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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)
The sentence constructions introduced in the section 34 are all verb clauses which modify the predicate verb behind, in other words, which work as adverbials for the main clause.
[Subordinate Clause], [Main Clause]
= [Verb clause modifies the predicate verb], [Predicate verb clause].
= [Verb clause works as an Adverbial], [Predicate verb clause]
In today’s A3, there is no comma “,” (to be exact, 読点 “、”) between the subordinate clause and the main clause. But it is the same as other A1, A2, and A4 in respect that the first verb modifies the second verb.
(1) Accompanying Action to the Predicate Verb
[V1-te] + [V2] masu.
1. Kaban o Motte Dekake masu. (I go outside with (holding) my bag.)
The subordinate clause “Kaban o Motte” is the accompanying action to the predicate verb “Dekakemasu”.
2. Eakon o Tsukete Ne masu. (I sleep with (turning) the air-conditioner on.)
The subordinate clause “Eakon o Tsukete” is the accompanying action to the predicate verb “Nemasu.”
(2) Action that doesn’t accompany to the action of the predicate verb
[V1-naide] + [V] masu.
3. Kaban o Motanaide Dekake masu. (I go outside without (holding) my bag.)
Sometimes people say “Kaban o Motazuni” for this sentence 3.
4. Eakon o Tsukenaide Ne masu. (I sleep without (turning) the air-conditioner on.)
Sometimes people say “Eakon o Tsukezuni” for this sentence 4.
Today’s sentence constructions don’t have comma. Probably it’s because it has to have a difference from tomorrow’s sentence construction.
5. Sumaho o Motanaide Machi ni Dekake mashita. (I went to the town without holding my smart phone.) <= today’s
6. Ie ni inaide, Machi ni Dekake mashita. (I didn’t stay at home, but went out to the town.) <= tomorrow’s
The sentence 5 doesn’t have a comma but the 6 does. Can you tell the difference of nuance between the two?
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section34 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Today’s sentence construction can be compared with what we learned in the exercise A5 of the section 18.
A5 S18
1. [V1-dic] mae ni, [V2] masu.
Example; Neru mae ni, Ha o Migaki masu. (Before I go to bed, I brush my teeth.)
A2 S34 (of today)
2. [V1-ta] ato de [V2] masu.
Example; Ha o Migaita ato de, Nemasu. (After I brushed my teeth, I go to bed.)
Comparing the two examples, you will find the following differences;
– The verb in subordinate clause and main clause have swapped.
– The verb in front of “mae” takes dictionary form, while the verb in front of “ato” takes Ta-form.
– The particles after “mae” is “-ni”, while the particle after “ato” is “-de”.
Note that the dictionary form works as future tense for most of the verbs, and the Ta-form works as perfect tense. The particle “-ni” is about direction toward, and “-de” is about restriction, although the functions of these two particles are not limited to these simple definitions.
The followings are example sentence of today’s sentence construction “[V1-ta] ato de [V2] masu.”
3. Kimatsu-shiken ga Owatta ato de, Inaka ni Kaerimasu. (After the final examinations ended, I am going back to my hometown.)
In 3, the subject in the subordinate clause is “Kimatsu-shiken”. Although the subject in the main clause is “Watashi”, it is not explicitly mentioned in the main clause.
4. Satou-san no Happyou o Kiita ato de, Shitsumon Shi masita. (After listening to Sato-san’s presentation, I asked her a question.)
Instead of a verb in Ta-form, sometimes “[Noun] no” is used in front of “ato de”;
5. Undou no ato de, Shawa’a o Abi masu. (After worked out, I take a shower.)
6. Jugyou no ato de, Toshokan e Iki mashita. (After the class, I went to the library.)
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section34 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
The temperature has got 37 Celsius (98F) this afternoon.
I am a little busy right now.
飲む、食べる → 飲んだり、食べたり
見る、聞く → 見たり、聞いたり
行く、来る → 行ったり、来たり
書く、話す → 書いたり、話したり
歩く、走る → 歩いたり、走ったり
切る、貼る → 切ったり、貼ったり
開ける、閉じる → 開けたり、閉じたり
上げる、下ろす → 上げたり、下ろしたり
歌う、踊る → 歌ったり、踊ったり
煮る、焼く → 煮たり、焼いたり
作る、壊す → 作ったり、壊したり
脱ぐ、着る → 脱いだり、着たり
押す、引く → 押したり、引いたり
言う、言わない → 言ったり、言わなかったり
見る、見ない → 見たり、見なかったり
動く、止まる → 動いたり、止まったり
掃除する、買い物する → 掃除したり、買い物したり
教える、教えられる → 教えたり、教えられたり
つく、消える → ついたり、消えたり
つける、消す → つけたり、消したり
出る、入る → 出たり、入ったり
入れる、出す → 入れたり、出したり
寝る、起きる → 寝たり、起きたり
登る、降りる → 登ったり、降りたり
晴れる、曇る → 晴れたり、曇ったり
増える、減る → 増えたり、減ったり
もらう、あげる → もらったり、あげたり
泣く、笑う → 泣いたり、笑ったり
このブログは、基本的には英語だけで書く方針ですが、今日は何にも用意ができていないし、時間もないので、例外的に日本語でアップします。ある学生を指導するときに作ったメモから載せていますので、網羅的ではないと思います。
What is important in the exercise 1 of the section 34 is to learn that a clause “to’ori ni” functions as an adverbial of the verb in the main clause. Yesterday we learned a sentence construction whose main clause is to ask other people to do something.
1. [V1-ta] to’ori ni, [V2-te] kudasai.
Example; Watashi ga Kaita to’ori ni, Kaite kudasai. (Please write as I have written.)
Today’s sentences are a little simpler than yesterday’s, which is to say I did something as I saw other people did.
2. Haha ga Yatta to’ori ni, Yari mashita. (I did it as my mother did.)
3. Piano no Sensei ni Naratta to’ori ni, Hiki mashita. (I played as learned from the piano teacher.)
Not only “[V-ta] + to’ori ni”, but sometime “Noun no to’ori ni” is also used like yesterday.
4. Manyuaru no to’ori ni Kikai o Ugokashi mashita. (I operated the machine as the manual.)
Where, Manyuaru (Ma-nyu-a-ru) is a Katakana word which came from “manual”. Ugokasu/Ugokashimasu is a transitive verb of Gr1-S.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section34 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Today we are going to learn a sentence construction shown below;
1. [V1-ta] to’ori ni, [V2-te] kudasai.
As you see in the 1, the subordinate clause uses “to’ori ni”. Apparently, “to’ori ni” is a compound word consisting of a noun “to’ori” and a particle “ni”. We can predict two things from these two words;
(1) A verb placed in front of “to’ori” needs to take forms that can connect to a noun behind because “to’ori” is a noun. There are four forms for a verb to connect to a noun; Dictionary form, Nai-form, Ta-form, and V-nakatta. But this time, only Ta-form is used.
(2) A clause with “to’ori ni” at the end modifies a verb behind, because a word with “ni” works as an adverbial.
As for the main clause, we have already learned “[V-te] kudasai.” in the exercise A2 of the section 14, as an expression to ask a listener to do something.
The followings are example sentences;
2. Watashi ga Kaita to’ori ni, Kaite kudasai. (Please write as I have written.)
The same verb “Kaku/Kakimasu” are “Kaita” in the subordinate clause and “Kaite” in the main clause. It’s because Ta-form “Kaita” modifies the noun “to’ori” and Te-form “Kaite” modifies a conjugating word “kudasai” whose dictionary form is “Kudasaru”. The basic of conjugation is that there are two major conjugation patterns; one for modifying a noun, the other for modifying conjugating words. When it comes to conjugation pattern to modify a noun, the dictionary form comes first to mind. But today’s sentences use Ta-form. Think about the situation of the sentence 2. When the listener writes, he/she will carefully watch what the speaker has written. The important thing is that, at the time, the speaker’s action of writing has already finished. This is the reason why Ta-form “Kaita” is used in the sentence 2, because Ta-form is not only for past tense but in many times for perfect tense. And another important thing to look at is “Watashi ga”. It’s not “Watashi wa”. Look at the structure of the sentence 2.
2’. [Watashi ga Kaita]+{to’ori} ni, Kaite kudasai.
As you see, the verb clause [Watashi ga Kaita] modifies the noun {to’ori}. Therefore, “Watashi” is not the subject of the sentence, but is the subject inside the clause that modifies a noun. It is important to mention “who does what” in a clause to modifies a noun. In order to clearly identify the subject inside the clause, “-ga” is used as subject marker.
3. Jidousha Gakkou de Naratta to’ori ni, Unten-shite kudasai.
(Please drive a car as you have learned in the driving school.)
The sentences 1 to 3 above uses Ta-form of verbs just in front of “to’ori”. If a noun is used to modify “to’ori”, the sentence construction will be as shown below. “[N] no to’ori” is, of course, “N1 no N2”.
4. [N] no to’ori ni [V-te] kudasai.
5. Kinyuu-rei no to’ori ni Kaite kudasai. (Please write as the sample.)
Where, Kinyuu-rei is a sample, which usually looks the same with the document to fill the blanks. Or, more simple example sentence is;
6: Kono to’ori ni Kinyuu shite kudasai. (Write as you see here.)
Where, Kinyuu (Ki-nyu-u) is an active noun which means to write something to fill the blanks on a document. Attaching “suru/shimasu”, it can be a group 3 verb.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section34 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Suppose that someone does something for you. You describe the act in a sentence whose subject is “Watashi (I)”. The sentence will be “(Watashi wa) V-te morau”. Then, how do you ask when you want someone to do something for you,? Considering that the potential form of “morau” is “moraeru”, you may say “V-te morae masenka.” for “please do it for me.” Technically, “V-te morae masenka” is a kind of polite expression (丁寧語) but this doesn’t sound polite enough for native Japanese speaker, actually. Probably that is the reason for young people these days to say “V-te morattemo Iidesuka.” which they think is more polite than “V-te morae masenka.” I personally don’t like the expression “V-te morattemo Ii desuka.” because it doesn’t sound polite on the contrary to their intentions. Then how can we make “V-te morae masenka” more polite, or in other words, how can it be turned into humble language? The answer has already been introduced in the exercise A5 in the section 26. By changing the verb from “morau” to its humble alternative “itadaku”, you can ask as below;
1. “V-te itadake masenka”
(where, the potential form of “itadaku” is “itadakeru”)
Today’s sentence construction uses a verb “Tsutaeru/Tsutaemasu” which means “conveying a message”. Therefore when you want someone to convey your message to a third person, you can say;
2. Tsutaete itadake masenka.
We are learning how to use the particle “-to” which marks the end of a quoted utterances and/or thought in the section 33 now.
3. [Your message] to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
To whom to convey is also an important information, so,
4. [Person] ni [Your message] to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
The followings are examples of the sentence construction 4;
5. Satou-san ni Nijuppun kurai Okureru to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
(Please tell Sato-san that I will be late for twenty minutes or so.)
6. Suzuki-san ni Nichiyoubi no Renshuu ni Ikenai to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
(Please tell Suzuki-san that I will not be able to come the practice on Sunday.)
7. Takahashi-san ni Kyou no Yoru wa Tsugou ga Warui to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
(Please tell Takahashi-san that tonight is inconvenient for me.)
8. Kobayashi-san ni Ikeda-san wa Byouki da to Tsutaete itadake masenka.
(Please tell Kobayashi-san that Ikeda-san has got sick now.)
Note that Okureru in 5 is a dictionary form, Ikenai in 6 is a Nai-form of potential form Ikeru, Warui in 7 is an I-adjective, and Byouki in 8 is a noun in the above examples.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section33 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

It’s not just one but many. Some worms make rice grains stick to their body, and hide themselves in the rice grains. It looks like a ball of rice grains of One centimeter diameter.
I should have kept rice in refrigerator before the temperature rose.
Again, the sentence construction of the day also uses the particle “-to”. The construction is;
1. [Subject ] wa [Clause] to Itte Imashita.
where, [Clause] is what the subject said. The end of the clause usually takes the short ending form.
The construction 1 ends with “Itte imashita.”. Not only this “Itte imashita.”, but “Itte imasu.” and “Iimashita” are also likely to be used. How these three are different each other? Let’s examine these three patterns of sentence ending.
2. Satou-san wa Ashita no Asa Ku-ji ni Kuru to Iimashita. (Sato-san said she would come (here) at 9 tomorrow morning.)
This is simply saying that Sato-san said something at one moment in the past. It is not sure that Sato-san really comes tomorrow, because what Sato-san said is valid at that moment only.
3. Satou-san wa Ashita no Asa Ku-ji ni Kuru to Itte imasu. (Sato-san is saying she will come at 9 tomorrow morning.)
The sentence 3 indicates what Sato-san said has been valid since she said it. Although it is not sure what time this sentence 3 is being said, her coming at 9a.m. tomorrow is valid at the time of utterance of the sentence 3. Actually, it sounds like the speaker is insisting what Sato-san said is valid.
4. Satou-san wa Ashita no Asa Ku-ji ni Kuru to Itte imashita. (I heard that Sato-san was saying she would come at 9 tomorrow morning.)
The sentence 4 sounds like a kind of hearsay. The speaker of the sentence 4 was there, and heard what Sato-san was saying. It is not sure how many hours later, but the speaker says what he/she heard from Sato-san. Probably what Sato-san said is still valid, but the speaker is not responsible for her really coming at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
The exercise A5 adopts “Itte Imashita.”.
<INCOMPLETE!>
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section33 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”