What is じゃねぇか? What is its original form?

Question

完成前とずいぶん色が違うじゃねぇか！

In this sentence, what is じゃねぇか?

comeauch · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-29 12:32:51Z

8

じゃねぇか is just a colloquial form of the tag question じゃないか.

user1478

answered Aug 27, 2014 at 12:44

comeauch

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So じゃ　here is not the colloquial of では　as it usually is?
– 5argon
Aug 27, 2014 at 12:51
7

Yes it is! じゃねえか comes from じゃないか, which is the colloquial contraction of　ではないか？ (in English they would be very similar to: ain't it, isn't it and is it not, respectively)
– comeauch
Aug 27, 2014 at 12:58
5

What is derogatory about it? It is plain Kanto colloquial.
– user4032
Aug 27, 2014 at 14:42
Umm, are you still here? If you have time can you explain me why と　particle is being used? "Before completion AND the color not extremely differ!" I must be doing this wrong somewhere. (It's a step-by-step artwork article. This is the 5th step, 05 : 完成)
– 5argon
Aug 27, 2014 at 17:14
I'm not 100% sure, hopefully 非回答者 can help you better! Meanwhile, I believe it means "The color is really different compared to before completion, isn't it?" where 完成前と is short for 完成前と比べて (compared to before completion...) For sure, と has a few other uses than "with" (read this! japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa121601a.htm)
– comeauch
Aug 27, 2014 at 17:56

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Earthliŋ · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-29 13:31:56Z

This doesn't only happen with じゃない > じゃねえ, but generally /ai/ > /ee/, like

きたない > きたねえ
やばい > やべえ
(食{た}べたい = ) 食{く}いたい > 食いてえ

As in the other answer, this is extremely informal and in the wrong context can easily be considered plain rude.

_{Xと違う = to differ from X

完成前 = before completion}

Edit. For completeness, there's also

2 Answers 2