ではなくない

6 comments

1. It’s not the only thing that’s needlessly in negative form, and other languages do things like this that make no logical sense either, and yes, that includes English. It’s just something you’re going to have to program in as an exception.

2. It’s not, not a double negative. So, yes.

3. yes, double negatives give a sense of vagueness or lightness, we do it in english, too

   “he wasn’t UNhelpful”

   that means was helpful, but maybe not terribly much, or some such sense of vagueness or hesitation

4. In case you were wondering, the name of this rhetorical device is [litotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes), or [緩叙法](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B7%A9%E5%8F%99%E6%B3%95).

5. It’s sort of like adding the question tag at the end of sentences in English.
   If A says, “It’s boring, isn’t it?” I don’t think A expects to get a response along the lines of ” (No) It isn’t boring”.

   So, つまらなくない is like つまらないではない ==> Boring, isn’t it?
   [This is a special case as つまらない itself is the i-adj]

   暑くなくない？ ==> 暑くないではない ==> 暑くない

   …and so on.

6. Tbh this reminds me of なければいけません (must do). If I’m not mistaken, it literally translates to something like “if not, it cannot go.”