～ません

ません is the negative of ます. Swap one for the other and "eat" becomes "do not eat": たべます食べます → たべません食べません. Nothing else in the sentence moves.

Like ます, it covers both habits and the future: "do not" and "will not".

は in a negative sentence

In a negative sentence the thing not eaten or not done often takes は in place of を. Both are correct. は singles the thing out: not this, whatever else may be true.

Common mistakes

Japanese picks the negative by the kind of word. A noun takes ではありません, an い-adjective changes い to くない, and a verb takes ません. The noun ending does not go on a verb.

• × 食べますではありません → 食べません
• × 食べますじゃないです → 食べません

Usage notes

These go beyond the basic polite sentence.

Not much, not at all

あまり with ～ません means "not much" or "not often". ぜんぜん全然 with ～ません means "not at all".

～ませんか is an invitation

～ませんか is usually not a real negative question. It invites: "won't you…?", "would you like to…?"

From the dictionary form

～ません goes on the same ます-stem as ～ます.

• Ichidan verbs (v1) drop る: 食べる → 食べません, 見る → 見ません
• Godan verbs (v5) change the last sound to the い-row: 飲む → 飲みません, 行く → 行きません, 帰る → 帰りません
• する → しません, 来る → 来ません (read きません)

The plain negative

With friends and family the negative is the ない-form: たべない食べない, のまない飲まない. ～ないです also turns up in conversation as a softer polite negative, but ～ません is the standard one.

Related forms

ました is the past (did) and ませんでした the negative past (did not). Both replace ます in the same place.