日: 2026年6月21日

Japanese learning (A1 S26): Sentence Endings to add Nuance of Confiding (+Cause/Reason); -nodesu/-ndesu.

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”

There was not enough mulberry to make the fifth bottle of Jam.

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?