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I noticed in an anime I watched, one of the characters said something like
below:

> さっき食べたじゃない。

And what I think the meaning is: Didn't you just eat a few while ago?

From what I have learned in Japanese classes, 「じゃない」, which is the shortened
form of 「ではない」, must follow a noun word/phrase/clause. But in the spoken
sentence above the 「じゃない」 follows a 「～た」 form of a verb. Is that sentence
grammatically correct? Is this one of the many examples where colloquial
language may skip a few grammar rules here and there?

I think the sentence would be grammatically correct if there is 「ん」 in between
the two phrases: 「さっき食べたんじゃない」. Did I actually mishear?
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2011-06-03T00:34:29.803
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2011-06-03T13:14:25.527
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question
grammar colloquial-language
「～たじゃない」 expression in spoken Japanese
I'd probably say that you misheard, and that there was in fact a 「ん」 in there.
The usage of 「の」 is outlined in [this grammar
page](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/nounparticles). I am a
beginner myself, but from what I can tell, it appears that the phrase is being
used for explanation. However, the phrasing seems strange to me, as the
following would seem more appropriate for a question:

> さっき食べなかったの？ - Didn't you eat a little while ago?

If the intonation of the statement wasn't a question, then I might be inclined
to think that it would have a different meaning:

> さっき食べたんじゃない。 - [It's not like] I ate a little while ago.

It is an interesting question, though - I hope a native or expert can offer
some more insight on this.
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2011-06-03T01:26:21.823
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No, you probably didn't mishear. This is a pretty common construction in
colloquial Japanese, though it is not grammatically correct.

It might help to think of the じゃない as a tag that turns the sentence into a
[tag question](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question), with a tone of
surprise or disbelief.
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2011-06-03T07:23:24.213
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I do not know if さっき食べたじゃない is grammatically correct or not, but sentence +
じゃない is a common colloquial construct whose meaning is similar to a tag
question as Amanda wrote: “You ate it a little while ago, didn’t you?” It is a
statement rather than a question, and the じゃない part indicates either that the
speaker is surprised by the fact that he/she has to say it or that the speaker
wants a confirmation.

An example of surprise:

A: 冷蔵庫に入れておいたケーキがない! (I cannot find the cake I put in the fridge!)  
B: あんたさっき食べたじゃない。 (You ate it a little while ago, didn’t you.)

An example of wanting confirmation:

A: さっきケーキを食べたじゃない。あれじつは1週間前に賞味期限が切れていたの。 (We (or you or …) ate cake a little
while ago, didn’t we? To tell the truth, that cake was best before a week
ago.)

I think that さっき食べたんじゃない has a different meaning from さっき食べたじゃない. さっき食べたんじゃない
has two meanings:

  1. Without the raise of pitch at the end of the sentence, it is a negation of さっき食べた. “It is not true that I ate it a little while ago.” The usual negation of さっき食べた is さっき食べなかった (I did not eat it a little while ago), and they have different meanings, but I cannot explain it clearly.
  2. With the raise of pitch at the end of the sentence (often denoted by a question mark: さっき食べたんじゃない?), it is a question “Didn’t you eat it a little while ago?” with indication that the speaker thinks that “you” probably ate it a little while ago.
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2011-06-03T13:14:25.527
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