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)
If concise endings with some sentence-ending particles like “yo”, “ne”, and “yone”, such utterances are casual talk to your friends. Do not use such speech style to your teacher.
If no sentence-ending particle is attached to concise endings, therefore the concise ending is really the ending of the sentence, then such language production is to be writing like newspapers, report, contract documents, and so on. For a Japanese learner in beginner’s level, the most likely use of concise endings in writing would be diary.
The followings are examples of sentences with concise endings. Although Exercise A2 in Section 20 of Minnano Nihongo shows sentences in present tense only, the following examples contain sentences in past tense.
<This post is incomplete. I will try to finish near future.>
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section20 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
<Let me try to write the post tomorrow>
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section20 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
There are four types of sentence predicates; verb, I-adjective, Na-adjective, and Noun. Each has four variations that are present-positive, present-negative, past-positive, and past-negative. Four predicate types with four variations result in 16 patterns. And 16 patterns are doubled to be 32 patterns because there are two styles for Polite and Concise.
Since it is too much if the all 32 patterns are dealt with in one time, today’s post shows the sentence endings of verb predicates only. The following examples are listing patterns of endings of verb predicate sentences. Each row shows “Polite ending” and “Concise ending” in this order. For example, in the first row, Mimasu is polite ending and Miru is concise ending.
<Group 2 Verb>
“Miru/Mimasu”
– Present-Positive : Mimasu — Miru
– Present-Negative : Mimasen — Minai
– Past-Positive : Mimashita — Mita
– Past-Negative : Mimasendeshita — Minakatta
<Group3 Verbs>
“Kuru/Kimasu”
– Present-Positive : Kimasu — Kuru
– Present-Negative : Kimasen — Konai
– Past-Positive : Kimashita — Kita
– Past-Negative : Kimasendeshita — Konakatta
“Suru/Shimasu”
– Present-Positive : Shimasu — Suru
– Present-Negative : Shimasen — Shinai
– Past-Positive : Shimashita — Shita
– Past-Negative : Shimasendeshita — Shinakatta
<Group1-W Verb>
“Kau/Kaimasu”
– Present-Positive : Kaimasu — Kau
– Present-Negative : Kaimasen — Kawanai
– Past-Positive : Kaimashita — Katta
– Past-Negative : Kaimasendeshita — Kawanakatta
<Group1-K Verb>
“Kaku/Kakimasu”
– Present-Positive : Kakimasu — Kaku
– Present-Negative : Kakimasen — Kakanai
– Past-Positive : Kakimashita — Kaita
– Past-Negative : Kakimasendeshita — Kakanakatta
<Group1-G Verb>
“Oyogu/Oyogimasu”
– Present-Positive : Oyogimasu — Oyogu
– Present-Negative : Oyogimasen — Oyoganai
– Past-Positive : Oyogimashita — Oyoida
– Past-Negative : Oyogimasendeshita — Oyoganakatta
<Group1-S Verb>
“Hanasu/Hanashimasu”
– Present-Positive : Hanashimasu — Hanasu
– Present-Negative : Hanashimasen — Hanasanai
– Past-Positive : Hanashimashita — Hanashita
– Past-Negative : Hanashimasendeshita — Hanasanakatta
<Group1-T Verb>
“Motsu/Mochimashu”
– Present-Positive : Mochimasu — Motsu
– Present-Negative : Mochimasen — Motanai
– Past-Positive : Mochimashita — Motta
– Past-Negative : Mochimasendeshita — Motanakatta
<Group1-B Verb>
“Yobu/Yobimasu”
– Present-Positive : Yobimasu — Yobu
– Present-Negative : Tobimasen — Yobanai
– Past-Positive : Yobimashita — Yonda
– Past-Negative : Yobimasendeshita — Yobanakatta
<Group1-M>
“Nomu/Nomimasu”
– Present-Positive : Nomimasu — Nomu
– Present-Negative : Nomimasen — Nomanai
– Past-Positive : Nomimashita — Nonda
– Past-Negative : Nomimasendeshita — Nomanakatta
<Group1-R>
“Tsukuru/Tsukurimasu”
– Present-Positive : Tsukurimasu — Tsukuru
– Present-Negative : Tsukurimasen — Tsukuranai
– Past-Positive : Tsukurimashita — Tsukutta
– Past-Negative : Tsukurimasendeshita — Tsukuranakatta
Note that, as shown below, conjugation patterns of Masu-form, Dictionary-form, Nai-form, and Ta-form are directly used as sentence endings.
– Present-Positive : Tsukurimasu[Masu-form] — Tsukuru[Dictionary-form]
– Present-Negative : Tsukurimasen — Tsukuranai[Nai-form]
– Past-Positive : Tsukurimashita — Tsukutta[Ta-form]
– Past-Negative : Tsukurimasendeshita — Tsukuranakatta
An attention needs to be paid for the intransitive verb “Aru/Arimasu”
“Aru/Arimasu”
– Present-Positive : Arimasu — Aru
– Present-Negative : Arimasen — #Nai
– Past-Positive : Arimashita — Atta
– Past-Negative : Arimasendeshita — #Nakatta
“#” means exception. Although “Aru/Arimasu” seems to be a Group1-R verb, “Aranai” and “Aranakatta” are WRONG*. It may be weird that the positive “Aru” is a verb, but its negative form is an I-adjective. But they are both stative words. Just remember the negative form of “Aru” is “Nai”.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section20 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
* “Aranai” had been used in some time in the history. However, the author believe that “Aranai” as the negative form of “Aru” should be regarded as error for learning Japanese as a second language.
There is a big table for exercise A4 in Section 19 in the textbook of Minnano Nihongo. The table is divided in two columns. The left column is titled as Polite Form, and the right column as Normal Form at the top. By saying “Form”, they seem to be a kind of conjugation patterns like Te-form and Ta-form. But for today, it is better to think these polite form and normal form are different of speech style.
It is so important to know that, in Japanese language, how you speak must be in accordance with the person who you are talking to and the situation where you are in. In order to make your speaking appropriate, not only your face, attitude, intonation and prominence are adjusted, but wording also needs to be changed.
So, think about the big table is about sentence endings for polite speech style or concise style.
– Polite sentence ending is for conversation with people, for example, in public space.
– Concise sentence ending is used in casual conversation with your friends and family members often with some final particles (-yo, -ne, -yone, and so on) at the end. Concise sentence ending is also used in newspapers, technical reports, and contract documents for which conciseness is necessary. But, of course, final particles are not used for these articles. Other situation that you use concise sentence ending are studying Japanese grammar, talking to yourself, and writing a diary.
Examples of polite/concise sentence endings will appear tomorrow. Just a little example is as below;
– Polite Style: Tsukaimasu.
– Normal Style: Tsukau.
I think you can find that the polite style “Tsukaimasu” is Masu-form, and the normal style “Tsukau” is Dictionary form. So, be aware that these Tsukaimasu and Tsukau have dual properties about conjugation pattern and speech style.
Today I dealt with A4 S19 as a matter of sentence ending, because I want to talk about matters about speech style and about nested complex sentences separately. For the latter, soon you will see the expressions of “- to Omoimasu. (I think that -)” and “-to Iimashita. (He/she said that-)”. You need to use normal form in front of “-to”. The section 21 is to explain these expressions.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section20 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
At the exercise A4 on Section 19, the following three constructions are introduced;
1-1. [Subject] wa [I-adj]+ku Narimashita.
1-2. [Subject] wa [Na-adj]+ni Narimashita.
1-3. [Subject] wa [Noun]+ni Narimashita.
All three use the intransitive verb “Naru/Narimasu” in perfect tense. Note that I-adjective and Na-adjective are words that conjugate, but Noun never conjugates. Despite of the difference about conjugation, the major difference exists between I-adjective and other two. I-adjective uses “ku”, but Na-adjective and Noun use “ni”.
Are the “ni” for Na-adjective and the “ni” for Noun the same? Of course, the character is the same “に”. But what about grammatically? Some teachers may say they are the same, but I think it’s better to think as below;
– [Stem of Na-adj]+ni Narimashita. => “ni” is changing part of Na-adjective that is conjugating words
– [Noun]+ni Narimashita. => “ni” is a particle.
The particle “ni” has many functions. 1 through 4 have already been listed at A4 S11. This time, I add the number 5.
1. Time of Action
example; Watashi wa Maiasa Roku-ji ni Okimasu. (I get up at six every morning.)
2. Place of Existence
example; Panda wa Ueno Doubutsuen ni Imasu. (A Panda is in Ueno Zoo.)
3. Place where an action is going(getting) to
example; Watashi wa Mainichi Gakkou ni Ikimasu. (I go to school every day.)
4. Object to allocate number
example; Ichinen ni San kai Kuni ni Kaerimasu. (I go to my hometown three times a year.)
5. Condition/Status after the change
example; Satou-san wa Daigakusei ni Narimashita. (Sato-san has become a university student.)
Here are some examples for the function 5 of the particle “ni”.
– Suzuki-san wa Nijuu-Ni sai ni Narimashita. (Suzuki-san has becom twenty-two years old.)
– Shingou wa Ao ni Narimasita. (Traffic light turned to be Blue) — blue means you can go
– Ashita wa Yasumi ni Narimashita. (I’ve got a day-off tomorrow.)
– Haru ni Narimashita. (Spring has come.)
Note that words with “ni” behind describe Condition/Status after the changes.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
When describing a change of something, the following sentence construction is used.
1. [Subject] wa [Condition/Nature after the change] Narimashita.
And for the word to describe “condition/nature”, three groups of words are applicable; I-adjectives, Na-adjectives, and Nouns. The sentence construction 1 would be the following for each of three.
1-1. [Subject] wa [I-adj]+ku Narimashita.
1-2. [Subject] wa [Na-adj]+ni Narimashita.
1-3. [Subject] wa [Noun]+ni Narimashita.
We have already learned 1-1, which is the sentence of changes described with I-adjectives. Today, we are learning 1-2, which uses Na-adjectives.
The most confusing Na-adjective for beginners of Japanese is “Kireina”. Many learner erroneously believe “Kirei” is an I-adjective because it looks like ending with “i”. Let us look at conjugation of Na-adjectives, using “Kireina”.
<1> Concise ending; [Kirei]<da>
<2> Modifying a noun behind; [Kirei]<na> Youfuku (a beautiful cloths)
<3> Being connected to another conjugating word behind*; [Kirei]<ni> narimashita. (It’s become beautiful/clean.)
<4> To make the adjective hypothetical; [Kirei]<nara> (If it’s beautiful/clean)
(* “Kireide” is omitted in <3> for simplicity)
Now we are learning <3>. A little longer example is as below;
2. Mizu de Yoku Araimashita kara, Te ga Kirei-ni Narimashita.
(Washing well with water, (my) hands has got cleaned.)
– Misu: noun; water
– de: particle; to mark what to use for action
– Yoku: adverb; well
– Arau/Araimasu: transitive verb; wash
– kara: conjunctive particle; to make the former clause a reason/cause of the latter clause.
– Te: noun; hands
– Kireina: Na-adjective; beautiful/clean
– Naru/Narimasu: intransitive verb; become
It is so important for a Japanese learner to learn that “Kireina” is not I-adjective but Na-adjective. But those who erroneously believe “Kireina” is an I-adjective (WRONG!!) tend to overgeneralize the sentence like 2 to all the I-adjectives. Then the following errors happen quite often.
WRONG: Samui-ni Narimasu => RIGHT: Samu-ku Narimasu. (becomes cold)
WRONG: Sabishii-ni Narimasu => RIGHT: Sabishi-ku Narimasu. (becomes sad)
In order to prevent such errors, it is indispensable for learners to know there are two types of adjectives; I-adjectives and Na-adjectives, and they conjugate differently.
Again, “Kireina” is a Na-adjective. Actually, Na-adjective came from combination of a noun and the auxiliary verb “da”. “da” conjugates, so [Noun+Auxiliary verb] conjugates. Therefore, you can see many similarities between Na-adjectives and Nouns when it comes to sentence constructions.
1-2. [Subject] wa [Na-adj]+ni Narimashita. Example: Kirei-ni Narimashita.
1-3. [Subject] wa [Noun]+ni Narimashita. Example: Daigakusei ni Narimashita.
So, the similarity the above 1-2 and 1-3 is that “ni” is used in both. For today, think that “ni” for “Kirei-ni” is the changing part of conjugation of a Na-adjective. Tomorrow, “ni” for “Daigakusei ni” will be explained as a particle.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
At the Renshuu A4 in the section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo”, three sentence constructions are introduced. These three are to express changes using the intransitive verb “Naru/Narimasu” as shown below;
1. [Subject] wa [Condition/Nature after the change] Narimashita.
There is [Condition/Nature after the change] in the sentence 1. And for this part, I-adjectives, Na-adjectives, and Nouns can be used.
1-1. [Subject] wa [I-adj]+ku Narimashita.
1-2. [Subject] wa [Na-adj]+ni Narimashita.
1-3. [Subject] wa [Noun]+ni Narimashita.
Though the A4 introduces these three at once, let me explain one by one for the three. Today’s post focuses on sentences of changes of condition/nature described by I-adjectives (1-1).
The first thing you need to accept about Japanese adjectives is that I-adjectives and Na-adjectives do conjugate. And I-adjectives and Na-adjectives conjugate differently. But unfortunately, many Japanese learners do not accept conjugation especially of I-adjectives. Probably this problem is affected by a Na-adjective “Kireina”. So, let us carefully examine conjugation of I-adjectives.
Conjugating words in Japanese are verbs, I-adjectives, Na-adjectives, and Auxiliary verbs. How changes happen are common to these four words groups.
[Conjugating Word] => [Stem]+<Ending> = [Unchanging]+<Changing>
In the case of I-adjectives “Samui (cold)”, the word endings change as below;
<1> Concise ending; [Samu]<i>
<2> Modifying a noun behind; [Samu]<i> Heya (a cold room)
<3> Being connected to another conjugating word behind; [Samu]<ku> narimashita. (It’s become cold.)
<4> To make the adjective hypothetical; [Samu]<kereba> (If it’s cold)
So, you can see that conjugation happens depending on how the conjugating word works in a sentence. And it is important for Japanese learners in beginner’s level to choose properly <2> or <3>;
<2> [I-adj stem]<i> + [Noun] ; Atsui Natsu (Hot summer)
<3> [I-adj stem]<ku> + [Verb/I-adj/Na-adj] ; Atsuku Narimasu (become hot)
“Naru/Narimasu” is not the only verb that follows an I-adjective and make it “stem+ku”. For example;
– Hayaku Hashirimasu. (runs fast)
But “stem+ku Narimasu” is the most major combination of “ku+conjugating words” for I-adjectives. Read aloud the following examples.
– Atarashii Omise (new store) — <2>
Omise ga Atarashiku Narimashita. — <3>
– Ii Tenki (good weather) — <2>
Tenki ga Yoku Narimashita. — <3>
– Isogashii Shigoto (busy job) — <2>
Shigoto ga Isogashiku Narimashita. — <3>
– Oishii Misoshiru (taste-good Miso soup) — <2>
Misoshiru ga Oishiku Narimashita. — <3>
– O’okii Karada (large body) — <2>
Karada ga O’okiku Narimashita. — <3>
– Omoshiroi Jugyou (interesting class) — <2>
Jugyou ga Omoshiroku Narimashita. — <3>
– Takai Se (tall body-height) — <2>
Se ga Takaku Narimashita. — <3>
– Chiisai Keshigomu (small eraser) — <2>
Keshigomu ga Chiisaku Narimashita. — <3>
– Tsumetai Kaze (chilly wind) — <2>
Kaze ga Tsumetaku Narimashita. — <3>
– Hikui ten (low score (of a test)) — <2>
Tesuto no ten ga Hikuku Narimashita. — <3>
– Furui Ie (old house) — <2>
Ie ga Furuku Narimashita. — <3>
– Muzukashii Tesuto (difficult test) — <2>
Tesuto ga Musukashiku Narimashita. — <3>
– Yasashii Shiken (easy examination) — <2>
Shiken ga Yasashiku Narimashita. — <3>
– Yasui Nedan (cheap price) — <2>
Nedan ga Yasuku Narimashita. — <3>
Learn when “i” remains “i”, or when “i” needs to be “ku”, for I-adjectives.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
We have already learned some complex sentences. Complex sentences are sentences that have two or more pairs of subject and predicate. Let us review a such complex sentence using two verbs, which appeared in A2 S16.
1. [V1-te] + kara, [V2].
Example: Te o Aratte kara, Gohan o Tabemasu. (I wash my hands, and then I eat meal.)
Think about time sequence of V1 and V2 in the above sentence construction.Washing hands is the action number one, and eating meal is the action number two. After you finishing the action number one, and then, you do action number two.
But if you do not care much about sequence of two actions, how do you express those two actions? For example, you do two actions on Sunday; watching a TV, and taking a walk. TV first, and then walk, or walk first, and then TV, either is okay for you. Perhaps you do only one of them in a particular Sunday. Then you say in Japanese;
– Watashi wa Maishuu Nichiyoubi, Terebi o Mitari, Sampo ni Ittari shimasu.
(Every Sunday, sometimes I watch TV and sometimes I take a walk.)
This construction is called “Tari-tari construction”, and symbolized like follows;
2. [V1-ta]+ri, [V2-ta]+ri shimasu.
Practice and remember the following conversation;
A : Satou-san wa Maiban Nani o Shimasuka. (What kind of things do you do every night?)
B : Watashi wa Maiban Hon o Yondari, Sumaho o Mitari Shimasu. (I read a book and/or watch my smartphone.)
This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
I guess that people like these kinds of photographs better than my Japanese Learning posts. The reason why I am trying to posts about Japanese Learning is that I hope someday my posts will feed the database of AI. Probably my posts would not help Japanese learners directly, but if those posts could be helpful to learners indirectly through AI, I would be happy.
Today we are going to learn one of constructions that use Ta-form of verbs. And the construction uses a formal noun “koto”. “Koto” has a meaning like “a thing” and/or “a matter”, but more importantly than meaning, “koto” has a function that makes a verb clause a noun-equivalent. Recently we learned a construction in which “koto” works to turn a verb to be a noun-equivalent. That was;
1. Watashi wa Piano o Hiku koto ga Dekimasu. (I can play a piano.)
Then, today’s construction also uses “koto” for the same purpose to make a verb a noun equivalent.
2. Watashi wa Hokkaidou e Itta koto ga Arimasu. (I have an experience of having been to Hokkaido.)
What is common, and what is different between the sentences 1 and 2?
Both sentences are “Wa-ga construction” with predicates of stative verbs. And both use “koto” to make a verb clause a noun equivalent so that the verb clause could be placed in front of the particle “ga”.
Of course, difference is that they are different constructions to describe different things; 1 is to say “someone can do something”, and 2 is to say “someone has an experience doing an action in the past.”. A difference more in detail, 1 uses Dictionary form of a verb, while 2 uses Ta-form. Since the sentence 2 is talking about an experience in the past, Ta-form is used.
Practice and remember the following conversation;
A : Miraa-san wa O-Sashimi o Tabeta koto ga Arimasuka. (Miller-san, have you eaten raw fish?)
B : Hai, Watashi wa O-Sashimi o Tabeta koro ga Arimasu. (Yes, I have eaten raw fish.)
“O-” attached in front of “Sashimi” is a prefix that makes the word more polite.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 