Page 240 - Basic Japanese

Nan no tame ni Ōsaka ni iku n desu ka.

Why are you going to Osaka?

The word tame is also used after a modifying phrase by
many speakers as a virtual equivalent of kara ‘because’:

地震があったため電車が遅れた。

Jishin ga atta tame densha ga okureta.
The train was delayed due to an earthquake.

英語ができないため困りました。

Eigo ga dekinai tame

komarimashita.

I had difficulties because I couldn’t speak

English.

5.11. Plain negative …ない …nai

The polite negative ends in -masen for verbs, as in
hanashimasen and ikimasen, and consists of a special

construction for the copula ja arimasen, and for adjectives,

infinitive (-ku) + arimasen.

The plain negative of ‘exists’ is a completely different
word, the adjective nai ‘is non-existent.’ The plain negative

of the copula is ja nai; of adjectives it is ku nai. And, in

colloquial usage, (ja) nai desu is often used for (ja) arimasen, ku
nai desu for ku arimasen. The plain negative of every other

verb is an adjective made by adding the ending -(a)nai to the
stem of the verb: add -anai to the consonant-ending stem;

add -nai to the vowel-ending stem.