Search from various English teachers...
Joe
隠せぬ?
I was going through the lyrics of a song in order to try and work on my translating/vocab and came across the word 隠せぬ. Is it just a misprint and supposed to be 隠せる, or is there a grammatical reason to change the ending?
Context: http://www.jpopasia.com/lyrics/6692/flow/colors.html
another site I used to try and figure it out on my own: http://www.nihongomaster.com/dictionary/entry/16015/%E9%9A%A0%E3%81%99-%E9%9A%A0%E3%81%8F%E3%81%99-%E5%8C%BF%E3%81%99-%E9%9A%B1%E3%81%8F%E3%81%99-%E3%81%8B%E3%81%8F%E3%81%99-kakusu
Jul 2, 2013 5:14 AM
Answers · 3
3
I like Tangoya-san's answer. I'd just like to add that ぬ can be considered an archaic or poetic form of ない.
I was just wondering, did Tangoya-san mean that the ん form sounded more FORMAL or INFORMAL than the ない form? Because I think even though people in Western Japan would say わからん, they would still write わからない unless they are writing a dialogue.
July 2, 2013
3
'隠せぬ' means 'unable to hide'. 'ぬ' is an auxiliary verb that has the same meaning as 'ない'. It can be used either before a noun or noun phrase as in that lyrics, or at the end of a sentence to end it.
When used at the end of a sentence, people usually pronounce it as 'ん'.
わからぬ = わからん = わからない = do not understand
読まぬ = 読まん = 読まない = do not read
The ん form sounds a bit more formal than the ない form, and is more often used by old people or in Western Japan.
July 2, 2013
Thank you Marie-san, and sorry Certainly but what I wrote below contains an error. The ん form is a colloquialism so it is naturally LESS formal than the ない form.
July 2, 2013
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Joe
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, German, Japanese
Learning Language
Japanese
Articles You May Also Like

Same Word, Different Meaning: American, British, and South African English
11 likes · 8 Comments

How to Sound Confident in English (Even When You’re Nervous)
13 likes · 11 Comments

Marketing Vocabulary and Phrases for Business English Learners
10 likes · 4 Comments
More articles