タグ: Japanese learning

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”

Japanese Learning (A1 S13): Expressions of Desire for Possession using the I-adjective “Hoshii”; Watashi wa [A] ga Hoshii desu.

Take a look at an example of today’s construction;

example : Watashi wa Kanojo ga Hoshii desu. (I want a girlfriend.)

Note that “Kanojo” in Japanese usually means “a girlfriend”. Only when you learn grammar of a language, or translate sentences of foreign language, “Kanojo” means “she”. Anyway, the example is a “wa-ga construction”. If a teacher does not explain properly “wa-ga construction”, it could result in huge damage on Japanese learners because “wa-ga construction” may make a learner erroneously think that the particle “-ga” is for an object. The most important basic of Japanese is that the particle “-ga” is for a subject, while the particle “-o” for an object.

In an English sentence “I want a girlfriend”, “a girlfriend” is an object of the transitive verb “want”. But in the Japanese sentence “Watashi wa Kanojo ga Hoshii desu.” DO NOT think that “Kanojo(a girlfriend)” is an object, NOR think that “-ga” is the particle for the object.

Rather, think “Kanojo ga” is the subject of the predicate “Hoshii desu”. “Hoshii” is an I-adjective, and means someone wants something. Since “Kanojo” is what you want, it can be the subject of “Hoshii”. It may seem wrong from the context, because “Watashi (I)” is the subject of the sentence. So, I recommend you thinking as shown below;

– Watashi wa = the topic of the sentence

– Kanojo ga = the subject of “Hoshii”

– Hoshii desu = the predicate

It is fact that there are “wa-ga constructions” in Japanese. And sometimes they seem to be a “double subject sentence”. Be careful about “wa-ga construction” sentences, and not be confused with normal transitive verb sentences that use the particle “-o” for the object:

example of “wa-ga construction”;

– Watashi wa Kamera ga Hoshii desu. (I want a camera.)

example of “transitive verb sentence”;

– Watashi wa Kamera o Kaimasu. (I (am going to) buy a camera.)

Perhaps it is difficult to understand the lengthy explanation above. Then simply think that the I-adjective “Hoshii” usually becomes “wa-ga construction”. Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Satou-san wa Nani ga Hoshii desuka. (Sato-san, what do you want?)

B : Watashi wa Atarashii Sumaho ga Hoshii desu. (I want a brand-new smartphone.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 13 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A4 S12): Comparison between two using “Hou ga” in an Adjective Predicate Sentence; [A] no Hou ga [Adjective] desu.

Yesterday we learned an expression for comparison as the following;

1. Eigo wa Nihongo yori Muzukashii desu. (English is more difficult than Japanese.)

Some of you may say Japanese is more difficult than English, but don’t argue which is more difficult or not at this moment. Today, too, we are learning an expression for comparison, which uses “Hou ga”.

Q : Eigo to Nihongo to Dochira ga Muzukashii desuka.

(Which is more difficult, English or Japanese?)

A : Eigo no Hou ga Muzukashii desu.

(English is more difficult than Japanese.)

Actually, the sentence A can be as below;

2. Eigo no Hou ga Nihongo yori Muzukashii desu.

Look at 2. and 1. They look similar, but the difference is;

1. [Subject]= “Eigo wa”

2. [Subject]= “Eigo no Hou ga”

Knowing ‘what is the word “Hou”’ is one issue. But putting aside it, it seems like the issue of which to use for a subject, “wa”or “ga” comes again.

– “[Subject] wa” : the sentence is to explain nature/condition of the subject.

– “[Subject] ga” : the sentence is to identify what(which) the subject is.

Therefore, in the sentence 2;

2. Eigo no Hou ga Nihongo yori Muzukashii desu.

The word “Hou” helps to identify which is more difficult language in the comparison between English and Japanese.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 12 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A3 S12): Comparison between two in an Adjective Predicate Sentence; [A] wa [B] yori [Adjective] desu.

1. Oosaka wa Koube yori Ookiidesu. (Osaka is bigger than Kobe.)

Tokyo is not the only urban city in Japan. There are many big cities in Japan. If you look at the western part of Japan, you will find some cities are there. Both the cities of Osaka and Kobe have wide surrounding areas, but let us look at their populations under each municipal government. There are 2.8 million citizens in Osaka City, while 1.5 million in Kobe City. Therefore, we can say “Osaka is bigger than Kobe”.

In the construction of “[A] wa [B] yori [Adjective] desu.”, you can substitute [N1 no N2] into [A] and [B], as shown below;

2. Watashi no Ie wa Satou-san no Ie yori Ookiidesu. (My house is bigger than Sato-san’s.)

The above example 1 and 2 use the I-adjective “Ookii(big)”. Not only I-adjective but you can also use Na-adjective in this construction as below.

3. Kono Kouen wa Ano Kouen yori Kirei desu. (This park is more beautiful than that park.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 12 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A2 S12): Sentence Endings of “Past-Negative” for Noun, Na- adjective, and I-adjective Predicates; I-adjectives are different from Nouns and Na-adjectives for the endings.

We learned yesterday the endings of past-positive for Noun, Na-adjective, and I-adjective predicate sentences. It is important to know that the ending of I-adjective is different from the endings of Noun and Na-adjective predicate sentences.

<Past-Positive>

1. Noun Predicate => [Noun]+deshita.

2. Na-adjective => [Na-adj]+deshita.

3. I-adjective => [I-adj]+kattadesu.

Not only for “Past-Positive”, also for “Past-Negative” there is the same kind of difference in terms of “Noun and Na-adjective versus I-adjective”

<Past-Negative>

4. Noun Predicate => [Noun]+dewa Arimasen deshita.

 example : San’nen mae, Watashi wa Daigakusei dewa Arimasen deshita.

(Three years ago, I was not a university student.)

Note that “dewa” is often shortened to be “ja” which sounds a little casual.

5. Na-adjective => [Na-adj]+dewa Arimasen deshita.

 example : San’nen mae, Kono kouen wa Kirei dewa Arimasen deshita.

(Three years ago, this park was neither clean nor beautiful.)

Note that “Kirei” is not an I-adjective but Na-adjective. And spelling is “Kirei”, but pronunciation is “Kire’e”.

3. I-adjective => [I-adj]+ku nakatta desu.

example : Kinou wa Atatakaku nakatta desu.

(Yesterday, it was not warm.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 12 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A6 S11): “Kakarimasu” a verb to say How long it does take (1); Expressions about time

Suppose you are working in a company. You need to go to the company every day through Monday to Friday. You leave your home early in the morning, and get on a train. If it takes only ten minutes on the train, and then you can soon get to your working place from the station, you are lucky. But if it takes one hour and a half on the train, you would be exhausted even at the time when you get to your working place. So, it is very important for you as to how long it takes on your commute. How would you say about this in Japanese?

1. Watashi no Ie kara Kaisha made Densha de Yon juppun Kakarimasu.

Let me tell you about grammatical things about this sentence tomorrow. For today, learn the expressions about time period as a preparation to learn the sentence 1.

– one minute => Ippun

– two minutes => Ni fun

– three minutes => Sampun

– four minutes => Yompun

– five minutes => Go fun

– six minutes => Roppun

– seven minutes => Nana fun

– eight minutes => Happun

– nine minutes => Kyuu fun

– ten minutes => Juppun (Jippun)

– twenty minutes => Ni Juppun

– thirty minutes => San Juppun

– forty-four minutes => Yon Juu Yompun

– fifty-five minutes => Go Juu Go fun

– one hour => Ichi Jikan

– two hours => Ni Jikan

– three and a half hours => San Jikan Han

– four hours and thirty minutes => Yo Jikan San Juppun

– twelve hours => Juu Ni Jikan

<to be continued>

This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A5 S11) : Expression to say how long you spent doing an action

Look at the following sentence which we learned recently.

1. Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

The word “Ichi nichi” with particle “-ni” works as a reference time when talking about frequency.

However, today’s expression doesn’t have the particle “-ni” for a word of time period. It is because;

– Time period in the sentence is not a reference time to talk about frequency.

– The purpose is to talk about the time period itself.

– Even without the particle “-ni”, the word of time period can work as an adverbial.

Look at the following conversation and try to remember it;

A : Daigaku de Donokurai Nihongo o Benkyoushimashitaka.

 (How long did you study Japanese in the university?)

B : Daigaku de Yo nen Nihongo o Benkyoushimashita.

 (I studied Japanese four years in the university.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A5 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A4 S11): Quantifier “kai” to count number of times

Yesterday we learned the following sentence;

1. Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

This sentence is introduced in order to show one of functions of particle “-ni”. The function was to mark something that is an object to allocate numbers. And for this function, if a word of time period is placed in front of “ni”, the sentence can express frequency.

In the sentence 1, the frequency is three times a day. And you find the word “San kai” for three times. The followings are examples of uses of quantifier “-kai”.

– once => Ikkai

– twice => Ni kai

– three times => San kai

– four times => Yon kai

– five times => Go kai

– six times => Rokkai

– seven times => Nana kai

– eight times => Hakkai

– nine times => Kyuu kai

– ten times => Jukkai (Jikkai)

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Satou-san wa Isshuukan ni Nan kai Sentaku o Shimasuka.

(Sato-san, how many times do you wash cloths a week?)

B : Watashi wa Isshuukan ni San kai Sentaku o Shimasu.

(I wash cloths three times a week.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A4 S11): Particle “-ni” to make a word a base to allocate number when describing frequency

Functions of Particle “-ni” are shown below.

1. Time of Action

example; Watashi wa Maiasa Roku-ji ni Okimasu. (I get up at six every morning.)

2. Place of Existence

example; Panda wa Ueno Doubutsuen ni Imasu. (A Panda is in Ueno Zoo.)

3. Place where an action is going(getting) to

example; Watashi wa Mainichi Gakkou ni Ikimasu. (I go to school every day.)

4. Object to allocate number

example; Ichinen ni San kai Kuni ni Kaerimasu. (I go to my hometown three times a year.)

There are more functions of particle “-ni”, but this time, let us focus on the function 4, which is to mark something that is an object to allocate numbers.

Take a look at the example below;

example; Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

In the example, you see the particle “-ni” is attaching just behind the word “Ichi-nichi”. Japanese particles (also known as postpositions) attach to just behind a word, and give the word a function in the sentence. Since we are learning about the function of “-ni” that is 4 above, “Ichi-nichi ni” is a word to which numbers are allocated about how many times the person eats meals in that particular sentence. Although many kinds words can be followed by this type of “ni”, let us limit “time periods” as to the word before “ni”.

(in/per) one hour => Ichi jikan ni

(in/per) one day => Ichi nichi ni

(in/per) one week => Isshuukan ni

(in/per) one month => Ikkagetsu ni

(in/per) one year => Ichi nen ni

Using these [ time period + ni ] words, you can describe frequencies as below;

– Ichi jikan ni Ikkai Toire ni Ikimasu. (I go to a restroom every hour.)

– Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

– Isshuukan ni Yon kai Nihongo no Jugyou ga Arimasu. (I have Japanese class four times a week.)

– Ikkagetsu ni San kai Gurai Machi ni Ikimasu. (I go to the downtown about three times a month.)

– Ichi nen ni San kai Gurai Ryokou ni Ikimasu. (I travel about three times a year.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A1 S11): Numbers for counting something in addition to the numbers for values; Hitotsu, Futatsu, Mittsu, —, To’o.

Numbers had already been introduced;

1 : one => Ichi

2 : two => Ni

3 : three => San

—

10 : ten => Juu

In addition to these numbers, there is another numbering system in Japanese that is used when you counting some objects;

1 : there is one object => Hitotsu

2 : there are two objects => Futatsu

3 : there are three objects => Mittsu

4 : there are four objects => Yottsu

5 : five => Itsutsu

6 : six => Muttsu

7 : seven => Nanatsu

8 : eight => Yattsu

9 : nine => Kokonotsu

10 : ten => To’o

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Ringo ga Ikutsu Arimasuka. (How many apples are there?)

B : Ringo ga Yottsu Arimasu. (There are four apples.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”