ぬ

Completion (Classical)

Level 6Sounds Like nu (kanryou)

In Classical Japanese (Bungo), ぬ is an auxiliary verb used to show that an action has finished or a state has been reached. It is primarily used for natural occurrences or intransitive actions (e.g., 'the flowers have bloomed').

How It Works

The auxiliary ぬ is a pillar of classical grammar, representing the perfective aspect. While it is often translated as the past tense in modern Japanese, its true function is to mark the 'completion' of a process.

1. Usage Nuances:

  • Connection Point: It must attach to the 連用形（れんようけい）. This is the primary rule for distinguishing it from the negative auxiliary.
  • Completion（完了）: The most common use, indicating something has finished. It is often used with intransitive verbs like 'to die'（死ぬ）, 'to fall'（落つ）, or 'to come'（来）.
  • Contrast with つ: While ぬ is for natural/spontaneous events, つ is used for volitional, intentional actions.
  • Certainty（強意）: When paired with presumptive auxiliaries like べし or む, it emphasizes that something will definitely happen (e.g., ぬべし - 'will surely').
  • Parallelism: In the form ～ぬ～ぬ, it describes alternating actions, similar to the modern ～たり～たりする.

2. Conjugation (Na-irregular):

  • 未然形（みぜんけい）: な
  • 連用形（れんようけい）: に
  • 終止形（しゅうしけい）: ぬ
  • 連体形（れんたいけい）: ぬる
  • 已然形（いぜんけい）: ぬれ
  • 命令形（めいれいけい）: ね

3. Modern Survival:
You will encounter ぬ in literary titles like 風立ちぬ（かぜたちぬ） or in formal proverbs. It is crucial to distinguish this from the negative ぬ (the attributive form of ず), which attaches to the 未然形（みぜんけい）.

Examples (4)

  1. 潮満ちぬ。風も吹きぬべし。

    The tide has risen. The wind will surely blow, too.

    Word by Word: Tide rise-completed. Wind also blow-surely-will.

    In the first sentence, ぬ shows the natural completion of the tide rising. In the second, ぬ combines with べし to show certainty.

  2. 秋来ぬと目にはさやかに見えねども

    Although it is not clearly visible to the eye that autumn has come...

    Word by Word: Autumn come-completed that eye-in clearly see-not-although

    Here, ぬ is attached to the ren'yōkei of 来 (き), indicating the arrival of a season—a natural event.

  3. 花は咲きぬるを、人は見ず。

    The flowers have bloomed, yet no one looks at them.

    Word by Word: Flowers bloom-completed-attributive (object), people see-not.

    This uses the attributive form ぬる because it is followed by the particle を. It indicates the completed state of the flowers blooming.

  4. 浮きぬ沈みぬ揺られければ

    Because it was swayed, floating and sinking...

    Word by Word: Float-completed sink-completed swayed-because

    This demonstrates the parallel usage (並列), describing alternating states of floating and sinking.

Common Mistakes

  • Confusing completion ぬ with negative ぬ.

    風立たぬ
    風立ちぬ

    The negative ぬ attaches to the 未然形（みぜんけい）(立た-), meaning 'the wind does not rise.' The completion ぬ attaches to the 連用形（れんようけい）(立ち-), meaning 'the wind has risen.' Check the verb stem to tell them apart!

  • Using ぬ for highly intentional, transitive actions.

    手紙を書きぬ
    手紙を書きつ

    In classical Japanese, intentional actions performed by a subject usually take つ. ぬ is reserved for natural or spontaneous events.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ぬLevel 6Completion (Classical)

Learn This First

The pattern 'ぬ (完了)' is a classical Japanese auxiliary verb used to indicate the completion of an action (perfective aspect). To understand it, learners should be familiar with basic verb concepts and how modern Japanese expresses completion and past tense through the 'ta' form and 'te shimau'.

Words in This Pattern