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.

  What we are going to lean today is to add “-ndesu.” to the sentence endings. By doing so, you can have the sentence with nuance of confiding and/or telling cause/reason. 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.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section26 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”