So in genki 1, it said that いい is changed to よ when being negative and it becomes よくない, and not いいじゃない. But I was watching a show and someone said いいじゃないですか. So now I'm kind of confused, can someone explain this to me?
Thank you
1 Answer
いい is a colloquial form of the adjective よい and is used only in dictionary/prenoun forms. Adjectives are negated not by じゃない, but by conjugation: よい→よくない, 青い→青くない.
じゃない in いいじゃない means isn't it.
To clarify:
- Xはよい=Xはいい：X is good
- Xはよくない：X isn't good
- Xはいいじゃない：X is good, isn't it? (よいじゃない as a combination should be less common, because よい is less colloquial and じゃない is colloquial)
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Basically, the negative of いい is よくない, never いいじゃない. Treat いいじゃない as its own separate fixed expression.– dvx2718Feb 9 at 0:59
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5It is worth mentioning that sometimes 「よくない？」 with a rising intonation can also mean, "Isn't (it) good?". Also with the addition of ん you can sort of negate adjectives with じゃない; however it's quite rare and a bit different in it's meaning. For example: 「いいんじゃない」with a lowered intonation could take on a meaning like, "It's not that (it's) good." Most of the time with a rising intonation it would mean the same as 「いいじゃない」= "Isn't (it) good:?"– levikaraFeb 9 at 1:59
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@jarmanso7 いいですね is correct. いい is in prenoun form. Cf 体言、副詞、形容詞、一部の助動詞の連体形、助詞「の」に付く。 Feb 11 at 12:22
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@sundowner, okay, I guess "prenoun form" in Japanese does not really mean (only) "before nouns" strictly speaking, then. This is what I thought because you said "only in dictionary/prenoun forms". Feb 12 at 2:26