タグ: auxiliary verb

Japanese learning (A3 S29): A Verb in Te-form with One of Helping Verbs “-shimau”(1); [Topic] wa [V-te] shimai mashita.

Through the exercises A1 and A2 in this section 29, we have learned one of usages that was expressed by “V-te iru”. Those were to express that a result of action is persisting. When you learn and utter the expressions “V-te iru”, it is important to make Te-form correctly. But have you ever thought about what “iru” is? Probably you know that “iru/imasu” is an intransitive verb to express an existence of an animal and/or people. Apparently, the verb “iru” is one of basic verbs and frequently used one. Those basic verbs were often placed right after a verb in order to add some meanings. Let me call such verbs “helping verbs”. When a basic verb becomes a helping verb, the original meaning of it would get weakened. And a helping verb is usually written in Hiragana. See the examples below;

1. Chichi no Kami ga Shiroku Natte kimasita (きました). (My dad’s hair has become gradually white.)

　The helping verb “kuru (kimashita)” has lost its original meaning of “come”. Once it has turned to be “Natte kuru”, “kuru” no longer means spatial movement, now it means a change from past to present.

2. Gakkou ni Kyoukasho o Motte Kimashita (来ました). (I came to the school putting the textbook into my bag.)

　In this case, the verb “kuru (kimashita)” does mean “come” because the speaker really conducted spatial movement. It does not become a helping verb. So, “Kimashita” is written with Kanji.

Today, we are learning another helping verb “-shimau”. This one is not so “basic” verb, but one of important helping verbs. Its original meaning is to put something into some places with well-organized manner. Let us check the conjugation of the verb “shimau”

– Dictionary form = Shimau,   Masu-form = Shimai masu

– Nai-form = Shimawa nai (Gr1-W)

– Te-form = Shimatte,    Ta-form = Shimatta

– Potential form = Shimaeru

When “-shimau” becomes a helping verb, “V-te shimau” has two usages as the following;

(1) A thing to do has already been done. (in the case of past-tense “shimaimashita”)

This is what we are leaning in the exercise A3 today.

(2) Though I didn’t expect, I made an error. (with past-tense “shimaimashita”)

This is what we are going to learn in A4 tomorrow.

Then let us look at several examples of “V-te shimau” for the usage (1);

1. Manga no “Wan Pi’isu” wa Zenbu Yonde shimai mashita.

(I have already read through the comic “One Piece”.)

2. Happyou no Suraido wa Mou Tsukutte shimai mashita.

(I have already made slides for presentation.)

3. Shukudai wa Toshokan de Yatte shimaimasu.

(I am going to complete the homework while I am in the library.)

4. Hoteru wa Ashita madeni Yoyaku-shite shimaimasu.

(I am going to make a reservation for the hotel by tomorrow.)

There is one thing that is common to all the four sentences. It is that the particle “wa” is not the subject marker but the topic marker. The original particle was “o” which is to indicate an object of transitive verb’s action. The followings show “[Object] o [Transitive verb]”;

1’ “Wan Pi’isu” o Yomu     2’ Suraido o Tsukuru

3’ Shukudai o Yaru         4’ Hoteru o Yoyaku-suru

Since the speaker wanted to make these objects the topic of the sentences, the object marker “o” turned to be “wa” and the word with “wa” was placed at the top of the sentence. Again, this “wa” is not subject marker but topic marker. Therefore, you cannot find the subject in the sentences 1 through 4. If you cannot find the subject in the sentence, it is usually “Watashi” in the beginner’s level of Japanese learning.

The sentences 1 and 2 end with “mashita.” This means the sentences are of past/perfect tense. On the other, the sentence 3 and 4 end with “masu”. In a verb predicate sentence, the ending with “masu” indicates that the sentence is in present tense sometimes, but usually in future tense. And if the subject is “Watashi (I)”, “Verb+masu” expresses a strong will of the speaker. The sentence 3 says that the speaker has a strong will to complete his/her homework. And the sentence 4 says that the speaker has a strong will to make a reservation of hotel.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section29 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A4 S16): Using Two Noun Predicates in a Sentence; [ Noun1 ] de, [ Noun2 ] desu.

Yesterday, we learned how to use two adjectives in a sentence. I wrote at the beginning of yesterday’s post that “‘to’ is to juxtapose two nouns”.

Today’s construction may seem to be contradict to what I wrote yesterday because two nouns are not connected by “to”, but “de”.

1. Satou-san wa Nijuu Roku sai de, Dokushin desu.

Where,

– Nijuu Roku sai = Twenty-six years old

– Dokushin = Single (currently don’t marry)

“Nijuu Roku sai” consists of the number twenty-six and the quantifier for year-old, which can be regarded as a noun to tell you age.

“Dokushin” is a noun. It is not a Na-adjective because we hardly say “Dokushin na Hito” (Hito is “person”. Remember yesterday’s definition of Na-adjective), but we say “Dokushin no Hito”.

If both “Nijuu Roku sai” and “Dokushin” are nouns, would it be okay to say as below?

<WRONG> Satou-san wa Nijuu Roku sai to Dokushin desu.

The answer is NO, you cannot say “Nijuu Roku sai to Dokushin desu”. It should be “Nijuu Roku sai de, Dokushin desu”.

Why is “Nijuu Roku sai to Dokushin desu” wrong, despite of juxtaposing two nouns?

Look at an example that is using “to” to juxtapose two nouns.

2. Satou-san no Asa-gohan wa Pan to Gyuunyuu desu. (Sato-san’s breakfast is bread and milk.)

In this example, there are two things, bread and milk, to be a breakfast.  In other words, the breakfast consists of two things. It is not like the breakfast is bread, and at the same time, the breakfast is also milk.

Then look at sentence”1″ again;

1. Satou-san wa Nijuu Roku sai de, Dokushin desu.

Sato-san is twenty-six years old. and at the same time, Sato-san is also single. The subject doesn’t consist of two things, but the subject has two aspects. 

Therefore, you can think the sentence “1” came from the following two sentences;

3. Satou-san wa Nijuu Roku sai desu. Soshite, Satou-san wa Dokushin desu.

=>   Satou-san wa Nijuu Roku sai <de>, Dokushin desu.

I guess Japanese teacher would have several different renditions about this “de” in the sentence “1”. Once I saw a Japanese teacher tried to explain this as a case particle “de” on his blog. Someone may say it is the conjunctive particle “de”. I may be wrong but my guess is that this “de” is the continuative form* of auxiliary verb “da”. 

Quiz: When you use two nouns parallelly in one sentence, which fits in the following sentences; to or de?

Q1 : Satou-san wa Nihonjin { to or de } Daigakusei desu.

Q2 : Asoko ni Satou-san { to or de } Suzuki-san ga Imasu.

Answers will be shown tomorrow.

*連用形 which is the form when another conjugation word follows behind.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 16 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A2 S13): Expressions of Desire for Action using the Auxiliary Verb “-tai”; [Verb in Masu-form without Masu]+tai desu.

Yesterday, we learned expressions of desire for possession. The expression uses the I-adjective “Hoshii” in the following construction;

1. Watashi wa [A] ga Hoshii desu.

This sentence is almost equivalent to the English one “I want [something]”. What we are going to learn today is like “I want [to do something]”. In the sentence “I want [to do something]”, “do” is a verb. And when you use this sentence in real situation, the original form of a verb is substituted to “do”. But in the case of Japanese, it is not so easy. You need to know the auxiliary verb “-tai” and how to change the form of a verb (conjugation) when a verb is placed in front of “-tai”.

Auxiliary verbs in Japanese are placed behind a verb. And auxiliary verbs change their forms. This “changing forms” of auxiliary verbs will be explained tomorrow. Anyway, “-tai” is one of them and has the function to add the meaning to a verb so as to express desire for action.

A verb must be in correct form when it is followed by an auxiliary verb. When you want to combine a verb and the auxiliary verb “-tai”, think of “masu form” first, and then take “masu” away from it.

[verb]+ tai => [Verb in Masu-form without Masu]+tai

Take a look at examples below. They are in order of “Verb in dictionary form”, “Verb in masu form” and “[Verb in masu form without Masu]+tai”

<look, watch, see> Miru, Mimasu, Mitai

<eat> Taberu, Tabemasu, Tabetai

<come to this side> Kuru, Kimasu, Kitai

<do> Suru, Shimasu, Shitai

<buy> Kau, Kaimasu, Kaitai

<go to somewhere> Iku, Ikimasu, Ikitai

<speak, talk> Hanasu, Hanashimasu, Hanashitai

<get back, go home> Kaeru, Kaerimasu, Kaeritai

Practice the three conversations below.

1. A : Satou-san wa Nani o Shitai desuka. (Sato-san, what do you want to do?)

  B : Watashi wa Sumaho o Kaitai desu. (I want to buy a smartphone.)

2. A : Suzuki-san wa Nani o Shitai desuka. (Suzuki-san, what do you want to do?)

  B : Watashi wa Tomodachi ni Aitai desu. (I want to see my friend.)

3. A : Takahashi-san wa Nani o Shitai desuka. (Takahashi-san, what do you want to do?)

  B : Watashi wa Amerika de Hatarakitai desu. (I want to work in U.S.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 13 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”