じゃない: Affirmative vs. Negative

[Kai13]

アユの答えは下記の通りです。

Originally Posted by masaegu

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！ positive
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！ positive
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　positive

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。 negative
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。 negative
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！ positive

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！ negative
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・ positive
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！ positive

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！ negative
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？ positive

Originally Posted by Nyororin

You might want to look into who founded Tokyo(Edo), and where all the people they brought with them were from.

In 三河弁, the use is a lot heavier. It comes in double sets of ん endings, like わからんじゃん, おらんじゃん, etc. じゃんか, じゃんね, and じゃんな are also pretty common.
I almost never heard a ない ending in casual speech until I moved. It was all ん.

Only one of my friends, who`d moved there from elsewhere used the んない pattern. (Like わかんない) It really stood out.

大変勉強になりました！　

[Supperman]

10' 私はキムタクよ。男は顔じゃない。
１０”　僕は武田鉄矢。男は顔じゃない。

[masaegu]

This is the stamp you get for 'good work' at elementary schools.

アンサータイムです！

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！
Affirmative. "That T-shirt looks so cool!"
The negative form of 「カッコいい」 is 「カッコよくない」; therefore, 「カッコいいじゃない」 is always affirmative regardless of the context. This can be said about all "i-adjectives". 「大きいじゃない」 always means "(Something) is big!"

２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！
Affirmative. "It is no good to do such a thing." or "Don't do a thing like that!"
It may look like it is negative because the translations include the words "no" and "not", but the word 「ダメ」 already means "no good", so 「じゃない」 is being used affirmatively here.

However, unlike in #1, 「ダメじゃない」　can be used negatively depending on the context.
Kid:　「今日９時からテレビで映画見たらダメ？」 = "If I watch a movie on TV starting at 9 today, is that ダメ?"
Dad:　「ダメじゃないよ。いいよ。明日学校休みだから� �」 = "It is not ダメ. It is OK because there is no school tomorrow."

３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　
Affirmative. "You told me we were going to Disneyland! (But you changed your mind!)"
"Verb in past tense + じゃない" is always affirmative. The negative form of 「言った」 is 「言わなかった」.

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。
Negative. "This car is not mine."
Had there been no 「です」, the phrase would have been ambiguous in its 'aff. vs. neg.' status. 「この車はオレのじゃない！」　can mean "This car is mine."

５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。
Negative. "I think that man is not Japanese." Please note that I am employing highly literal translations today for the explanation's sake.
Whenever 「じゃない」 is directly followed by phrases like 「と思う」, 「と感じる」, 「と聞いている」. etc., it is being used negatively.

６．　なかなかやるじゃない！
Affirmative. "You are doing a good job!"
"Verb in dictionary form + じゃない" is always affirmative. The negative form of 「やる」 is 「やらない」.

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！
Negative. "I am not that kind of woman. Please believe that at least."
Without 「これだけは信じて！」 for context, it would have been ambiguous.

８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・
Affirmative. "You promised to marry me, n'est-ce pas!"
Refer back to #3 for explanation. The negative form of 「した」　is 「しなかった」. 　

９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！
Affirmative. "Johnson, you are awsome. Your Japanese is perapera!"
Refer to #1 for explanation. The negative form of 「すごい」　is 　「すごくない」.

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！
Negative. "It is not the face that is important for a man. It is the heart!"
This one would have been ambiguous without 「ハートなんだっ！」.

１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？
Affirmative. "This cookie is so tasty! Where did you buy it?"
Refer to #1. The negative form of　「おいしい」 is 「おいしくない」.

[andylaurel]

１．　そのＴシャツ、カッコいいじゃない！ - positive
２．　ダメじゃない、そんな事したら！ - positive (if that is confirming the ダメ)
３．　ディズニーランドに行くって言ったじゃな～い！ 　- positive

４．　この車はオレのじゃないです。- negative
５．　あの人は日本人じゃないと思う。 - negative
６．　なかなかやるじゃない！ - positive

７．　アタシはそんな女じゃない。これだけは信じて！ - negative
８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・ - postive (confirmation)
９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！ - positive (confirmation)

１０．　男は顔じゃない。ハートなんだっ！ - negative
１１．　おいしいじゃない、このクッキー。どこで買っ たの？ - positive
How'd I do?

[andylaurel]

yay me. Go Andy!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by masaegu

８．　結婚してくれるって、あなた約束したじゃない・ ・・・
Affirmative. "You promised to marry me, n'est-ce pas!"
Refer back to #3 for explanation. The negative form of 「した」　is 「しなかった」. 　

９．　ジョンソン君すごいじゃん。日本語ペラペラじゃ ない！
Affirmative. "Johnson, you are awsome. Your Japanese is perapera!"
Refer to #1 for explanation. The negative form of 「すごい」　is 　「すごくない」.

Late, but I think it's really interesting how most people translated 9 as not being spoken directly to Johnson, but just about him, yet that's not how you see it at all! And also that you've used French for 8!

[andylaurel]

I think if there were a particle in there, it would sound more 'third personish'

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by andylaurel

I think if there were a particle in there, it would sound more 'third personish'

なかなかやるじゃな～い。 さすがっ！

(This is how you use my sentence #6! )