I am a native Japanese speaker who used to teach Japanese in a university somewhere on this planet. Currently I don't work but stayed in my house in Northern part of JAPAN. I hope that you could enjoy reading my posts and know what life in Japan is like.
Hi, this is a blog that is a record of my career as a Japanese teacher. Please introduce this blog to your friends by showing the QR code below
Listen to my music playing: J. S. Bach, Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.3, Prelude on Electric Bass (4.22MB)
When you want to ask a question, you put the sentence-ending particle “-ka.” at the end of a declarative sentence.
– Shokken ga Irimasu. — A meal ticket is required.
– Shokken ga Irimasuka, — Is a meal ticket required?
Suppose you are coming to a big conference. The organizers told you that a free meal was available in lunch time. It’s noon, you went to the dining room, and then you are told that you need to show a meal ticket. You didn’t know, but actually you should have received the ticket at reception before coming to the dining room. With a little surprise, you will ask a question like below;
– Shokken ga Irundesuka. — Are you saying that a meal ticket is required?
This is an example of “[V-dic]+ndesuka.”. As to [Verb]+ndesuka., there are the following four patterns. Examples use the verb “Kau/Kaimasu (buy)”.
1. [V-dic]+ndesuka. : Kaundesuka.
2. [V-nai]+ndesuka, : Kawanaindesuka.
3. [V-ta]+ndeseuka. : Kattandesuka.
4. [V-nakatta]+nedesuka. : Kawanakattandesuka.
In the above, 2 and 4 are combination of negative form and “-ndesuka.” These have stronger surprise, sometimes even become a kind of condemnation. Let us practice 1 and 3 types of “-ndesuka.” questions in the following. Take a look at how the sentence endings change from questions that you have already learned to “ndesuka.” questions.
1. Ame ga Futte imasuka. (Is it raining?)
=> Ame ga Futte irundesuka. (Is it raining? (with a little surprise))
2. Ie o Kaimashitaka. (Did you buy a house?)
=> Ie o Kattandesuka. (Is it real that you bought a house?)
3. Dare ni Purezento o Agemasuka. (To whom are you giving a present?)
=> Dare ni Purezento o Agerundesuka. (Tell me who are you giving the present to.)
4. Itsu Kyouyo ni Ikimashitaka. (When did you go to Kyoto?)
=> Itsu Kyouto ni Ittandesuka. (Tell me when you went to Kyoto.)
3 and 4 are questions that use interrogative words. My English translations may not be expressing the nuance of “-ndesuka.” well. Comparing to “V-masuka.” questions, “V-ndesuka” questions are more emotional.
Not only for verbs, “ndesuka” questions are applicable to noun, Na-adjective, and I-adjective predicates, too. For those, refer to the yesterday’s post.
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section26 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Today’s post assumes that a viewer has already got a basic knowledge about sentence endings. For sentences of “Non-past positive”, the endings are;
[Noun]+desu : Heya desu. ((It’s) a Room.)
[Stem of Na-adj]+desu : Kirei desu. ((It’s) clean.)
[Stem of i-adj]+i+desu : Utsukushii desu. ((It’s) beautiful)
[V]+masu : Soujishi + masu : ((I’m going to) clean.)
The important thing is that only the verb predicates end with “masu”. For those Nouns, Na-adjectives, and I-adjectives, predicates end with “desu”. Can you tell the difference between the two below?
A : Yasumi masu.
B : Yasumi desu.
A is a verb predicate which means “(I will) take a break”, and B is a noun predicate which means “(It’s the) day-off”. You should never say like “{WRONG} Gohan o Tabe desu.”. It should be “{RIGHT} Gohan o Tabe masu.”. It is important to distinguish between verbs and nouns.
In the case of a Noun predicate, it is like;
[Noun]+desu.
Of course, “[Verb]+desu.” is fatally wrong. But how about the following one?
[Verb turns to be a “Noun-equivalent”] + desu.
In order to make a verb a Noun-equivalent, using “no” makes it possible.
[Verb + no ] + desu.
This is what we are going to learn today. “Verb +nodesu.” is okay but in conversation, it is usually shortened to be “Verb+ndesu.” The difference between “V+masu” and “V+ndesu.” is;
– V+masu : Simply telling about action
– V+ndesu : Telling about action with nuances of confiding and/or the action is the cause/reason of something.
The followings are 16 patterns with present-positive, present-negative, past-positive, past-negative for 4 types predicates.
<1> Verb Predicates (Iku/Ikimasu)
– Present-positive — Ikundesu.
– Present-negative — Ikanaindesu.
– Past-positive — Ittandesu.
– Past-negative — Ikanakattandesu.
<2> I-adjective Predicates (Takai)
– Present-positive — Takaindesu.
– Present-negative — Takaku naindesu.
– Past-positive — Takakattandesu.
– Past-negative — Takaku nakattandesu.
<3> Na-adjective Predicates (Kireina)
– Present-positive — Kireinandesu.
– Present-negative — Kireijanaindesu.
– Past-positive — Kireidattandesu.
– Past-negative — Kireija nakattandesu.
<4> Noun Predicates (Daigakusei)
– Present-positive — Daigakusei nandesu.
– Present-negative — Daigakuseija naindesu.
– Past-positive — Daigakusei dattandesu.
– Past-negative — Daigakuseija nakattandesu.
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section26 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Now it’s almost ending to harvest mulberry from the tree in my garden. This year, I have made four bottles of mulberry jam. I think I got enough amount of Jam. I saw yesterday the rest of the mulberry fruits were not enough to make another bottle of jam. So, I made two cups of mulberry jelly. I have already tasted one, but I’d say it was not so good because mulberries that I could use for jelly were a little less. If there were more, but I have to wait one year.
Oh, by the way, I write explanations about the exercise A of Minna no Nihongo. I have already finished the first book, now I am going to start writing about the exercise A in the second book. So far, I write Japanese sentences in Alphabet. But is it better to write Japanese in Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji?
In the section 25, two conjunctive particles are introduced; One makes “So-Therefore” connection, and the other makes “But-However” connection to the main clause.
[Preconditional Clause]+tara, [Main Clause].
Example: Ame ga Futtara, Dekakemasen. (If it rains, I will not go outside.)
When it’s rainy, ordinary people wouldn’t like to get out of house. Therefore, the main clause “Dekakemasen” is an expectable conclusion from the preconditional clause “Ame ga Futtara,”. This is an example that the conjunctive particle “-tara,” makes a So-Therefore connection to the main clause.
[Preconditional Clause]+temo, [Main Clause].
Example: Ame ga Futtemo, Dekakemasu. (Even if it rains, I will go outside.)
Since ordinary people wouldn’t like to get out of house when it’s rainy, the main clause “Dekakemasu” is an unexpectable conclusion from the precondition “it’s rainy”. Therefore, this is an example that the conjunctive particle “-temo,” makes a But-However connection to the main clause.
As in the case of “tara” preconditional clause, the predicates in the clause can be a Verb, an I-adjective, a Na-adjective, and a Noun.
(1) Preconditional clause has a Positive Verb predicate
– Hashittemo, Densha ni Maniaimasen. (Even if we run, we can’t catch the train.)
Running is faster than walking. If you run, the expectable conclusion is that you can catch the train (Hashittara, Densha ni Maniaimasu.). But against prediction, the conclusion is saying an unexpectable thing “Maniaimasen”. When a positive verb is the predicate of preconditional clause, it is good to see it as “[V-te] + mo,”
(2) Preconditional clause has a Negative Verb predicate
– Kurumaga Nakutemo, Seikatsu Dekimasu. (Even if I don’t have a car, I can make living.)
Probably this is what people living in Tokyo say because there are a lot of railway networks. Although “Naku(-temo)” looks like an auxiliary adjective, think it as the negative form of verb “Aru/Arimasu”. I just want to emphasize the Nai-form of “Aru/Arimasu” is not “Aranai” but “Nai”.
(3) Preconditional clause has an I-adjective predicate
– Isogashikutemo, Nihongo o Benkyou shimasu. (Even if I am busy, I study Japanese.)
(4) Preconditional clause has an Na-adjective predicate
– Benridemo, Kurejitto Ca’ado wa Tsukaimasen. (Even if it’s convenient, I don’t use a credit card.)
Note that it’s not “-temo,” but “-demo”. “-demo” is used for Na-adjectives, Nouns, and Verbs of Gr1-B, Gr1-M, and Gr1-N. Another thing to look at is “wa” in the main clause. This “wa” is not subject marker but topic marker. It was originally “o” for the object of transitive verb “Tsukau/Tsukaimasu”. In order to make “Credit card” the topic, “o” turned to be “wa” as below;
Kurejitto Ca’ado o Tsukaimasen. => Kurejitto Ca’ado wa Tsukaimasen.
(5) Preconditional clause has a Noun predicate
– Shigoto ga Yasumi no Hi demo, Asa Hayaku Okimasu. (Even if it’s day-off from my job, I get up early in the morning.)
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section25 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Yesterday, we learned the following construction;
1. [Preconditional Clause] + tara, [Main Clause].
In this construction, the preconditional clause has the predicates of a verb, I-adjective, Na-adjective, and Noun. Today, we are learning the same construction, but its predicates in the preconditional clause are limited to be verbs. In such case, the description below would be better to understand;
2. [Verb Clause] + tara, [Main Clause].
=> [V-ta] + ra, [What to do/What to happen next].
If a verb is in Ta-form, it means the action of the verb has been completed. Although I often call Ta-form “past/perfect tense”, but let us focus on “perfect” this time. Because Ta-form is used not only for action in the past, but also for action in the future, which will be completed in the future.
Here are exapmles;
3. Satou-san ga Kitara, Isshoni Dekake mashou. (Once Sato-san come here, let us go outside together.)
4. Kaisha ni Tsuitara, Sugu Pasokon o Tsukemasu. (As soon as I arrive at the office, I turn on my computer.)
5. Go-ji Han ni Nattara, Ie ni Kaeritai desu. (Come Five-thirty, I want to go home.)
Yesterday’s “’tara’ precondition” was just an assumed condition. Such conditions are often stative especially for the precondition clause that has a predicate of I-adjective, Na-adjective, or Noun. On the other, today’s “’tara’ precondition” describes something gets completed. Therefore, verb is used for the predicate in the precondition clause. As you see in the sentence 3 to 5, “Kita”, “Tsuita”, and “Natta” are all Ta-forms. Ta-form has the function to express that action has been completed. What is said in the main clause is what will you do (or what will happen) after an action in the precondition clause was completed. So, for this nature, the probability of occurrence of the preconditional clause tends to be higher than yesterday’s “tara precondition”s. “Sato-san ga Kitara” in 3 is about to happen, “Kaisha ni Tsuitara” in 4 is an everyday thing, and “Go-ji Han ni Nattara” in 5 is bound to happen.
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section25 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
The section 25 is to learn two conjunctive particles; “-tara,” and “-temo,”. Remember that “-tara,” makes So-Therefore connection and “-temo,” makes But-However type connection to the main clause. The exercise A2 and A3 introduce sentence constructions that use “-tara,”, and A2 shows variations when the preconditional clause has the predicates of a verb, I-adjective, Na-adjective, and Noun.
(1) Preconditional clause has a Positive Verb predicate
– Ame ga Futtara, Soto ni Dekake masen. (If it rains, I will not go outside.)
(2) Negative Verb
– Jikan ga Nakattara*, Asagohan o Tabemasen. (I I don’t have time, I don’t eat breakfast.)
* Note that negative form of the verb”Aru” is not “Aranai” but “Nai”.
(3) I-adjective
– Nami* ga Takakattara, Umi de Oyogimasen. (If the wave is high, I will not swim in the sea.)
* Nami : noun ; wave
(4) Na-adjective
– Heya ga Kirei*dattara, Souji Shimasen. (If the room is clean. I will not clean it.)
* Note that “Kirei” is not an I-adjective, but a Na-adjective.
(5) Noun
– Ashita Yasumi dattara, Kaimono ni Ikimasu. (If it’s day-off tomorrow, I will go shopping.)
The above examples have the construction below;
[Preconditional Clause] + tara, [Main Clause].
The speaker makes an assumption at the preconditional clause, and then says what he/she is going to do if the precondition happens. It is usually unclear as to probability of occurrence of the precondition. These things make a little bit of difference from tomorrow’s the exercise A3.
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section25 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
As to conjunctive particle, we have already learned a few of them such as “-kara,” and “-to,”. Let us review a little about conjunctive particles. Suppose there are two sentences.
{Sentence1}. [Conjunctive], {Sentence2}.
Usually, you put a conjunctive at the beginning of the second sentence. Depending on the relation between the Sentence 1 and 2, there are two major types of conjunctives; One is So-Therefore type, and the other is But-However type. Of course, the Sentence1 comes first, and then you will hear or read the Sentence 2. If the sentence 2 is expected one from what the sentence 1 is saying, So-Therefore type conjunctives are used. But if the sentence 2 is unexpected one from the sentence 1, But-Therefore type conjunctives are used. This combination of two sentences with a conjunctive is also used in Japanese as shown below;
(1) Kyou wa Ame desu. Dakara, Soto ni Dekakemasen. (It’s rainy. So, I will not go outside.)
(2) Kyou wa Ame desu. Demo, Soto ni Dekakemasu. (It’s rainy. But, I will go outside.)
– Dekakeru/Dekakemasu: intransitive verb, Gr2; go outside
“Dakara” in the sentence (1) is a So-Therefore type conjunctive, and “Demo” in (2) is a But-However type. Being able to use (1) and (2) like two sentence combination is good, but it is also important to learn the following construction of one sentence consisting two clauses with “Conjunctive Particle”.
[Clause1] + [conjunctive particle], [Clause2].
Also for conjunctive particles, there are two major groups as well as conjunctives; one is So-Therefore type and But-However type.
(3) Ame ga futtara, Soto ni Dekakemasen. (If it rains, I will not go outside.)
(4) Ame ga futtemo, Soto ni Dekakemasu. (Even if it rains, I will go outside.)
The conjunctive particle “-tara,” is So-Therefore type, and “-demo,” is But-However type. Do you find “If” and “Even if” in English translations of (3) and (4)? The section 25 is for learning two conjunctive particles which make conditional clauses; “-tara,” and “-temo,”. For this purpose, the exercise 1 shows you many connections of “-tara,” and “-temo,” with verbs, I-adjectives, Na-adjectives, and Nouns.
<1> Verbs
<1>-1 Verbs + tara = [V-ta] + ra
If you are not familiar with Te-form of verb, please refer to the post:
It is easy to get Ta-form of a verb if you already know how to make Te-form of a verb. It’s just replacing “te” with “ta”, or “de” with “da”. Once you have got a Ta-form, then put “ra” behind of it.
<1>-2 Verbs + temo = [V-te] + mo
It is just to put “mo” behind a [Te-form].
The following examples show you the connections of verbs and “tara” and “temo” in the order of [Masu-form], [Ta-form]+ra, and [Te-form]+mo.
Gr2 verbs
– Mimasu (see, look at, watch) — Mitara — Mitemo
– Tabemasu (eat) — Tabetara — Tabetemo
Gr3 verbs
– Kimasu (come to this side) — Kitara — Kitemo
– Ikimasu (go, come to you) — Ittara — Ittemo
Gr1-W verbs
– Tsukaimasu (use) — Tsukattara — Tsukattemo
Gr1-K
– Hatarakimasu (work) — Hataraitara — Hataraitemo
Gr1-G
– Isogimasu (hurry, hasten) — Isoidara — Isoidemo
Gr1-S
– Hanashimasu (speak, talk) — Hanashitara — Hanashitemo
Gr1-T
– Machimasu (wait) — Mattara — Mattemo
Gr1-B
– Tobimasu (fly) — Tondara — Tondemo
Gr1-M
– Nomimasu (drink) — Nondara — Nondemo
Gr1-R
– Tsukurimasu (make. cook) — Tsukuttara — Tsukuttemo
<2> I-adjectives
The following examples show you the connections of I-adjectives and “tara” and “temo” in the order of [I-adj]+desu, [I-adj]+tara, and [I-adj]+temo.
– Samui desu — Samukattara — Samukutemo
– Tanoshii desu — Tanoshikattara — Tanoshikutemo
– Ii desu — Yokattara — Yokutemo
<3> Na-adjectives
The following examples show you the connections of Na-adjectives and “tara” and “temo” in the order of [Na-adj]+desu, [Na-adj]+tara, and [Na-adj]+demo.
– Kirei desu — Kirei dattara — Kirei demo
– Suki desu — Suki dattara — Suki demo
– Kantan desu — Kantan dattara — Kantan demo
<4> Nouns
The following examples show you the connections of Nouns and “tara” and “temo” in the order of [Noun]+desu, [Noun]+dattara, and [Noun]+demo.
– Ame desu — Ame dattara — Ame demo
– Shigoto desu — Shigoto dattara — Shigoto demo
Remember that the conjunctive particle “-tara,” is used for “So-Therefore” connection to the main clause, and “-temo,” is used for “But-However” connection to the main clause.
————————————–
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section25 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Now, we will learn the third benefactive expression, “[V-te] Agemashita.” This time in the section 24, all the sentences are of past/perfect tense. Let us review three types of benefactive expression as shown below;
<V-te Morau> : Watashi wa [Someone] ni [V-te] Moraimashita. — A3
<V-te Kureru> : [Someone] wa [#1]* [V-te] Kuremashita. —A4
<V-te Ageru> : Watashi wa [#2]** [V-te] Agemashita. — A5
* “Watashi” and a proper particle may be put into [#1]. As was shown in yesterday’s post;
– Satou-san wa Watashi ni Shukudai no Kotae o Misete Kuremashita.
– Suzuki-san wa Watashi o Kyouto e Tsurete Itte Kuremashita.
– Takahashi-san wa Watashi no Hikkoshi o Tetsudatte Kuremashita.
the particle for “Watashi” is “ni”, “o”, or “no” depending on the verb used in the sentence.
** [Someone] and a proper particle may be put into [#2]. This is what we are learning today.
– Watashi wa Satou-san ni DVD o Kashite Agemashita. (I lent a DVD to Sato-san.)
– Watashi wa Satou-san o Byouin ni Tsurete Itte Agemashita. (I took Sato-san to a hospital.)
– Watashi wa Satou-san no Chuugokugo o Naoshite Agemashita. (I corrected Sato-san’s Chinese.)
At the end of the section 24, here are some quizzes.
(1) Watashi wa Satou-san ni Kanji o Oshiete Moraimashita.
(2) Suzuki-san wa Watashi o Eki e Tsurete Itte Kuremashita.
(3) Watashi wa Takahashi-san no Hikkoshi o Tetsudatte Agemashita.
Q1: I helped someone, and the subject of the sentence is “I”. Which of (1)-(3) is this?
Q2: Someone helped me, and the subject is someone. Which of (1)-(3) is this?
Q3: Someone helped me, but the subject is “I”. Which of (1)-(3) is this?
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section24 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 