日: 2026年9月26日

 I went to another Town to buy Garlic Bulbs in order to Plant them in my Garden.

I am thinking about planting garlic bulbs this autumn. Although I tried buying them in the nearest DIY shop, the shop told me they had already been sold out. So today, I went to another DIY shop in the town a little far from my village.

The green board says the elderlies and disabled have priority to use the elevator.

The blue board says the height of the ground is 1.5 meter (approx.5ft) above sea level.

This says “Walk pushing your bicycle.”

The blue part reads “upskirting and molestation are criminal acts”. And the yellow one reads “Is your behind okay?”, which probably means “Is there anyone suspicious in your back?”.

It didn’t seem there is anyone who was cleaning around.

It reads “If you run up or down the escalator, it may cause a sudden stop. Please don’t run.”

As you can imagine from these photos, there are a lot of cautions, warnings, directions, and so on in the public spaces in Japan.

Japanese Learning (A6 S41): I did Something for Person of Lower Status than I ; Watashi wa [Person of Lower Status] ni/o/no [V-te] Yari mashita.

The exercise A4, A5, and A6 introduce the sentence constructions in which a giving/receiving verb is used as a supplementary verb and attached to the behind of a verb in Te-form.

– [V-te]+[Giving/Receiving Verb].

“Itadaki mashita” in A4 is the humble language of “Morai mashita”, and “Kudasai mashita” in A5 is the honorific of “Kure mashita”. Both A4 and A5 are introducing a type of treatment expressions that are to be used in conjunction with a person who is superior to “Watashi”. In contrast, A6 introduces a treatment expression that has to do with a person who is inferior to “Watashi”.

1. Watashi wa Mago ni Kutsuhimo no Musubi kata o Oshiete Yari mashita.

(I taught my grandchild how to tie shoelaces.)

Mago : Noun ; grandchild

Kutsu-himo : Noun ; shoelaces

Musubu/Musubimasu : Verb (Group1-B) : tie

kata ; how to, the way to do something; [Masu-form without “masu”] + kata

Note that the verb “Oshieru/Oshiemasu” is a transitive verb which usually use two particles “-ni” and “-o” in the form of “[person]ni [something]o Oshieru”.

2. Watashi wa Mago o Umi ni Tsurete itte Yari mashita.

(I took my grandchild to the sea.)

3. Watashi wa Mago no Shukdai o Tetsudatte Yari mashita.

(I helped my grandchild’s homework.)

Tetsudau/Tetsudaimasu : Verb (Group1-W) : help, assit

The particles after “Mago” is “-ni” in the sentence 1, “-o” in the 2, and “-no” in the 3. “Mago(grandchild)” is a receiver in those three sentences. But the particle attached to “Mago” is not always “-ni”. When it comes to sentences of giving/receiving, many sentences have particles as below;

-[Person] ni [Thing] o [Giving/Receiving Verb].

For example,

– Satou-san ga Watashi<ni> Chokore’eto<o> Kure mashita. (Sato-san gave me a chocolate.)

Also, in the sentence of a treatment expression that is using giving/receiving verb as a supplementary verb behind a verb in Te-form,

– Watashi wa Suzuki-san<ni> Nihongo<o> Oshiete Morai mashita. (I was taught by Suzuki-san Japanese.)  

But it is not always “[person]+ni” as shown in the sentence 2 and 3 above. When you need to choose particles for sentences of giving/receiving and/or treatment expressions, it is good to think that the particles in the core verb phrase are maintained. The core verb phrase of the sentence 2 is;

– Mago o Umi ni Tsurete iku (To take my grandchild to the sea)

Substituting this into “Watashi wa — Yari mashita.” then we get the sentence 2.

Likewise, the core verb phrase of the sentence 3 is;

– Mago no Shukudai o Tetsudau (To assist my grandchild’s homework)

Substituting this into “Watashi wa — Yari mashita.” then we get the sentence 3.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”