タグ: auxiliary verb

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”