Tag: Japanese language

All Japanese verbs can be classified, according to the way they make their forms, into two major groupings or conjugations. We are going to discuss them on this post.

1. The consonant or U dropping conjugation or consonant conjugation

Most of the verb in this conjugation are easy to recognize. If the end syllables of the dictionary form of a verb are anything at all but -eru or -iru, the verb is automatically a member of the u-dropping conjugation. The possible endings are,

-bu ぶ, -mu　む, -nu　ぬ, -ku　く, -gu　ぐ, -su　す, -tsu　つ, -au あう, -iu　いう, -ou　おう, -aru　ある, -oru　おる, -uru　うる.

All of these verbs form their basic stem by dropping the final -u and making whatever phonetic changes are necessary ;

Present form : basic stem

tobu 飛ぶ　 To fly  : tob-

yomu 読む  to read : yom-

shinu　死ぬ  to die : shin-

kaku　書く  to write : kak-

isogu　急ぐ  to hurry : isog-

dasu　出す  to take out, to present : das-

matsu　待つ  to wait : mat-

shimau　しまう  to finish : shama-

kau　買う  to buy : ka-

iu　言う  to say : i-

omou　思う  to think : omo-

aru　ある  to be, to have : ar-

toru　取る  to take : tor-

nuru　塗る  to paint : nur-

If the final syllables of a verb are -eru and -iru, however, it is not possible to tell from present form to which comjugation a verb belongs. A few verbs ending in -eru and -iru are members of the u-dropping conjugation, and form their basic stem by dropping the final -u

shiru 知る to know : shir-

hairu　入る to enter : hair-

kaeru　帰る to return : kaer-

2. The vowel or Ru dropping conjugation or vowel conjugation

Most verb ending in -eru or -iru, however, are member of the second, or ru-dropping conjugation. They form their basic stem by dropping -ru

dekiru できる　to be able  : deki-

iru　いる to be : i-

hajimeru　始める to begin : hajime-

kangaeru　考える to think : kangae-

taberu　食べる to eat : tabe-

ageru　あげる to raise, to give : age-

miru　見る to see : mi-

In both conjugations the basic stem gives rise to all other verb forms in an entirely regular manner. For this reason it is very important that you understand how to isolate it. So there are two types of verb. Next post, we are going to learn the combining stem and the polite form. See you soon.

This post is a brief anticipation of some of the more important feature of the Japanese verb that are likely to be strange to you. It will probably help you to understand some of the unfamiliar constructions and features of form and meaning that must necessarily occur in the sentences that have been quoted as example.

1. Japanese verbs do not have different forms to indicate the number or person or gender of the subject of the sentence. The same form are used whether the subject is I or you or they or anything else.

2. Verb are very often used without a pronoun subject, as in the example above. In such cases you recognize the subject by context.

3. There are only two real tenses in Japanese, a present and a past. Japanese is not so much interested in the subtleties of time as is English. There is no true future tense; the present is used to express definite future ideas.

東京へ行きました。(Past tense) Tokyo he iki mashita. : I went to Tokyo.
東京へ行きます。(Present tense) Tokyo he iki masu. : I go to Tokyo. I shall go to Tokyo.

4. Although tenses are few, Japanese is extremely rich in verb forms that indicate moods or aspects of likeness, or belief on the part of the speaker, or appearances. Most of these are beyond the scope of manual. Japanese learner often asks me about this. I need to answer case by case. I need to understand more as a teacher. For example,

彼は帰るでしょう。　kare ha kaeru desho, might be translated

‘He is probably returning.’ ‘He will probably return’ ‘I think he will return’

5. There are several compound verb forms that are frequency used. There is a progressive aspect that corresponds surprisingly closely to the English from in meaning and formation. It is made with a participle and a conjugated form of a verb meaning ‘to be’

何をしていますか？　Nani wo shite imasuka? : What is he doing?

6. Each Japanese verb has an entire negative conjugation to balance its possible form. Unlike  English, where you simply add no or not to most sentence to make negative, Japanese has completely different verb form to indicate a negative idea.

本を買った　（polite 本を買いました）。　Hon wo kaltuta (Hon wo kai mashita) ; I bought a book.

本を買わなかった (polite 本を買いませんでした )　Hon wo kawanakaltuta (Hon wo kaimasendeshita) : I did not buy a book.

7, You will observe that two versions of the same idea have been given in the sentence above. Each verb has two sets of form,

(a) Its true forms made by conjugating the verb itself.

(b) Courtesy form that are made by using a stem of the verb, and adding to it various forms of an ending whose stem is ‘masu’.

8. Japanese verbs are highly regular. There are only two really irregular verbs in the language, and these are only irregular only in their stems. There are perhaps a half dozen other common verbs that are very slightly irregular in one or two forms. As a result, even though there are more forms per verb thatn there are in English, and the endings used to make particular forms are longer than English endings, the Japanese verb is really very simple, Verbs are so completely regular in the way they make their forms that you will be astonished at the ease with which you will master them.

These are mainly from the textbook ‘Basic Japanese grammar’.

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Japanese-Grammar-Everett-Bleiler/dp/4805311436/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366085146&sr=8-2&keywords=basic+japanese+grammar

In Japanese, the demonstrative and interrogative pronouns and adjective are very closely related in formation to the adverbs that carry similar ideas about the place, manner, and sort. All of these words are formed from four root こそあど, to which regular endings are added, to form a constant and logical pattern.

Ko, こ  : hereness, nearness

So, そ : thereness, not far off, near person addressed

A, あ  : thereness, but at a distance

Do, ど : question or doubt

From htese roots are made demonstrative pronouns, demonstrative adjectives, phrases of type, adverbs of manner, adverbs of location, adverbs of motion, indefinite pronouns, nagative pronouns, and many other forms.

re れ : to indicate a thing

no の : to indicate demonstrative adjective

nna んな : to indicate type of thing, “such a, this kind of ”

ko こ : location

chira ちら : direction, motion towards, or preference.

The table below shows how simple this process is. These words do not change to indicate singular or plural, nor do they have different forms to indicate gender, sex, or the role of the word within the sentence. For example, “Kore” may mean “this” “these” ” them”.

When you are referring to persons, it is considered courteous to use combination of hito (meaning “man”, “person”) or kata (meaning “side”) with Kono この sono その ano あの dono どの

The forms with kata are more courteous than hito

この方が鈴木さんです。Kono kata ga Suzuki san desu. This is Mr. Suzuki.
これが娘です。 Kore ga musume desu. This is my daughter.

Japanese, like English, has the concepts of subject, of sentence, direct object, and indirect object, but it expresses these concepts in a different manner.In English, we show the relationships between the words of a sentence mostly word order, such as,

The policeman chased the burglar.

The burglar chased the policeman.

These sentence is totally different. However, in Japanese, the sentence function of noun and pronoun is shown by additional words that are placed immediately after the noun and pronoun. These words are called particle or prepositions.  The word order is also important (I will discuss this later) though, basically the sentence make sense to me.

Taro gave hanako the flower.

太郎は花子に花をあげた。taro ha hanako ni hana o ageta.

花子に太郎は花をあげた。hanako ni taro ha hana o ageta.

花を太郎は花子にあげた。hana o taro ha hanako ni ageta.

The first one is perfect, but I understand 2nd, 3rd one.These particle or preposition never vary, always remains the same.
Let’s practice using examples, these three most important particle or preposition, ga, wa, o.

ga usually indicates the grammatical subject of sentence or clause in which it appears

Also you may have observed, wa is often indicate material that is subject of English translation. You may be puzzled about when you should use wa. Actually, this involve a very subtle distinction in Japanese thought. Let me tell you later.

o indicates that preceding word is the direct object of the verb.

This list is mostly from “The basic Japanese grammar”.

1. There is no words correspond to the English words, a, an, or the.
2. Nouns do not have special plural forms; they remain the same whether they indicate one object or many. The Japanese word “戸(to) ”, for example, can mean  “a door,” “the door,” “doors,” or “the doors,”
3. Pronouns are usually omitted if they can be understood from the context. But they can be used for emphasis, or when they are needed to make the meaning clear.

Example) 元気です。 I am fine, thank you.

私は元気です。 As for me, I am fine.

    4. Verbs do not have special form to indicate person or number. Each tense has only one form, which is used no matter what the subject is.

Example) 読む(yomu; to read) in any of situation, I read, you read, we read, they read, the man reads, and so on.

    5. Adjectives are closely related to verbs, and take endings according to their tense and mood.

    6. There are no cases for nouns or pronouns. Relations between the words of sentence are indicated by “little word” called particle or preposition, which are placed after the word they control.

Example) が(ga) usually indicates the subject of a clause.

                わ(wa) can be translated “as for” and often indicates the subject of a clause.

                を(o) follows the direct object.

                の(no) means “of” in most of the English senses of the word, and indicates possession.    

                か(ka) indicates a question.

    7.   There are the frequent ending

       ます（ません）(masu(masen))  indicate present tense. () indicates negative verb.

       ました（ませんでした）(mashita (masendeshita)) indicate present tense. () indicates negative.          

       ましょう（ませんでしょう）(mashou(masendeshou)) is usually translated by using the word probably in the sentence. () indicates negative.   

     8. The common ending て-teusually indicates a verb particle, which can be translated into English in most cases by present particle (“-ing”)

Example) 来て(kite)  coming. 歩いて(aruite) walking. して(shite) doing.

    9. Basic word order is “subject – object – verb”.

   10.   Conjunctions come at the end of the clause they govern.

   11.   Subordinate clauses must come first in the sentence.

I found good summary on this text book “Basic Japanese grammar”. If you have any question about these, feel free to ask. I will add explanations. Each case on this list, we will look into carefully later on this blog.  

I have just started teaching Japanese in the U.S. for my friends. I am a native Japanese speaker but I realized how it is difficult to teach my own language systematically. I am actually novice as a teacher. But I promise I will do my best to explain. If you are interested in Japanese, please feel free to contact me, leave the comment. I am living in Charlottesville VA U.S. I can be your language partner.

I am going to teach Japanese on this blog for learners who can speak English.

Japanese, unlike the other foreign languages that you are likely have studied, is not a member of Indo-European family, and is not related to English. Nor is it related to Chinese, even though it has borrowed a large vocabulary from Chinese. It is pretty much a language by itself.

In some ways Japanese is simpler than English, in the other ways it is more complex. For example Japanese is extremely regular in its grammatical forms; the exceptions to the grammatical rules of formation can be counted on your fingers. On the other hand, syntax and sentence structure can become very complex, and idioms are numerous. Even native Japan speaker should keep learning. And also we should care about cultural difference, we have kind of seniority system. That is because, I think, we had a lot of natural disasters. We believe senior has better knowledge. So some times, we follow the senior’s opinion, even when we know the senior person should be wrong. We some time choose harmony of group or society rather than right decision. So, we have different form of language to senior person. But English basically does not have such form and we can discuss our opinion with freely at any age.

On this blog, I will use ‘Basic Japanese Grammar’ written by Everett F Bleiler. And also I might write about the grammatical problem that I would face during teaching.

If you are familiar with Japanese culture, it is good. Anime, Electronics including camera, Game, History, whatever, these are your strength to learn Japanese. Tell me if you are interested in something. Tell me if you have something what you want me to post. Your feedback is important!!

Like learning other languages, you need to practice speaking, but also go back to Grammar periodically.

Again, Japanese grammar, though different from your past experience, is not really difficult. I hope that understanding grammar will make your travel more pleasant when some of you come to Japan in the future.