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The last post showed the followings as alternatives for sentences of A2 S42 in Minna no Nihongo.
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use to browse the internet.)
2. Kono Pasokon wa Shigoto ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use for work.)
3. Kono Pasokon wa Ge’emu o Suru no ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for playing games.)
4. Kono Pasokon wa Shucchou ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for business trips.)
The sentences 1 and 2 are expressing purposes of the action of predicate verbs. The sentence 3 and 4 are expressing what kind of nature the subject has for a certain purpose. Also it is important to pay attention to nominalization of verbs (Miru, Suru) using the nominalizer “no” (Muru-no, Suru-no), and to a function of the particle “ni” which is to indicate the purpose of action.
But what today’s post is going to tell you is probably not the main purpose of the exercise A2 of the section 42 in Minna no Nihongo. It is about consistency between the subject and the predicate of a sentence and changes of particles from “-o” to “-wa” when an object becomes the topic.
The difference between the sentences “1 and 2” and “3 and 4” is the predicates. The sentences 1 and 2 have verb predicates, and 3 and 4 have adjective predicates. Is it the only difference?
There is a very important thing when you make a sentence. It is that the subject and the predicate must be consistent each other. Let’s look at the sentence 3 and 4. Extracting the subject and the predicate, we can get the following (3 and 4 are the same)
3/4. {Kono Pasokon wa} {Ii desu}. — This personal computer is good.
There is no problem at all as to the consistency between the subject and the predicate. Then through the same procedure, what will we get from the sentence 1 and 2?
1/2. {Kono Pasokon wa} {Tsukai masu}. — This personal computer uses.
The problem is whether or not a personal computer can be an operator. I am not sure for English, but saying like “This PC uses a lot of electricity” may not be a problem. But it sounds funny in Japanese language*. It should be “A human kind uses a computer.” like;
5. Satou-san wa Pasokon o Tsukai masu. (Sato-san uses a personal computer.)
Therefore, the subject and the predicate are inconsistent in the sentence “{Kono Pasoko wa} {Tsukai masu}.” If the sentences 1 and 2 are right, something had happened. Let me show you a correct sentence with fixing the inconsistency between the subject and the predicate.
6. Watashi wa Kono Pasokon o Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu**.
(I use this personal computer for browsing the internet.)
There is no subject written in the original sentence, but it is most likely that the missing subject is “Watashi (I)”. Extracting the subject and the predicate, we can get “Watashi wa Tsukai masu.” which is no problem in respect of consistency between the subject and the predicate.
Every time you make a sentence, you need to check the consistency between the subject and the predicate. A predicate is usually placed at the end of a sentence in Japanese. And the subject is indicated by particle “-ga”. When the subject and the topic are identical in a sentence, then “-wa” can be the Subject marker.
Then we need to think how the sentence 6 can turn to be the sentence 1. Think about a situation in which saying “Watashi wa” is not so important in the conversation.
6’. Kono Pasokon o Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
And you come to think you want to emphasize the “this personal computer” like “This is the PC that I use for browsing the internet”. Then a change would happen to the object indicator “-o” in order to make the PC the topic of the sentence. The topic marker is “-wa”.
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use to browse the internet.)
So the conclusion is; as to “-wa” of “Kono Pasokon wa” in the sentence 1 through 4;
– “-wa” in the sentence 1 and 2 are the topic marker, not the subject marker for the predicate “Tsukai masu”.
– “-wa” in the sentence 3 and 4 are the topic marker, at the same time the subject marker for the predicate “Ii desu.”
* It is better to avoid using inanimate objects as subjects for sentences in Japanese.
** Don’t complain about using “-o” twice. It is good to use one particle once in one sentence if it’s a short and simple sentence, but in a complicated sentence, it is likely the same particle are used more than once. The second “-o” is inside a phrase of “-ni”.
6. Watashi wa Kono Pasokon o {Inta’anetto o Miru no ni} Tsukai masu**.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 of Section42 in “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
へたく○！
We are going to learn the following sentence constructions in the exercise A2 of the section 42 in Miina no Nihongo. In order to avoid copyright issues, the following sentences are not the same as the sentences in Minna no Nihongo (as usual).
1. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use to browse the internet.)
2. Kono Pasokon wa Shigoto ni Tsukai masu.
(This is the personal computer that I use for work.)
3. Kono Pasokon wa Ge’emu o Suru no ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for playing games.)
4. Kono Pasokon wa Shucchou ni Ii desu.
(This personal computer is good for business trips.)
We need to think a lot of things about these sentences. Therefore, the explanation of A2S42 is divided in two for today and tomorrow as shown below;
(1) Expressing a Purpose using Combination of nominalizer “no” and particle “ni”
(2) Explanation exclusively about the four sentences above, focusing on differences between verb predicates and adjective predicate.
This post is about (1), therefore mainly explains the sentence 1 and 3 that have the following structure;
– [V-dic] + no + ni [Predicate].
Note that today’s “no+ni” is different from the conjunctive particle “-noni,” which will be explained at the exercise A2 of the section 45. The conjunctive particle “-noni” is used in the following construction;
[Subordinate Clause]+noni, [Main Clause].
In this sentence, the main clause expresses an unexpected thing which is contrary to the content of the subordinate clause. Today’s “no + ni” doesn’t bring up contrast. “[V-dic] + no + ni” expresses the purpose of the predicate. In the sentence 1, “Inta’anetto o Miru (to browse the interenet)” is the purpose of the predicate “Tsukai masu (use)”. And it is important that using a personal computer is neither “unexpected” nor “contrary” with browsing the internet. So, we can conclude that today’s “no+ni” is a different kind from the conjunctive particle “-noni,”.
The nominalizer “-no” had been explained in the posts about the section 38. In very fundamental perspective, a Japanese sentence consists of components of
{ [word for meaning] + [word for function]}.
When a noun is used for a component, it becomes {[Noun]+[particle]}
When a verb is used for a component, it becomes {[Verb]+[auxiliary verb]}
And most of the time, it cannot be (WRONG){[Verb]+[particle]}. When you want to say something like {[Verb]+[particle]}, you need to make it {[Verb + nominalizer] + [particle]} because [Verb + nominalizer] is a kind of “noun-equivalent”. Other than the nominalizer “no”, some formal nouns can be used for making a verb a noun-equivalent. It is an interesting issue whether or not the nominalizer “no” is interchangeable with a formal noun “koto”.
1’. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru koto ni Tsukai masu.
I can’t say this is wrong, but I feel “Miru no ni Tsukai masu” is better. Examining a sentence by replacing the nominalizer “no” to another noun can be a good practice.
1’’. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru toki ni Tsukai masu.
(This personal computer is used when I browse the internet.)
Now the sentence1’’ is a good one.
1’’’. Kono Pasokon wa Inta’anetto o Miru tame ni Tsukai masu.
“tame” is introduced in A1, and this 1’’’ is also okay.
There are a lot of functions on the particle “ni”. What is the function of “ni” when it is used in the form of “[V-dic] + no + ni [Predicate]”? It is the purpose of the action.
5. Kaimono ni Ikimasu. (I am going shopping.)
“Kaimono(shopping)” is the purpose of the action “Ikimasu(am going)”
We are learning today how to use “no+ni” which is the combination of nominalizer “no” and particle “ni”. If the purpose can be described by a noun like the sentence 5, the nominalizer “no” is not necessary.
Some examples are shown below;
<1> [V-dic] + no + ni [Verb Predicate].
Kono Fukuro wa Gomi o Suteru no ni Tsukai masu.
(This bag is used for disposing trashes.)
<2> [Noun] + ni [Verb Predicate].
Kono Naifu wa Ryouri ni Tsukaimasu.
(This knife is used for cooking.)
<3> [V-dic] + no + ni [Adjective Predicate].
Kono Basu wa Machi ni Dekakeru no ni Benri desu.
(This bus is convenient for going to the town.)
“Benri(na)” is a Na-adjective.
<4> [Noun] + ni [Adjective Predicate].
Kono Denshi-jisho wa Nihongo no Benkyou ni Ii desu.
(This electric dictionary is good for studying Japanese.)
“Ii” is an I-adjective.
This post focuses on mainly “[V-dic] +no+ni”, and also introduces “[Noun]+ni”. In addition to an explanation about “no+ni”, I think there should be an explanation about difference coming from the predicates. The sentence 1 and 2 have verb predicates, while the sentence 3 and 4 have adjective predicates. It will be dealt with in tomorrow’s post.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 of Section42 in “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
It is important for Japanese learners to master the following sentence constructions at the midpoint between beginners and intermediate levels.
<1> [Subordinate Clause] + [Conjunctive Particle], [Main Clause].
Today’s expression does not use a “conjunctive particle”, but use a formal noun “tame”.
<2> [Subordinate Clause] + tame + ni, [Main Clause].
“-tame+ni,” is not a conjunctive particle, but in a macro perspective, “-tame+ni,” works like a conjunctive particle to connect a subordinate clause and a main clause. And there is a relation that a subordinate clause mentions a purpose, and the main clause mentions what the speaker is doing or going to do for that purpose.
When the subordinate clause can be expressed with a noun, the following sentence is also used.
<3> [Noun] + no +tame + ni, [Main Clause].
(1) [V-dic] + tame + ni, [Main Clause].
1. Kuruma o Kau tame ni, Okane o Tamete imasu.
(In order to buy a car, I am saving money.)
Tameru/Tamemasu : transitive verb, Group2 ; save, keep something to accumulate to make it a certain amount
If it is “Tamemasu”, it would be a will for the future. “Tamete imasu” is “[V-te]+iru” that indicates the action “save” is ongoing and continuous.
2. Nihon de Kaisha o Tsukuru tame ni, Keiei-Biza o Tori masu.
(In order to start a company, I am going to obtain a business management visa.)
You see the connections “Kau+tame” and “Tsukuru+tame” in the above 1 and 2. Since the formal noun “tame” is a noun, a verb in dictionary form can be placed in front of “tame”. The exercise A1 of the section 42 in Minna no Nihongo doesn’t show other connections between a verb and “tame”. If such connections were there,
3. Kaze o Hikanai tame ni, Yobou-Chuusha o Uke masu.
(In order not to catch a cold, I am going to get a flu shot.)
This is an example of a connection between a verb in Nai-form and “tame”.
4. Sensei no Hon o Nakushita tame ni, Atarashii hon o Kai masu.
(Since I lost my teacher’s book, I am going to buy a new one.)
This is an example of a connection between a verb in Ta-form and “tame”.
5. Benkyou-shinakatta tame ni, Shiken ni Ochi mashita.
(Since I hadn’t studied well, I failed the exam.)
This is an example of a connection between “V-nakatta” and “tame”.
Taking a look at 4 and 5, we could see a combination of verbs in past tense and “tameni” doesn’t explain a purpose, but rather, it expresses a cause of the action in the main clause. Therefore, “[V-ta]tameni” and “[V-nakatta]tameni” are thought to be a little different kind.
As for a combination of a Nai-form and “tameni” like the sentence 3, it might have been good to be introduced in A1, but probably it doesn’t have much necessity comparing to “[V-dic]+tameni”. Learning “[V-dic]+tameni” well is the major purpose of the exercise A1 of the section 42.
(2) [Noun] + no + tame + ni, [Main Clause].
Sometimes a verb phrase in a subordinate clause with “-tameni,” can be expressed by a noun. It can be a shortened and concise sentence as below;
6. Sotsugyou-go no tame ni, Isshoukemmei Benkyou Shi masu.
(For the after-the-graduation, I study hard.)
“Sotsugyou-go” is a compound word with “卒業(graduation)” and “後(after)”, which is a noun. Since “tame” is a formal noun, the connection between “Sotsugyou-go” and “tame” uses “no” as you learned “N1 no N2”. When you want to say your thinking as the sentence 6, would you say like follows?
7. Sotsugyou-shita ato mo Yoi Seikatsu o Okuru tame ni, Isshoukenmei Benkyou Shi masu.
(In order to live a good life even after my graduation, I study hard.)
Probably you would choose the sentence 6 rather than 7 because the 6 is short with less words.
8. Jiko no tame ni, Densha ga Tomatte imasu.
(For the accident, trains are stopped.)
As you saw in the examples of “[V-ta]+tameni” and “[V-nakatta]+tameni”, “tameni” has a function not only to express a purpose, but also a cause. In this sentence, “Jiko no tameni” expresses a cause of halting operation of trains. The sentences 1, 2, and 6 are expressing positive purposes. And basically, it is better to learn a second language through sentences having positive meanings. But “Jiko” is an accident which is usually implying a bad thing had happened. I think it is also necessary to learn a sentence having a negative meaning. There are a lot of things that I don’t know, I can’t do, and I don’t want in this world.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section42 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
We have been learning the section 41 which introduce some giving/receiving sentences in respect of treatment expressions. The sentences so far from A1 through A6 are so-called declarative sentences in which a speaker say only what had really happened. But the sentences in the exercise A7 are not declarative sentences. The sentences have a function to exert an influence to a listener in conversation. Think about how to say you want to ask someone to do something. You may use “[V-te]+kudasai” which was introduced in the exercise A2, the section 14. Today’s sentence construction is to raise “[V-te]+kudasai” to be more polite to the level of honorific expressions as below;
– [V-te] + kudasai masenka.
And some examples;
1. Toukyou madeno Iki kata o Oshiete kudasai masenka.
(Would you please tell me how to get to Tokyo?)
2. Gohan o Sukunaku Shite kudasai masenka.
(Would you please make my rice a small portion?)
Sukunai : I-adjective ; few, a little amount
Since it is an I-adjective, when “Sukunai” modifies the verb “Suru/Shimasu”, it should be “Sukunaku”. Don’t say “Sukunaini”.
3. Koko de Oshaberi suru no wa Yamete kudasai masenka.
(Would you please stop chatting here?)
Oshaberi-suru/Oshaberi-shimasu : Verb : chat, talk
Refer to A1 S38 about “no wa”
When it comes to making a sentence for asking an honorific expression, we have already learned in the exercise A5 of the section 26. That was;
[V-te]+itadake masenka.
4. Shashin ga Hoshii n desuga, Dejitaru De’eta o Okutte itadake masenka.
(I need photographs, so could you please send me the digital data?)
In most of the cases, you can also say with today’s expression;
5. Shashin ga Hoshii n desuga, Dejitaru De’eta o Okutte kudasai masenka.
Then, what is the difference between “[V-te] itadake masenka” and “[V-te] kudasai masenka”? “[V-te] itadake masenka” is introduced much earlier, in the section 26, while “[V-te] kudasai masenka” in the section 41. Note that more basic, more important, and more widely used expressions are introduced earlier in Miina no Nihongo (“[V-te] kudasai” is in the section 14). So, when you find an expression that looks to have similar function to the expression you have already learned, check which section it was introduced. The earlier introduction means the more importance.
It is just my impression, though, “[V-te] itadake masenka” is slightly more often used than “[V-te] kudasai masenka”. Let me write a little about these two expressions;
-“[V-te] itadake masenka”
“itadake” is “Masu-form without ‘masu’” of potential form “Itadakeru/Itadakemasu” that comes from the verb “Itadaku/Itadakimasu”. And the verb “Itadaku/Itadakimasu” is the humble word of “Morau/Moraimasu”. Since it’s a humble word, the subject is usually “Watashi (I)”. In the context of “giving/receiving”, “Watashi” is the receiver. Therefore, “Itadaku” is the word when “Watashi” becomes humble for the receiving act. Plus, “Itadaku” has become the potential form “Itadakeru”. This adds a nuance of whether it’s possible or not.
– “[V-te] kudasai masenka”.
“kudasai” is “Masu-form without ‘masu’” of “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu”, although a little bit caution is needed that “kudasai” is the euphonic form of “kudasari”. Anyway, the verb “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu” is an honorific of “Kureru/Kuremasu”. Since it’s an honorific, the subject is a person who is superior to the speaker. In the context of “giving/receiving”, the subject of “Kudasaru” is the giver. Therefore, the word “Kudasaru” is to pay respect to the act of giving by the superior person
In the situation of asking to do something for you, and you are going to ask a person who is superior to you, which is better to use?
– itadake masenka : your act of receiving
– kudasai masenka : superior person’s act of giving
Probably many Japanese tend to steer clear of mention a superior person’s act. Rather, Japanese may think it is better to be humble about his/her own act. This is the reason I think people prefer “itadake masenka” to “kudasai masenka”.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A7 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
I am thinking about planting garlic bulbs this autumn. Although I tried buying them in the nearest DIY shop, the shop told me they had already been sold out. So today, I went to another DIY shop in the town a little far from my village.
The green board says the elderlies and disabled have priority to use the elevator.
The blue board says the height of the ground is 1.5 meter (approx.5ft) above sea level.
This says “Walk pushing your bicycle.”
The blue part reads “upskirting and molestation are criminal acts”. And the yellow one reads “Is your behind okay?”, which probably means “Is there anyone suspicious in your back?”.
It didn’t seem there is anyone who was cleaning around.
It reads “If you run up or down the escalator, it may cause a sudden stop. Please don’t run.”
As you can imagine from these photos, there are a lot of cautions, warnings, directions, and so on in the public spaces in Japan.
The exercise A4, A5, and A6 introduce the sentence constructions in which a giving/receiving verb is used as a supplementary verb and attached to the behind of a verb in Te-form.
– [V-te]+[Giving/Receiving Verb].
“Itadaki mashita” in A4 is the humble language of “Morai mashita”, and “Kudasai mashita” in A5 is the honorific of “Kure mashita”. Both A4 and A5 are introducing a type of treatment expressions that are to be used in conjunction with a person who is superior to “Watashi”. In contrast, A6 introduces a treatment expression that has to do with a person who is inferior to “Watashi”.
1. Watashi wa Mago ni Kutsuhimo no Musubi kata o Oshiete Yari mashita.
(I taught my grandchild how to tie shoelaces.)
Mago : Noun ; grandchild
Kutsu-himo : Noun ; shoelaces
Musubu/Musubimasu : Verb (Group1-B) : tie
kata ; how to, the way to do something; [Masu-form without “masu”] + kata
Note that the verb “Oshieru/Oshiemasu” is a transitive verb which usually use two particles “-ni” and “-o” in the form of “[person]ni [something]o Oshieru”.
2. Watashi wa Mago o Umi ni Tsurete itte Yari mashita.
(I took my grandchild to the sea.)
3. Watashi wa Mago no Shukdai o Tetsudatte Yari mashita.
(I helped my grandchild’s homework.)
Tetsudau/Tetsudaimasu : Verb (Group1-W) : help, assit
The particles after “Mago” is “-ni” in the sentence 1, “-o” in the 2, and “-no” in the 3. “Mago(grandchild)” is a receiver in those three sentences. But the particle attached to “Mago” is not always “-ni”. When it comes to sentences of giving/receiving, many sentences have particles as below;
-[Person] ni [Thing] o [Giving/Receiving Verb].
For example,
– Satou-san ga Watashi<ni> Chokore’eto<o> Kure mashita. (Sato-san gave me a chocolate.)
Also, in the sentence of a treatment expression that is using giving/receiving verb as a supplementary verb behind a verb in Te-form,
– Watashi wa Suzuki-san<ni> Nihongo<o> Oshiete Morai mashita. (I was taught by Suzuki-san Japanese.)
But it is not always “[person]+ni” as shown in the sentence 2 and 3 above. When you need to choose particles for sentences of giving/receiving and/or treatment expressions, it is good to think that the particles in the core verb phrase are maintained. The core verb phrase of the sentence 2 is;
– Mago o Umi ni Tsurete iku (To take my grandchild to the sea)
Substituting this into “Watashi wa — Yari mashita.” then we get the sentence 2.
Likewise, the core verb phrase of the sentence 3 is;
– Mago no Shukudai o Tetsudau (To assist my grandchild’s homework)
Substituting this into “Watashi wa — Yari mashita.” then we get the sentence 3.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Sentences in A4 and A5 have the same meanings in the section 41 in Minna no Nihongo. This is because those sentences need to be understood through comparisons between the sentence constructions for “Itadaku” and “Kudasaru”. Therefore, let us also compare the sentence constructions;
(1) Sentence using “Itadaku/Itadakimasu”
1) Watashi wa Sensei ni Kenkyuu-Shitsu no Naka o Misete Itadaki mashita.
(I was shown by the teacher the inside of the research room.)
(2) Sentence using “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu”
2) Sensei ga Watashi ni Kenkyuu-Shitsu no Naka o Misete Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher showed me the inside of the research room.)
The meanings of the sentences 1) and 2) are the same. “Sensei” is the giver and “Watashi” is the receiver of the action that is showing the inside of research room. This difference of the subjects comes from whether the verb for honorific expression is an honorific or a humble language.
In the sentence 1), “Itadaku/Itadakimasu” is a humble language related to “Morau/Moraimasu”. Since “Watashi” is the person to be humble”, the subject of the sentence 1) is “Watashi”. In the sentence 2), “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu” is an honorific related to “Kureru/Kuremasu”. Since “Sensei” is the person to be honored, the subject of the sentene 2) is “Sensei”.
The particle “-ni” in the sentences 1) and 2) have different functions. In the sentence 1), “-ni” of “Sensei ni” functions to indicate the source of the action in a sentence of giving/receiving. In the sentence 2), “-ni” of “Watashi ni” functions to indicate the target of an action’s effect. This “Watashi ni” is omitted in the exercise A5 of the section 41 in Minna no Nihongo. The reason of omitting would be avoiding confusions about particles for “Watashi” as you can see in the following 2’ and 3’.
Yesterday’s sentences 2 and 3 with “Itadaki mashita” can be revised to use “Kudasai mashita” as follows;
2’. Sensei ga Watashi o Gakkai ni Tsurete itte Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher took me to the academic conference.)
You may find that it is not “Watashi ni” but “Watashi o” in this sentence 2’. Think that particles in the core verb phrase are maintained. The core verb phrase is;
– Watashi o Gakkai ni Tsurete iku (To take me to an academic conference)
Substituting this phrase into “Sensei ga — Kudasai mashita.” then we get the sentence 2’.
3’. Sensei ga Watashi no Supi’ichi Contesuto no Genkou o Naoshite Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher corrected my draft for speech contest.)
Again, the particle attached to “Watashi” is not “-ni”. This time it’s “Watashi no”. The core verb phrase is “Watashi no Supi’ichi Contesuto no Genkou o Naosu”. So, “Watashi no” is maintained in the sentence 3’.
As you see in the sentences 2’ and 3’, it is difficult for the learners to choose a particle after “Watashi” properly. It is safe to say it is a wise decision of writers of Minna no Nihongo to omit “Watashi” in the sentences of “Kudasai mashita”. Let me show you sentences of today, omitting “Watashi”.
1. Sensei ga Kenkyuu-Shitsu no Naka o Misete Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher showed me the inside of the research room.)
2. Sensei ga Gakkai ni Tsurete itte Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher took me to the academic conference.)
3. Sensei ga Supi’ichi Contesuto no Genkou o Naoshite Kudasai mashita.
(The teacher corrected my draft for speech contest.)
Today, we have learned the verb “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu”. This verb needs attention about its euphonic change. Think about a two-verb sentence like below;
– Gohan o Tsukutte, Tabe mashita. (I cooked my supper, and ate it.)
This is a sentence of the beginner’s level. In the intermediate level, there is a little different sentence for the same meaning.
– Gohan o Tsukuri, Tabe mashita. (I cooked my supper and ate it.)
I usually call “Tsukuri” as “Masu-form without ‘masu’”. But as for “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu”, “Masu-form without ‘masu’” doesn’t work well. When there is a sentence with a “-te/de,” connection;
– Sensei ga Genkou o Naoshite Kudasatte, Watashi wa Contesuto de Yuushou Shi masita.
(The teacher corrected my draft, and I got the first prize in the contest.)
I am not sure whether or not teacher’s help constitutes misconduct, but anyway, you cannot change Te-form “Kudasatte” to be “Masu-form without ‘masu’” in this sentence.
(WRONG) Sensei ga Genkou o Naoshite <Kudasai>, Watashi wa Contesuto de Yuushou Shi masita.
(RIGHT) Sensei ga Genkou o Naoshite <Kudasari>, Watashi wa Contesuto de Yuushou Shi masita.
The verb “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu” is of Group1-R.
– Nai-form : Kudasa<ra>nai
– Masu-form : Kudasa<ri>masu => Kudasa(i)masu (euphonic change)
– Dictionary form : Kudasa<ru>
– Conditional form : Kudasa<re>ba
– Volitional form : Kudasa<ro>u
Since we can see <ra,ri,ru,re,ro> in the conjugation pattern, “Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu” is a verb of Group1-R. But for its masu-form, it is usually “Kudasaimasu”. It is still okay to say “Kudasarimasu”, but it sounds a little old-fashioned. And as the example above shows, “Sensei ga Genkou o Naoshite <Kudasai>, Watashi wa —” is completely wrong. It should be <Kudasari> as the “Masu-form without ‘masu’” of the original Group1-R verb.
There are some Group1-R verbs whose Masu-form is mostly “-imasu” rather than “-rimasu”
– Kudasaru/Kudasaimasu (honorific of “give”)
– Irassharu/Irasshaimasu (honorific of “be there”)
– Ossharu/Osshaimasu (honorific of “say”)
– Nasaru/Nasaimasu (honorific of “do”)
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
The main focus of the section 41 is to change some giving/receiving sentences to be more polite, or to be used when the receiver is a lower status person.
A1: Making it honorific : Morai mashita => Itadaki mashita
A2: Making it honorific : Kure mashita => Kudasai mashita
A3: The receiver is Lower status : Age mashita => Yari mashita
Actually, some textbook writes have a belief that teaching everything is important. Such textbook writers would add “Age mashita => Sashiage mashita”. But I don’t think teaching everything is good, because it increases learners’ burden to study. I think that teaching items are to be limited so that more basic and more frequently used items would be prioritized in second language learning. Anyway, A1 through A3 introduce the sentences of giving/receiving of an object that is a noun.
A1: [Noun] o Itadaki mashita
A2: [Noun] o Kudasai mashita
A3: [Noun] o Yari mashita
In A4 through A6, the sentences describing someone did a beneficial action to someone in the following forms;
A4: [V-te] Itadaki mashita
A5: [V-te] Kudasai mashita
A6: [V-te] Yari mashita
[V-te] means a verb in Te-form. But it is not just a verb in Te-form only, it includes words consisting a verb clause like “No’oto o Misete (to show his/her notebook)”.
Now the sentence construction of A4 is as shown below;
(1) Watashi wa [Person Superior] ni [V-te] Itadaki mashita.
If who did you a favor is not a person superior to you, the sentence would have been;
(2) Watashi wa [Person] ni [V-te] Morai mashita.
(2) is a polite sentence of “Desu-Masu style”, and (1) is a honorific with more politeness than (2). Take a look at examples below;
1. Watashi wa Sensei ni Kenkyuu-Shitsu no Naka o Misete Itadaki mashita.
(I was shown by the teacher the inside of the research room.)
2. Watashi wa Sensei ni Gakkai e Tsurete itte Itadaki mashita.
(I was taken by the teacher to the academic conference.)
3. Watashi wa Sensei ni Supi’ichi Contesuto no Genkou o Naoshite Itadaki mashita.
(I was given by my teacher corrections on my draft for speech contest.)
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
