The sentence construction in the title uses the word “Predicate”. When it comes to predicate, we need to think about four types of it. They are Noun, Na-adjective, I-adjective, Verb predicates. Since a noun predicate and a Na-adjective predicate are using the same sentence endings, let us look at three types of predicates for today’s construction.
(1) Verb
1. Satou-san wa Gita’a mo Hikeru shi, Uta mo Utaeru shi, soreni Sakkyoku mo Dekimasu.
where, sakkyoku; noun(+suru); composition, song-writing
(Sato-san can play a guitar, can sing a song, and she can write a song.)
Note that three verbs in the sentence are all in potential form. Using potential forms are not always necessary for this construction. For example,
2. Miller-san wa Osake mo Nomushi, Osashimi mo Tabemasu.
(Mr. Miller drinks Sake, and eat Sashimi.)
If Miller-san who is not Japanese drinks Sake and eats Sashimi, wouldn’t it be positive things? Someone having potentialities to do is positive. And it is good to say positive things when enumerating two or three words. Therefore, it is good to learn a sentence with verbs in potential forms, when you learn the conjunctive particle for enumeration.,
2’. Miller-san wa Osake mo Nomerushi, Osashimi mo Taberaremasu.
(Mr. Miller can drink Sake and eat Sashimi.)
where; Nomeru and Taberareru are the potential forms of Nomu and Taberu, respectively.
(2) I-adjective
3. Suzuki-san wa Wakai shi, Se mo Takai shi, soshite Ashi mo Hayai desu.
(Suzuki-san is young and tall, and he runs fast.)
where; Se is height of body. Ashi is legs.
An I-adjective is placed in front of “-shi.,” with “i” as you see in the sentence 3.
(3) Na-adjective
4. Takahashi-san wa Majimeda shi, Shinsetsuda shi, Karada mo Kenkou desu.
(Takahashi-san is Majime* and kind, and his body is healthy.)
* It is difficult to express “Majime” by one word in English.
It is important to know how verbs, I-adjectives, and Na-adjectives are connected to “-shi,”. These three types of words need to be “short ending forms” in front of “-shi,”. In the case of present tense;
(1) verb : -u+shi, — e.g. Hiker-u+shi, Utaer-u+shi, Nomer-u+shi, Taberarer-u+shi,
(2) I-adjective: -i+shi, — e.g. waka-i+shi, Taka-i+shi,
(3) Na-adjective: -da+shi, — e.g. Majime-da+shi, Shinsetsu-da+shi,
These “-u+”, “-i+”, and “-da+” are used for present tense. In the case of past tense, connections to “-shi,” can be as below;
(1) verb in past tense
1’. Satou-san wa Gita’a mo Hiketa shi, Uta mo Utaeta shi, soreni Sakkyoku mo Dekimashita.
(Sato-san was able to play a guitar and sing a song, and she was able to write a song.)
(2) I-adjective in past tense
3’. Suzuki-san wa Wakakatta shi, Se mo Takakatta shi, soshite Ashi mo Hayakatta desu.
(Suzuki-san was young and tall, and he ran fast.)
(3) Na-adjective in past tense
4’. Takahashi-san wa Majimedatta shi, Shinsetsudatta shi, Karada mo Kenkou deshita.
(Takahashi-san was Majime* and kind, and his body was healthy.)
Although the conjunctive particle “-shi,” is the main thing to learn here, but you may find that the particle “-mo” is used many times in the examples. “-mo” has already been introduced at A5 in the section 1. At that time, it is explained that “-mo” is a particle to indicate that the noun is the same kind with another noun that appeared in preceding sentence. This time, “-mo”(s) has the function to enumerate two or three nouns within a sentence.
1. Satou-san wa Gita’a <mo> Hikeru shi, Uta <mo> Utaeru shi, soreni Sakkyoku <mo> Dekimasu.
If guitar, song, and composition are not enumerated, and each of them stands alone,
<Gita’a ga Hikemasu.>, <Uta ga Utaemasu.>, and<Sakkyoku ga Dekimasu.>
So, putting these three into one sentence, the particle “ga” turned to be “mo”.
2. Miller-san wa Osake mo Nomushi, Osashimi mo Tabemasu.
What particle is the original one before it turned to be “mo”?
<Osake o Nomimasu,>, <Osashimi o Tabemasu.>
It is better to know what the original particle was before being replacing by “-mo”.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section28 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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