Japanese learning (A4 S23): If a thing in Conditional Clause happens, the thing in Main Clause will happen: [Conditional Clause] to, [Main Clause].

Let us learn one of conjunctive particle “-to,”. At first, what is the difference between a conjunctive particle and a conjunction?

[ Dependent Clause ] + < Conjunctive Particle >, [ Main Clause ].

[ Sentence1 ]. <Conjunction>, [ Sentence2 ].

A conjunctive particle is attached to the end of a dependent clause, so that the main clause of a sentence can be placed after the dependent clause. The particle “to” has already introduces as a case particle as below;

– Tomodachi to Ryokou ni Ikimasu. (I am going to travel with my friend.)　— A3 S5

– Ashitano Tenki wa Yoku naranai to Omoimasu. (I don’t think weather gets good tomorrow.) — A1-3 S21

But now what we are learning is “-to,” which is a conjunctive particle. Look at the following examples;

1. Okane o Ireru to, Kippu ga Dete Kimasu. (Putting your money in, a ticket is coming out.)

2. Kono Botan o Osu to, Heya ga Akaruku Narimasu. (Pushing this button, the room gets brighter.)

3. Migi e Magaru to, Pan-ya ga Arimasu. (Turn right, then you will find a bakery.)

These sentences have the construction of;

[Clause A] + to, [Clause B].

When A happens, and then B is caused by A. In the cases of sentences 1 and 2, the machines are designed to make Action A cause Action B. Taking the action A is hypothetical, but once A happens, B will almost certainly occur. Therefore, Clause B must end assertively.

Good : Natsu ni Naru to, Atsuku Narimasu. (When summer comes, it gets hot.)

Bad : Natsu ni Naru to, Isshoni Umi e Ikimashou. (WRONG: Come summer, go to the sea together.)

A sentence using the conjunctive particle “to” should not end with expressions of will, invitation, command and so on.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section23 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese learning (A3 S23): Conditional Clause similar to “When-Clause” that are combination of I-Adjectives, Na-Adjectives, and Noun with “Toki”: [I-adj+i/Na-adj+na/Noun+no] toki, [Main Clause].

We have learned some conditional clauses in which a verb clause is placed in front of “toki” at A1 and A2 of the section 23. Verbs are in Dictionary form and Nai-form in A1, and verbs are in Dictionary form and Ta-form. The examples are;

– Douro o Wataru toki, Kuruma ni Ki o Tsukemasu. (When I cross a road, I pay attention to cars) — V-dic+toki,

– Nihongo ga Wakaranai toki, Sumaho de Shirabemasu. (When I don’t understand Japanese, I check it using my smartphone.) — V-nai+toki,

– Nihon ni Kita toki, Mada Ie ga Arimasendeshita. (When I arrived at Japan, I still didn’t have a house to live.) — V-ta+toki

In the construction of conditional clause with “toki,” “toki” seems to be a kind of conjunctive particle because the dependent clause ends with “toki,” as below;

[conditional clause] + toki, [Main clause].

But “toki” is a noun, because “toki” means “time”. Therefore, the verb needs to be Dictionary form, Nai-form, or Ta-form so that the verb can be placed in front of a noun (in this case, “toki” ).

Now, given that “toki” is a noun, how about putting a conditional clause whose predicate is a Noun, an I-adjective, and a Na-adjective?

1. Atsui toki, Eakon o Tsukemasu. (When it is hot, I turn the air-conditioner on.)

2. Genkina toki, Undou shimasu. (When I feel energetic, I do exercise.)

3. Tesuto no toki, Gambarimasu. (During the examination, I try my best.)

Remember the basics how to modify a noun by an I-adjective, a Na-adjective, and another noun.

[Stem of I-adjective]+ i + [Noun] — 1; Atsu + i + toki

[Stem of Na-adjective]+ na + [Noun] — 2; Genki + na + toki

[Noun1] + no + [Noun2] — 3; Testo + no + toki

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section23 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

NHK Anchor called Te-form “Tegata” which should be “Tekei”

Last night I was going to fall asleep in the bed at around 11p.m. At that time, I was leaving my radio on. I was feeling like I was listening to the news at 11 o’clock, but I don’t remember what I heard from the radio speaker. Soon after the news program ended, the late-night program started at 11:05, which was “Rajio Shinyabin” on NHK AM. The male radio anchor started the program with mentioning there were a lot of words that ended with “te”. Since I was about to sleep, I don’t remember exactly what he said, but words with “te” were used to describe order of two actions, conditions while the action, and cause/reason. And he added that Japanese teachers were making much effort to teach those words with “te” with calling them “Tegata”.

I am not sure how many Japanese teachers were listening to NHK AM radio in late night at 11, but I am sure that almost all Japanese teacher who listened to it must have shouted “That’s ‘Tekei’!”          

Perhaps the radio anchor was not saying what he thought himself, but reading what a broadcast writer wrote on paper. It seems like the writer researched well about “words with ‘te'”, because mentioning several functions of “te” like him was not what an ordinary Japanese could think of. 

What is called “Te-form” by Japanese teachers and learners is written in Japanese as “テ形/て形/てけい”. Spelling is “てけい/Tekei”, but the pronunciation is “てけえ/Teke’e”. So for the word “て形” , the Kanji “形” is read as “けい/kei” which is one of On-pronunciations. If you read the Kanji “形” as “がた/gata”, it is one of Kun-pronunciations. Since a Kanji has several patterns of pronunciations of On- and Kun-pronunciations, it is difficult even for Japanese to use the right one. Actually there is a word “Tegata” in Japanese and it’s Kanji is “手形” which doesn’t has to do with Japanese grammar. Since the Kanji “形” is used for conjugation patterns like “終止形”,”連体形”, and “連用形”, and all these “形” is pronounced as “kei”.

Someone might have pointed out to NHK saying it’s not Tegata but Tekei. But I don’t know if the collection was aired in the program or not (the program continued until 5 a.m.!) because I soon turned off the radio, and fell asleep.

Visited a Day-Service Facility for my Mother Today

I took my mother to a day service facility today. Actually, the place was the second one, I mean, last week we visited another day service facility. The purpose of visiting two places is to compare the two so that we can choose the better one. Before getting there at 2 p.m., we had a little late lunch in a Rahmen restaurant. Mine was Soy-sauce Rahmen with pork slice on top. My mother’s was a half Rahmen as the photo below. We visited the facility, got some guidance of the facility, looked around the rooms and the activity of the afternoon, and said good-bye to the people there. When we came back our home, I asked my mother which of the two day-service facilities she likes. She said that she had already forgot the facility we visited last week, so she couldn’t compare the two.

I have started saving up for my funeral expenses

Most of people in my neighborhood save up money for their own funeral expenses well before the last day in this world. There are two major funeral companies in this region, competing to get customers who could sign up such savings. Let me call them A and B. My father had paid for his own funeral to the company A, while he was still alive. After the funeral of my father, my mother started to pay monthly likewise. Her course was 36-Man’en(approximately 2,300USD), by paying 3000JPY every month, 120 times. She has already paid 70 times. Recently the company A said to me that they wanted to confirm her condition and to give her a birthday present. And today, one of their employees came to my home. I thought it was a good chance for me to start payment for my own funeral. Because I was satisfied with the service they provided in my father’s funeral, and it was a little nuisance that the company B made phone calls to me often.

I signed today the 24-Man’en course, which is way cheaper than my mother’s. I just thought my funeral would not cost so much because very few people will come to my funeral. My payment is 2000JPY, 120times. It continues ten years. I hope my funeral will happen after my payment has finished, but future is unknown. When it comes to predicting future, we Japanese think that “A devil will laugh at me”.

Japanese learning (A2 S23): Adverbial Clause similar to “When-Clasue” that describe a Timing of an Action in Main Clause: [V-dic/V-ta Clause] toki, [Main Clause].

Yesterday, we learned the sentence construction in which the adverbial clause ending with “-toki,” modifies the main clause. And verbs in the adverbial clause are in Dictionary form or Nai-form so that they can be placed in front of a noun “toki”. Examples are as follows;

1. Eigo no Hon o Yomu toki, Denshi-Jisho o Tsukaimasu. (When I read an English book, I use an electronic dictionary. — Dictionary form + toki

2. Denwa ni Derarenai toki, Me’eru o Kudasai. (If you can’t answer my phone call, send me an email.) — Nai-form + toki   

There adverbial clauses ending with “toki,” in 1 and 2 are a kind of conditional clauses. You see “if” in English translation of the sentence 2. Conditions are;

<1> Condition is that the action “Yomu (read)” takes place.

<2> Condition is that the situation “Derarenai (can’t answer the phone)” exists.

It is like these conditions are “when you do” and “when you don’t (can’t) do”. But think about verbs. For most of verbs, things change from before the action taking place to after the action had been done. In Japanese, an action which is not yet taken place becomes Dictionary form. An action which has already been done becomes Ta-form. So for today, let us learn the difference between the following two;

[V-dic] + toki, [Main Clause].

[V-ta] + toki, [Main Clause].

(1) Main Clause of Present tense

– Maiasa Kaisha ni Iku toki, Densha ni Norimasu. (When I go to my company every morning, I get on a train.) — Dictionary form + toki,

– Maiasa Kaisha ni Itta toki, Minna ni Aisatsu o Shimasu. (When I get to my company every morning, I say hello to my co-workers.) — Ta-form + toki,

(2) Main Clause of Past tense

– Narita Kuukou e Iku toki, Kaban o Kaimashita. (While I was on the way to Narita Airport, I bought a bag.) — Dictionary form + toki,

– Narita Kuukou e Itta toki, Kaban o Kaimashita. (When I got to Narita Airport, I bought a bag there.) — Ta-form + toki,

In the above examples, you can see that tenses do not agree between subordinate clause and the main clause. Paying attention to tense agreement is good, but it is more important to decide the tense of each verb based on if it’s action of “already done” or “about to be done”.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section23 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese learning (A1 S23): Adverbial Clause similar to “When-Clasue” that describes a Condition: [V-dic/V-nai Clause] toki, [Main Clause].

Recently, we have learned how to modify a noun using a verb clause. In today’s sentence construction too, a verb modifies a noun. The noun is “toki” which basically means “time” and “when”.

1. Densha ni Noru toki, Kippu o Kaimasu. (When getting on a train, I buy a ticket.)

Let’s analyze the construction of the sentence 1;

– [Densha ni Noru]+toki, Kippu o Kaimasu. = [Verb Clause]+toki, [Main Clause].

In this construction, “[Verb Clause]+toki” works as an adverbial for the main clause, especially its predicate, the verb “Kaimasu”. And sentences of this construction don’t simply express when to do something, but also have a nuance of preconditions for the main clause. For example, look at the sentence 1 again;

1. Densha ni Noru toki, Kippu o Kaimasu.

English translation is (When getting on a train, I buy a ticket.)

But it can also be translated as follows (If I get on a train, I will buy a ticket.), which has more nuance of precondition in the “V+toki”.

The sentence 1 uses the dictionary form of the verb “Noru/Norimasu” just in front of “toki”. If a Nai-form is used, the nuance of precondition becomes more clear as shown below;

2. Kippu no Kai kata ga Wakaranai toki, Ekiin ni Kiite Kudasai.

(If you don’t know how to buy a ticket, please ask a station employee.)

Because “[V-dic]+toki,” and “[V-nai]+ toki,” have a nuance of precondition for the main clause, a sentence of today’s construction tends to talk about the usual state, rather than to be time/date specific.

3-1 Juu ichi-ji ni Douro o Wataru toki, Kuruma ni Ki o Tsukemasu. (Time-specific)

(When I cross a road at eleven o’clock, I will be careful about cars.)

3-2 Douro o Wataru toki, Itsumo Kuruma ni Ki o Tsukemasu. (In usual state)

    (When I cross a road, I always become careful about cars.)

Of course, the sentence 3-1 is not common.

4-1 Suiyoubi ni Shimbun o Yomu toki, Megane o Kakemasu. (Date-specific)

(When I read a newspaper on Wednesday, I put glasses.)

4-2 Shimbun o Yomu toki, Taitei Megane o Kakemasu. (In usual state)

    (When I read a newspaper, I usually put glasses.)

4-1 sounds funny. It should be “Yonda toki” and “Kakemashita” in past tense.

But what I am talking about is not absolute. Look at the following;

5. Mokuyoubi ni Byouin he Iku toki, Hokenshou o Motte Ikimasu. (Date-specific)

(When I go to the hospital on Thursday, I will bring my health insurance card.)

The sentence 5 is date-specific, and it’s likely to be used in some occasion.

Not only “[V-dic]+toki,”, read and remember the following sentences with “[V-nai]+ toki,”;

6. Ryouri ga Dekinai toki, Shokudou de Gohan o Tabemasu.

    (When I can’t cook, I eat my meal in restaurant.)

7. Okane ga Nai toki, Osake o Nomi ni Ikimasen.

    (When I don’t have money, I don’t go drink alcohol.)

Note that the Nai-form of “Aru/Arimasu” is not “Aranai” but just “Nai”.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section23 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”