Japanese

Etymology

Compound of (mizen, literally "not yet occurred") +‎ ? (kei, "form"). Historically called  (?) (sh?zengen),  () (mizendan).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ?? [mìzé?kéé] (Heiban - [0])^[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [m?izke?:]

Noun

 () o (mizenkei)

1. (grammar) a Japanese verbal inflectional category: the irrealis form

   Indicates that something has not yet happened, or not yet begun.

Usage notes

This term is used in the traditional description of Japanese grammar. In , this is called the (-nai kei, "-nai form") as it is used before the suffix (-nai). In the western analysis of Japanese grammar, it is not an inflected form but a derived stem, called for example the "a- stem" in Bjarke Frellesvig's works. Some analyses such as John R. Bentley's A Descriptive Grammar Of Early Old Japanese Prose even do not posit such a stem at all, instead analyzing the a as part of the suffix (e.g. yuk-azu instead of yuka-zu).

Related terms

•  () (izenkei, "realis")
•  () (kateikei, "conditional")
•  () (sh?shikei, "conclusive")
•  () (meireikei, "imperative")
•  () (ren'y?kei, "adverbial")
•  () (rentaikei, "attributive")

See also

• Appendix:Japanese verbs

References

• Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990) The languages of Japan, Cambridge University Press, ->ISBN, pages 221-224