Structure
［い］Adjective［く］+ は
［い］Adjective［く］+ は + ない
［い］Adjective［く］+ は + ある
Details
Standard
About くは
Besides marking the topic of a sentence in a straightforward way, the は particle can also be used to indicate contrast or comparison. One way it does this is with い-Adjectives, in the pattern ～くは.
Grammatically, this is the continuative form of an い-Adjective (く), plus the binding particle は.
～くは is most often used with negatives, to emphasize that something isn't necessarily one thing, but there is an implication that it still may be another. This looks similar to the regular negative form of い-Adjectives but with は inserted after く.
As は is being used contrastively here, often the contrast will be explicitly stated, although this isn't always the case.
Although this pattern of inserting は for contrast is most common with negatives, it can also be seen in positive sentences.
Fun Fact
Although the focus of this grammar point is ～くは, this contrastive use of は can be seen in many different contexts.
Vocab Coverage
All Bunpro Vocab that appears on this item.
Examples
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この映画は面白くはない。
This movie isn't exactly interesting.
私の指は細くはないです。
My fingers aren't exactly thin.
あそこのコーヒーは美味しくはない。
The coffee over there isn't exactly delicious.
先輩：「明日忙しい？」後輩：「明日は忙しくはないですけど……。」
Senior: 'Are you busy tomorrow?' Junior: 'I'm not exactly busy tomorrow, but...'
僕の彼女は可愛くはないけど、性格がいいんです。
My girlfriend isn't exactly cute, but she has a good personality.
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くは – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (9 in total)
steffuld
It’s from the Fun Fact section of the grammar point:
Although the focus of this grammar point is ～くは, this contrastive use of は can be seen in many different contexts.これは桜の木ではない。
This is *not* a cherry tree.This is how I parse it, roughly:
(学生で)ある。 — “Being a student, [I] exist.” or “[My] being a student exists.”
(学生で)はない。— “As for being a student, (that) is not.” or “It is not (the case that I am) a student”. (But I may be something else, feels contrastive enough to me)I wonder if 学生でない is grammatically correct though
cafelatte
You’re right that it’s mentioned as a contrastive element in the fun fact but I dont take it to mean は functions there in the exact same way as くはない
In ではない, では functions as a normal contrastive copula (ie. Its the default to negate a noun) but in くはない structures it functions as more contrastive than normal as it is not the default negative form, so while both indicate contrast, it wouldn’t be true to say 学生ではない, the weaker form, means “I am not exactly a student”
JamesBunpro
cafelatte is right that in ではない the は does not have such a strong contrastive feeling as in くはない. The は in ではない does historically come from the contrastive use of は (which is very commonly used with negatives, since it is isolating the topic as the thing negated), however as ではない has become the regular way to negate nouns and noun-like things it has lost the original level of contrastive emphasis. くはない still maintains a strong contrastive feeling as it never became the regular way to negate adjecives (くない is).
Still, じゃない or じゃありません will tend to have less emphasis than ではない (formal, or can be used emphatically in some contexts) and ではありません (polite and formal, could be a little emphatic depending on context and tone). じゃ just cuts the oomph out of the phrase.