Japanese Learning (A4 S41): One who is Superior did me a Favor. I Received His/Her Act; Watashi wa [Person of Higher status] ni [V-te] Itadaki mashita.

The main focus of the section 41 is to change some giving/receiving sentences to be more polite, or to be used when the receiver is a lower status person.

A1: Making it honorific : Morai mashita => Itadaki mashita

A2: Making it honorific : Kure mashita => Kudasai mashita

A3: The receiver is Lower status : Age mashita => Yari mashita

Actually, some textbook writes have a belief that teaching everything is important. Such textbook writers would add “Age mashita => Sashiage mashita”. But I don’t think teaching everything is good, because it increases learners’ burden to study. I think that teaching items are to be limited so that more basic and more frequently used items would be prioritized in second language learning. Anyway, A1 through A3 introduce the sentences of giving/receiving of an object that is a noun.  

A1: [Noun] o Itadaki mashita

A2: [Noun] o Kudasai mashita

A3: [Noun] o Yari mashita

In A4 through A6, the sentences describing someone did a beneficial action to someone in the following forms;

A4: [V-te] Itadaki mashita

A5: [V-te] Kudasai mashita

A6: [V-te] Yari mashita

[V-te] means a verb in Te-form. But it is not just a verb in Te-form only, it includes words consisting a verb clause like “No’oto o Misete (to show his/her notebook)”.

Now the sentence construction of A4 is as shown below;

(1) Watashi wa [Person Superior] ni [V-te] Itadaki mashita.

If who did you a favor is not a person superior to you, the sentence would have been;

(2) Watashi wa [Person] ni [V-te] Morai mashita.

(2) is a polite sentence of “Desu-Masu style”, and (1) is a honorific with more politeness than (2). Take a look at examples below;

1. Watashi wa Sensei ni Kenkyuu-Shitsu no Naka o Misete Itadaki mashita.

(I was shown by the teacher the inside of the research room.)

2. Watashi wa Sensei ni Gakkai e Tsurete itte Itadaki mashita.

(I was taken by the teacher to the academic conference.)

3. Watashi wa Sensei ni Supi’ichi Contesuto no Genkou o Naoshite Itadaki mashita.

(I was given by my teacher corrections on my draft for speech contest.)

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section41 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A2 S16): Action happens After Preceding Action has taken place; V1-te kara, V2

Recently I wrote that a well-written textbook introduces the construction expressing “Sequence of actions” with the following construction that uses three verbs;

1. [V1-te], [V2-te], [V3].

This is because sometimes the following construction makes it unclear as to whether the sentence is “Sequence of actions” or “Incidental actions”

2. [Verb clause1]+te, [Verb clause2]. = [V1-te], [V2].

Then, how do you express if you want to say that you do action number one and then you do action number two, with two clauses like 2.? You use the Te-form of a verb for action number one, but not only with “te”, you would add “kara” after “te”. Look at the examples;

3. Te o Aratte kara, Gohan o Tabemasu. (I wash my hands, and then I eat meal.)

— 3. is in present tense that expresses what you usually do as habit.

4. Jugyou ga Owatte kara, Kaimono ni Ikimashita. (After the class ended, I went shopping.)

— 4. is in past tense.

Note that there is difference between 3 and 4 other than the tense.

– The subject of two verbs (Aratte and Tabemasu) is identical for the sentence 3. It’s “Watashi (I)”.

– In the sentence 4, the subject of the verb “Owatte” is Jugyou, while the subject of the verb “Ikimashita” is “Watashi (I)”.

For the construction of today;

5. [Verb clause1]+te kara, [Verb clause2]. = [V1-te]+kara, [V2].

It is okay to use different subjects for the first verb clause and for the second verb clause.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 16 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”

Japanese Learning (A1 S16): Sequence of Actions; V1-te, V2-te, V3

Let us look at complex sentences consisting with two verb clauses in which “te” of Te-form of the first verb functions as conjunctive particle.

[Verb clause1]+te, [Verb clause2]. = [V1-te], [V2].

There are three types of sentences of this construcion.

1. Sequence of actions; Action of verb1 has happened, and then action of verb2 takes place.  

2. Incidental actions; While action of verb2 is being carried out, action of verb1 is keeping on.

3. Cause/Reason; Action of verb1 is the cause/reason of action2 of verb2.

There is one thing that is important for this construction “[V1-te], [V2]”. The subject for verb1 and the subject for verb2 must be identical. Only for 3, The subject for verb1 and the subject for verb2 can be different.

And in order to make clear difference between 1.”Sequence of actions” and 2.”Incidental actions”, a well-written textbook introduces 1. using three verbs as the following;

1′. [V1-te], [V2-te], [V3].

So, we will learn this construction 1′ to describe a sequence of actions.

4. Ashite Koube e Itte, Minato o Mite, Chuuka-Ryouri o Tabemasu.

(Tomorrow, I will go to Kobe, see the port, and eat Chinese cuisine there.)

This sentence is in future tense.

5. Kinou no Yoru, Bangohan o Tabete, Douga-Kyouyuu Saito o Mite, Nemasita.

(Last night, I ate supper, watched a video sharing site, and then went to bed.)

This sentence is in past tense.

6. Nichiyoubi, watashi wa Soujishite, Sentakushite, Kaimononi Ikimasu.

(On Sunday, I clean the room, wash my clothes, and go shopping.)

Note that each sentence has three verbs, and the subject for the three verbs is identical (it’s “I”).

This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section 16 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”