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I'm compiling a chart for conjugating nouns, i-adjectives, and na-adjectives
for a Japanese beginner, but I'm running into some difficulties in the
negative tenses. I'd like this chart to be accurate in the sense of what
sounds natural to Japanese speakers, not just what's "grammatically" correct.

**Polite negative present tense** : I know from posts like
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2574/is-%e3%81%98%e3%82%83%e3%81%aa%e3%81%84%e3%81%a7%e3%81%99-equally-
correct-as-%e3%81%98%e3%82%83%e3%81%82%e3%82%8a%e3%81%be%e3%81%9b%e3%82%93)
that ~じゃないです is colloquially common (even if not as grammatically correct as
~ではありません), but does ~ではないです also sound natural? (Examples:
学生ではないです、きれいではないです). Or does this construction only sound natural as ~じゃないです?

**Polite negative past tense** : So ~じゃないです is OK (colloquially), but is
~じゃなかったです OK? What about ~ではなかったです? (Examples:
学生ではなかったです、赤くなかったです、きれいではなかったです). Or is negative past tense restricted to
~ではありませんでした? I'm not a native speaker but all these "sound" pretty OK to me,
but I'm struggling to find examples online so maybe my hunch is wrong.

It might sound nitpicky asking separately for ~じゃ and ~では, since they're
grammatically the same thing, but I want to confirm that they all sound
natural so I don't accidentally suggest that a beginner go out and start
saying things that sound "off".
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2022-01-20T19:53:24.693
93039
2022-01-20T20:24:37.510
2022-01-20T20:24:37.510
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question
conjugations politeness negation
Do ~ではなかったです / ~じゃなかったです sound natural?
Say no more...

[![img1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCrIi.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HCrIi.jpg)

Practice Makes Perfect Complete Japanese Grammar by Eriko Sato, page 92.
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2022-01-20T20:21:15.890
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2022-01-20T20:21:15.890
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answer