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Today’s construction also uses the particle “to” that indicates the end of what to speak or what to think. And the predicate is a verb of speaking and thinking.
1. Watashi wa [what to speak/think] to [verb of speaking and thinking].
In the last two posts for A1 and A2 of the section 21, the predicate verb was “Omoimasu(think)”. Today’s verb is “Iu/Iimasu(say/speak/tell)”. Usually the verb “Iu/Iimasu” needs “to whom you are speaking to” as information. Therefore, a sentence using the verb “Iimasu” uses the word with particle “ni” as shown below.
2. Watashi wa Sensei ni Sakkaabu o Yameru to Iimashita. (I told my teacher that I was quitting the soccer club.)
Note that the predicate verb in the above sentence is in past tense “Iimashita”. If it’s in non-past tense “Iimasu”, it would mean “I am going to tell in near future”. Let us just use the past tense “Iimashita” in order to mention what has already happened rather than to say uncertain things in future.
The following examples have variation for the nested predicate. The sentence predicate is “Iimashita”.
3. V-dic: Yasumu
Watashi wa Kachou ni Ashita Yasumu to Iimashita. (I told my company manager that I was going to have day-off tomorrow.)
4. V-nai: Inai
Watashi wa Tomodachi ni Mada Ohirugohan o Tabete Inai to Iimashita. (I told my friend that I hadn’t eaten the lunch yet.)
– For the above sentence, “Tabenai to Iimashita” is wrong not only because it is inconsistent with the adverb “Mada (not yet)”, but also it means “I am not going to eat”. The current situation is “Not eating”, and “Not eating” is continuing some period of time until now. Therefore, you need to use “V-te iru”.
5. V-ta: Shita
Watashi wa Sensei ni Mou Shukudai wo Shita to Iimashita. (I told my teacher that I had already done the homework.)
6. I-adj: Hoshii
Watasi wa Haha ni Okane ga Hoshii to Iimashita. (I told my mother that I wanted money.)
– Don’t say “Okaasan” when you talk to people other than family members.
7. Na-adj: Kireida
Watashi wa Kanojo ni Kimi wa Kireida to Iimashita. (I told my girlfriend that she was beautiful.)
– Kimi is a noun that means you (not she) with a rude nuance.
– “Kirei” is not an I-adjective, but a Na-adjective!!
This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section21 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
We have recently learned the following construction;
1. Watashi wa Mousugu Ame ga Furu to Omoimasu. (I think it’s going to rain soon.)
Since the verb “Omou/Omoimasu” is usually translated to “think”, the above sentence 1 seems to express what you are thinking. But to be more exact, this sentence has a function to say your speculation. Actually, today’s sentence construction is identical to the sentence 1.
2. Watashi wa Risaikuru wa Chikyuu o Mamoru to Omoimasu. (I think Recycling saves our planet.)
Although the example 2 also sounds like a speculation, you can regard 2 as an opinion of the speaker. Let us look at some examples that are expressing opinions using “to Omoimasu”.
3. [V-dic] + to Omoimasu.
Watashi wa Kasa wa Kyou Yaku ni Tatsu to Omoimasu. (I think an umbrella will be useful today.)
– Yaku ni Tatsu: Gr1-T verb; can be useful
4. [V-nakereba naranai] + to Omoimasu.
Watashi wa Kodomo wa Tetsudai o Shinakereba naranai to Omoimasu. (I think kids should help with household chores)
– Nakereba naranai/Nakereba narimasen => Refer to A3 S17
5. [I-adj] + to Omoimasu.
Watashi wa Nihongo wa Muzukashii to Omoimasu. (I think Japanese is difficult.)
6. [Na-adj] + to Omoimasu.
Watashi wa Kuruma wa Benrida to Omoimasu. (I think a car is useful.)
7. [Noun] da + to Omoimasu.
Watashi wa Satou-san no Hanashi wa Hontou da to Omoimasu. (I think what we are talking about Sato-san is real.)
Now we have learned that “to Omoimasu.” can express two things; Speculation and Opinion. They are shown in A1 and A2, respectively. However, I think “to Omoimasu” has a common function to both A1 and A2. That is to avoid making definitive statements. Using “to Omoimasu”, you can make your speculation or opinion more moderate. For example, no one can say we are going to have rain tomorrow for 100 percent sure. Rather than to say “Ashita Ame ga Furimasu”, it is better to say “Ashita Ame ga Furu to Omoimasu”. Another example is; you think recycling is good for our earth, but someone may think recycling doesn’t facilitate new production. If you say “Risaikuru wa Chikyuu o Mamorimasu”, such people may yell at you. If you say “Risaikuru wa Chikyuu o Mamoru to Omoimasu”, your opinion would sound more moderate.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section21 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Since I am leaving several post uncompleted, I think I need to suspend new post.
Recently we learned the concise endings of sentences that were introduced in the section 20 of Minnano Nihongo. The followings are review about use of concise endings;
<1> Concise ending is used for casual conversation with your friends and family members often with some final particles describing friendliness (-yo, -ne, -yone, and so on) at the end.
<2> Concise ending is used for formal writings such as newspapers, technical reports, contract documents, and so on. The important difference from <1> is that final particles describing friendliness are not used.
<3> CE is used when studying Japanese grammar because of its conciseness to save your time and spaces on notebook.
<4> CE is used when you talk to yourself and write a diary.
<1> through <4> about concise ending are all about sentences’ endings. But not only for sentence endings, but concise endings are also used in the middle of a sentence. It is a kind of nested complex sentences using verbs of speaking and thinking. Today, we are going to learn such sentences with a verb of thinking, “Omou/Omoimasu (think)”. As a preparation, look at the following English sentence.
– I think that it’s going to rain soon.
= [Subject]+[Perceptual Verb]+that+[Subject]+[Predicate]
As you know, “that” in the above sentence can be omitted, probably because of the linearity of language (Though I am not good at English grammar). When you say “think”, people can expect what is coming next. It is a nested [Subject]+[Predicate] structure, even if “that” is omitted. Then what about Japanese?
– Watashi wa Mousugu Ame ga Furu to Omoimasu. (I think that it’s going to rain soon.)
In the case of Japanese, a nested [Subject]+[Predicate] structure is placed before the Verb. In terms of the linearity of language, you need to know where the end of the nested [Subject]+[Predicate] structure is. The end is marked by “to”. This “to” cannot be omitted.
The examples shown below are classified with type of “nested” predicates
<Verb; present-positive> — furu
– Watashi wa Mousugu Ame ga Furu to Omoimasu. (I think it’s going to rain soon.)
<Verb; present-negative> — furanai
– Watashi wa Ame wa* Furanai to Omoimasu. (I don’t think it’s going to rain.)
<Verb; past-positive> — futta
– (Watashi wa) Kinou Ame ga futta to Omoimasu. (I think it rained yesterday.)
<Verb; past-negative> — furanakatta
– (Watashiha wa) Kinou Ame wa Furanakatta to Omoimasu. (I don’t think it rained yesterday.)
<I-adj; present-positive > — Atsui
– Watashi wa Ashita Atusi to Omoimasu. (I think it’s going to be hot tomorrow.)
<I-adj; present-negative > — Atsukunai
– Watashi wa Ashita Son’nani Atsukunai to Omoimasu. (I don’t think it’s going to be that hot tomorrow.)
<I-adj; past-positive > — Atsukatta
– (Watashi wa ) Kinou wa Atsukatta to Omoimasu. (I think it was hot yesterday.)
<I-adj; > — Atskunakatta
– (Watashi wa ) Kinou wa Son’nani Atsukunakatta to Omoimasu. (I don’t think it was that hot yesterday.)
<Na-adj; present-positive > — Kireida
– Watashi wa Sono Heya wa Kireida to Omoimasu. (I think that room is clean.)
<Na-adj; present-negative > — Kireidewanai (Kireijanai)
– Watashi wa Sono Heya wa Kireidewanai to Omoimasu. (I don’t think that room is clean.)
<Na-adj; past-positive > — Kireidatta
– (Watashi wa ) Sono Heya wa Kireidatta to Omoimasu. (I think that room was clean.)
<Na-adj; past-negative > — Kireidewanakatta (Kireijanakatta)
– (Watashi wa ) Sono Heya wa Kireidewanakatta to Omoimasu. (I don’t think that room was clean.)
* What we are learning here is NOT “wa-ga construction”. In the construction below;
[Subject1] {[Subject2]+[Predicate2]} to Omoimasu.
Subject markers “wa” or “ga” is selected independently for each of Subject1 and Subject2.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section21 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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 : Yobimasen — 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”
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 