for ません. のみます (nomimasu), “drink,” いきます (ikimasu), “go,” and べんきょうします (benkyou shimasu), “study,” become:

1. のみませんnomimasendo not drink
2. いきませんikimasendo not go
3. べんきょうしませんbenkyou shimasendo not study

You may already know one example: わかりません (wakarimasen), “I don’t understand,” is the ～ません form of わかります (wakarimasu), “I understand.”

The same change works for あります (arimasu, “there is”), which becomes ありません (arimasen); see how to say “there is” in Japanese.

Read these as pairs. In each pair, only the ending changes:

1. たべますTabemasu.I eat. / I will eat.
2. たべませんTabemasen.I don’t eat. / I will not eat.
3. のみますNomimasu.I drink. / I will drink.
4. のみませんNomimasen.I don’t drink. / I will not drink.
5. いきますIkimasu.I go. / I will go.
6. いきませんIkimasen.I don’t go. / I will not go.
7. みますMimasu.I watch. / I will watch.
8. みませんMimasen.I don’t watch. / I will not watch.
9. べんきょうしますBenkyou shimasu.I study. / I will study.
10. べんきょうしませんBenkyou shimasen.I don’t study. / I will not study.

Use ～ません for things you do not do

When you talk about your habits, ～ません says what is not part of them: coffee, meat, or television.

1. コーヒーをのみませんKoohii o nomimasen.I don’t drink coffee.
2. にくをたべませんNiku o tabemasen.I don’t eat meat.
3. テレビをみませんTerebi o mimasen.I don’t watch television.

The negative information comes at the end of the sentence.

Compare the positive and negative versions of the same sentence. You can keep the rest of the sentence and change only the verb ending:

1. テレビをみますTerebi o mimasu.I watch television.
2. テレビをみませんTerebi o mimasen.I don’t watch television.

Use ～ません for something you will not do

The same polite form also works for a future action. Imagine someone asks about tomorrow, and you answer that you are not going:

1. あした、がっこうにいきますかAshita, gakkou ni ikimasu ka.Are you going to school tomorrow?
2. いいえ、いきませんIie, ikimasen.No, I’m not going.

Here, いきません (ikimasen) is naturally understood as a future negative because the question is about tomorrow. Compare the positive and negative plans:

1. あした、いきますAshita, ikimasu.I will go tomorrow.
2. あした、いきませんAshita, ikimasen.I will not go tomorrow.

Japanese uses the same polite ～ません form where English chooses between “don’t” and “won’t.” Words such as あした (ashita, tomorrow) and the context show the time.

Answer with just the verb

When someone asks whether you study Japanese, you do not need to repeat にほんご (nihongo) in your answer:

1. にほんごをべんきょうしますかNihongo o benkyou shimasu ka.Do you study Japanese?
2. いいえ、べんきょうしませんIie, benkyou shimasen.No, I don’t.

The coffee question works the same way:

1. AコーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. Bいいえ、のみませんIie, nomimasen.No, I don’t.

The question has already established what you are talking about, so the answer does not need to repeat the object or say “I.” Why Japanese Drops “I” and “You” explains this kind of short answer.

Watch one conversation change

A friend asks about your morning. Each answer copies the verb from the question and only decides between ます and ません: no coffee, yes to breakfast, and no school tomorrow.

1. AコーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. Bいいえ、のみませんIie, nomimasen.No, I don’t.
3. AあさごはんをたべますかAsagohan o tabemasu ka.Do you eat breakfast?
4. Bはい、たべますHai, tabemasu.Yes, I do.
5. Aあした、がっこうにいきますかAshita, gakkou ni ikimasu ka.Are you going to school tomorrow?
6. Bいいえ、いきませんIie, ikimasen.No, I’m not.

The question gives you the action. Your answer can be short because the rest is already understood.

ません is not the negative of です

This is a useful limitation. You have learned sentences like this one, which end in です:

You cannot simply replace です with ません. がくせいません (gakusei masen) is wrong for “I’m not a student.”

The ～ません pattern in this lesson is for polite verbs such as たべます (tabemasu), のみます (nomimasu), いきます (ikimasu), みます (mimasu) and べんきょうします (benkyou shimasu).

So たべます can become たべません, but です does not become ません. Nouns have their own polite negative, ではありません (dewa arimasen), which often becomes じゃありません (ja arimasen) in speech:

That is a separate pattern. For now, keep ～ません connected to the polite verb forms you already know.

Common mistakes

Adding ません after ます

To make のみます (nomimasu) negative, do not say のみますません (nomimasu masen). You are not adding a second ending. You are replacing one ending with another: のみます (nomimasu) becomes のみません (nomimasen).

The same applies to いきます (ikimasu), which becomes いきません (ikimasen), and たべます (tabemasu), which becomes たべません (tabemasen). Think: replace ます; do not add after ます.

Putting “not” somewhere else

English often places the negative before the main verb: “I do not eat sushi.” Japanese puts the negative information into the verb ending, so you do not need a separate word for “not”:

Compare the positive and negative sentence side by side. They stay almost identical until the end, which is another reason the final verb matters so much when listening to Japanese:

1. すしをたべますSushi o tabemasu.I eat sushi.
2. すしをたべませんSushi o tabemasen.I do not eat sushi.

Answering いいえ with a positive verb

Imagine someone asks whether you drink coffee:

If you say いいえ、のみます (iie, nomimasu), the beginning says “no,” but のみます is still positive, so the answer contradicts itself. If you mean that you do not drink coffee, make the verb negative too. The same applies to any verb:

1. いいえ、のみませんIie, nomimasen.No, I don’t.
2. いいえ、いきませんIie, ikimasen.No, I’m not going.
3. いいえ、たべませんIie, tabemasen.No, I don’t eat it.

Let the verb clearly carry the negative meaning.

Practise ～ません

Build the negative form

Change each verb from positive to negative by replacing ます with ません: たべます, のみます, いきます, みます and べんきょうします.

1. たべませんtabemasendo not eat
2. のみませんnomimasendo not drink
3. いきませんikimasendo not go
4. みませんmimasendo not watch / do not see
5. べんきょうしませんbenkyou shimasendo not study

Choose the right answer

1. Someone asks すしをたべますか, and you do not eat sushi. A. はい、たべます。 (Hai, tabemasu.) B. いいえ、たべません。 (Iie, tabemasen.)
2. Someone asks あした、いきますか, and you are going. A. はい、いきます。 (Hai, ikimasu.) B. いいえ、いきません。 (Iie, ikimasen.)
3. Someone asks コーヒーをのみますか, and you do not drink it. A. いいえ、のみません。 (Iie, nomimasen.) B. いいえ、のみます。 (Iie, nomimasu.)

Answers

1. B. The verb agrees with いいえ:

1. すしをたべますかSushi o tabemasu ka.Do you eat sushi?
2. いいえ、たべませんIie, tabemasen.No, I don’t.

2. A. You are going, so the verb stays positive:

1. あした、いきますかAshita, ikimasu ka.Are you going tomorrow?
2. はい、いきますHai, ikimasu.Yes, I am.

3. A. B starts with いいえ (iie) but keeps the positive のみます (nomimasu):

1. コーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. いいえ、のみませんIie, nomimasen.No, I don’t.

Make the whole sentence negative

Change each sentence so that the action does not happen. Keep the object and を (o) as they are; only the verb ending changes.

1. コーヒーをのみますKoohii o nomimasu.I drink coffee.
2. コーヒーをのみませんKoohii o nomimasen.I don’t drink coffee.
3. すしをたべますSushi o tabemasu.I eat sushi.
4. すしをたべませんSushi o tabemasen.I don’t eat sushi.
5. あした、がっこうにいきますAshita, gakkou ni ikimasu.I will go to school tomorrow.
6. あした、がっこうにいきませんAshita, gakkou ni ikimasen.I will not go to school tomorrow.
7. にほんごをべんきょうしますNihongo o benkyou shimasu.I study Japanese.
8. にほんごをべんきょうしませんNihongo o benkyou shimasen.I don’t study Japanese.

Answer for yourself

Read each question and give a true answer about yourself. For coffee, choose the answer that is true for you:

1. コーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. はい、のみますHai, nomimasu.Yes, I do.
3. いいえ、のみませんIie, nomimasen.No, I don’t.

Now answer these two in the same way:

1. すしをたべますかSushi o tabemasu ka.Do you eat sushi?
2. にほんごをべんきょうしますかNihongo o benkyou shimasu ka.Do you study Japanese?

The goal is to stop treating ～ません as a grammar fact and start using it to give real negative answers.

Keep this in mind

If you already have a polite verb ending in ～ます (masu), you can make the polite negative by changing it to ～ません (masen): たべます to たべません, のみます to のみません, いきます to いきません, みます to みません, and べんきょうします to べんきょうしません.

When someone asks a ～ますか (masu ka) question, you now have two basic answers available:

1. はい、～ますHai, ～masu.Yes, I do.
2. いいえ、～ませんIie, ～masen.No, I don’t.

One caution: adding か to the negative, as in ～ませんか (masen ka), usually makes an invitation rather than a plain negative question. いっしょにいきませんか (issho ni ikimasen ka) means “Would you like to go together?” How to Say “Let’s…” in Japanese compares it with ～ましょう.

That one change gives you a practical way to say not only what you do, but also what you do not do.

Continue learning

Turn these polite statements into questions with How to Ask Questions in Japanese: Add か to a Polite Sentence.

For another useful change to the ～ます ending, learn how to make suggestions with How to Say “Let’s…” in Japanese: ～ましょう for Beginners.

Then see why Japanese answers can omit words such as “I” when the context is already clear in Why Japanese Drops “I” and “You”: Leaving Out the Subject for Beginners.