タグ: sentence ending

Japanese learning (A1 S26): Sentence Endings to add Nuance of Confiding (+Cause/Reason); -nodesu/-ndesu.

Today’s post assumes that a viewer has already got a basic knowledge about sentence endings. For sentences of “Non-past positive”, the endings are;

[Noun]+desu : Heya desu. ((It’s) a Room.)

[Stem of Na-adj]+desu : Kirei desu. ((It’s) clean.)

[Stem of i-adj]+i+desu : Utsukushii desu. ((It’s) beautiful)

[V]+masu : Soujishi + masu : ((I’m going to) clean.)

The important thing is that only the verb predicates end with “masu”. For those Nouns, Na-adjectives, and I-adjectives, predicates end with “desu”. Can you tell the difference between the two below?

A : Yasumi masu.

B : Yasumi desu.

A is a verb predicate which means “(I will) take a break”, and B is a noun predicate which means “(It’s the) day-off”. You should never say like “{WRONG} Gohan o Tabe desu.”. It should be “{RIGHT} Gohan o Tabe masu.”. It is important to distinguish between verbs and nouns.

  In the case of a Noun predicate, it is like;

[Noun]+desu.

Of course, “[Verb]+desu.” is fatally wrong. But how about the following one?

[Verb turns to be a “Noun-equivalent”] + desu.

In order to make a verb a Noun-equivalent, using “no” makes it possible.

    [Verb + no ] + desu.

This is what we are going to learn today. “Verb +nodesu.” is okay but in conversation, it is usually shortened to be “Verb+ndesu.” The difference between “V+masu” and “V+ndesu.” is;

– V+masu : Simply telling about action

– V+ndesu : Telling about action with nuances of confiding and/or the action is the cause/reason of something.

The followings are 16 patterns with present-positive, present-negative, past-positive, past-negative for 4 types predicates.

<1> Verb Predicates (Iku/Ikimasu)

– Present-positive — Ikundesu.

– Present-negative — Ikanaindesu.

– Past-positive — Ittandesu.

– Past-negative — Ikanakattandesu.

<2> I-adjective Predicates (Takai)

– Present-positive — Takaindesu.

– Present-negative — Takaku naindesu.

– Past-positive — Takakattandesu.

– Past-negative — Takaku nakattandesu.

<3> Na-adjective Predicates (Kireina)

– Present-positive — Kireinandesu.

– Present-negative — Kireijanaindesu.

– Past-positive — Kireidattandesu.

– Past-negative — Kireija nakattandesu.

<4> Noun Predicates (Daigakusei)

– Present-positive — Daigakusei nandesu.

– Present-negative — Daigakuseija naindesu.

– Past-positive — Daigakusei dattandesu.

– Past-negative — Daigakuseija nakattandesu.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section26 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” 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”