kimasen

Kimasen is the polite present/future negative form of the Japanese verb kuru, meaning to come. It is written in kana as きません and is used in formal or respectful speech to say that someone will not come or does not come.

In Japanese, verbs conjugate for politeness. The polite non-past form is kimasu (きます). To make the negative, the ending changes to kimasen (きません). The past negative is kimasen deshita (きませんでした). The negative can be formed as a question with kimasen ka? (きませんか), meaning “Will you not come?” or “Aren’t you coming?”

Usage notes: Kimasen is commonly used to decline attendance, refuse an invitation, or indicate that someone will not come to a location or event in polite conversation. It contrasts with the informal negative forms used in casual speech.

Examples:

- Ashita watashi wa kimasen. (I will not come tomorrow.)

- Kyou wa kare wa kimasen deshita. (He did not come today.)

- Kimasen ka? (Aren’t you coming?/Will you not come?)

Casual counterpart: In casual speech, the plain negative form konai (来ない) is used instead of kimasen. Past casual is konakatta (来なかった), while the polite past is kimasen deshita (来ませんでした).

See also: kuru, kimasu, konai. These forms cover the polite, plain, and tense variations of the verb “to come” in Japanese.