The net-introduction of the original:
|> Newsgroups: sci.lang.japan
|> From: Tad Perry (address now out of date)
|> Subject: THE QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO JAPANESE
GRAMMAR (Posted)
|> Message-ID: <1992Dec22.001355.16497@u.washington.edu>
|> Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 00:13:55 GMT
|>
|> There was pretty strong interest in my guide,
so I decided to post it.
|> I didn't know so many people were reading this
group. They sure haven't
|> been *posting* to it lately. Anyway, spin-off
threads are welcome as
|> this group needs some life pumped into it.
|>
|> Thanks go to a recent friend I made on the net
named Jeff Friedl for
|> providing the final impetus to produce this. There
was another person
|> I talked with via e-mail who said he was interested
in such a thing,
|> but the discussion occured between the last time
gibdo was backed up
|> and the day gibdo's hard disk bit the big one,
so I lost his name and
|> address and can't give proper credit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest version:
THE QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO JAPANESE
by Tad Perry
PREFACE
Many students of Japanese just want to communicate.
Sure, they want to
say things correctly as often as possible, but they
also want to get
into the language quickly and start mixing it up
early. This QUICK AND
DIRTY GUIDE TO JAPANESE was meant to help you do
just that. It makes
no pretense of being complete, but tries to pack
the most *useful
information* necessary to achieve the *goal of using
Japanese* in the
*shortest possible space*. This article covers four
basic things: word
order, particles, how to deletions work, and verb
conjugation. That
pretty much covers what you need to know to make
a Japanese sentence
that sounds more or less natural.
What you need is very brief grammatical rules that
are presented
clearly so you don't get confused. Memorize the grammar!
I've reduced
it to the absolute lowest common denominator so that
it's not
overwhelming but it still needs to be memorized.
After you get the rules down pat, you need a vocabulary.
Again this is
just a matter of memorization. For nouns you can
look in a dictionary
or ask a native speaker. They almost never inflect
(in any true
meaning of the word) and are therefore easy to remember
and
manipulate. For verbs, it is usually possible to
derive all
inflections (you must know the rules for inflection
though) after
memorizing just one form. Sometimes you need to know
two forms. You'll
learn more about this later in this guide.
As for rules on inflecting verbs and adjectives, I've
tried to put
together the most compact rules conceivable for allowing
you to
manipulate every verb you ever encounter and hopefully
you can take it
from there. The less mental overhead for remembering
how to do
inflect, the less painful it will be for you. But
it still requires a
certain amount of memorization. After you know the
conjugation rules
pat, you can add new verbs to your vocabulary almost
as easily as
nouns: look in a dictionary or ask a native speaker.
Now that you have a bunch of nouns and a bunch of
verbs and adjectives
(that you can inflect), you need to know how to piece
them together.
That's where word order, particles and deletions
come in. Remember,
this is a *Quick and Dirty* guide so don't expect
these
generalizations to *always* work, just expect them
to work in as many
cases as possible based on what I know, and trust
me that you'll at
least be understood if your pronunciation is acceptable.
Now, in compiling this guide, I noticed that the descriptions
are
pretty comprehensive. So why aren't these things
presented this way in
class? There are several reasons. First of
all, I assume you are
intelligent and motivated enough to use the information
yourself. No
drills, no tests. I present a fact exactly
ONCE and move on. So pay
attention. Also, an educational institution obviously
has a financial
stake in dragging out your language learning as long
as possible (and
confusing you along the way), now doesn't it? They
also feel
obligated, since you are paying them, to teach you
every little detail
so you feel like you're getting your money's worth.
But in this guide
I don't go into ever detail and exception. That's
why correspondence
with the author with comments such as: "You made
generalization X, but
forgot to mention exceptions Y and Z." won't be appreciated
very
much. This is a *quick and dirty* guide, remember?
So be forewarned
that there are exceptions. Even so, I have tried
to be as accurate as
possible, but compactness takes precedence over detail.
Got it? Okay,
let's go.
WORD ORDER
Before talking about particles let's get into word
order. In general,
standard word order for Japanese when using an action
verb is as shown
below. SUBJECTs are put in brackets to stress that
they are very often
deleted.
[SUBJECT]+TIME+PLACE/IMPLEMENT+INDIRECT
OBJECT+OBJECT+ACTION VERB
"[Watakushi wa] ashita gakkou de sensei
ni purezento wo agemasu."
("[I'm] going to give a present to [my]
teacher tomorrow.")
For an existence verb it is:
[SUBJECT]+TIME+LOCATION+EXISTENCE VERB
"Takahashi wa ima honsha ni iru."
("Takahasi is in the main office
right now.")
For a motion verb it is:
[SUBJECT]+TIME+ORIGIN+ROUTE+DESTINATION+MOTION
VERB
"[Watakushi wa] ashita paatii ni iku."
("[I'm] going to a party tomorrow.")
IMPORTANT: Word order before the verb and the particles
that nouns
take depend on the verb type: action, existence or
motion.
PARTICLES
SUBJECT ga:が
wa:は
In general, if a new subject is introduced where another
had
been previously understood, signal the change by
placing "wa" after
the subject. If a subject is understood, but for
some reason not
deleted (that's rare) use "ga" or nothing. Often
you can move a
subject out after the verb when things start piling
up before the
verb. Like: "Ashita boku ga kooen de utau."
(I'm singing at the park
tomorrow.) often becomes: "Ashita kooen de utau,
boku." For more on
SUBJECTs, see the longer description in the next
section, "Subjects
and Deletion". Knowing how to delete is a key to
sounding natural.
TIME ni:に
A time word or time phrase is usually followed by
"ni". In general,
use "ni" for specific points in time or specific
spans of time. So
"jyuu gatsu [ni]" (October), "san gatsu mikka [ni]"
(March 3rd) take
"ni". A word like "ashita" (tomorrow) that can only
be understood by
context (it changes depending on when you say it).
These types of
words are called "deictic" time words and don't take
"ni". "Ashita
iku" ("I'm going tomorrow."), but: "sanji ni iku"
("I'm going at 3.")
Even if you have trouble making the distinction between
these two
types of time words, don't worry: Japanese people
can understand what
you mean even if you get it backwards.
PLACE/IMPLEMENT
de:で
By PLACE, I mean the location that a volitional *action*
occurrs. If
you're eating at home, that's "ouchi de shokuji suru".
By implement, I
mean a tool or item you use to perform an action.
If you're eating
with chopsticks, that's "ohasi de taberu". The place
you do something
or the thing you use to do something takes "de".
If you're going
somewhere by car, you say "kuruma de iku". It's not
that hard to
understand really.
DESTINATION
ni:に he:へ
In Japanese, a DESTINATION is not an indirect object.
You must think
of it as a destination belonging to a verb of motion.
Verbs of motion
that give a DESTINATION, or ones of existence that
tell the LOCATION
of something take "ni". (DESTINATIONs can also take
"he".) Try to
distinguish PLACE from LOCATION by thinking of it
this way: PLACE is
WHERE SOMETHING IS DONE, LOCATION is WHERE SOMETHING
OR SOMEONE
EXISTS.
ORIGIN and ROUTE
wo:を
Use "kara" ("from") after an ORIGIN and "wo" after
a ROUTE. "Gakkoo
kara, kooen wo totte, ouchi ni kaeru." (Lit.
"I'm going home from
school through the park.") There's usually an intermediate
verb in
this type of usage. This covers the seemingly odd
construction in
Japanese of "mado wo magaru". You see you turn *through*
the corner.
It's not the ORIGIN. It's not the DESTINATION. It's
along the way.
Therefore it's the ROUTE you take. Therefore, you
need "wo"
OBJECT wo:を
Objects are followed by "wo" or nothing. "Hon wo yonde
iru" (I'm
reading a book.) This is a really simple one in most
cases. I really
don't know many Japanese learners who can't understand
this concept.
INDIRECT OBJECT
ni:に
Indirect objects are followed by "ni". By INDIRECT
OBJECT, I mean a
sort of secondary object that some verbs take. "Kono
hon wo anata ni
ageru." ("I'm going to give this book to you.") You
have "this book"
and you have "to you". The "this book" part is the
OBJECT. The "to
you" part is the INDIRECT OBJECT. "Wo" and "ni" are
used to
distinguish these two. In English, a preposition
tends to come before
the indirect object. (Like the "to" before "you"
in this example.)
This is the one that in Japanese needs to take "ni".
VERB yo:よ
ka:か
Even a verb can take particles. You can use "yo" for
exclamations and
"ka" for questions. Most people find this easy. But
the real problem
with verbs is that they need to be inflected. There's
a big section at
the end of this guide that gives the rules on how
to inflect Japanese
verbs. Useful colloquial English equivalents of what
those inflections
mean are also given.
IMPORTANT:
To boil this section down, remember it this way:
SUBJECT+wa/ga/nothing (Delete subject if possible,
show changes with "wa".)
TIME+ni/nothing
(Use nothing if it's a deictic time word.)
PLACE/IMPLEMENT+de (A place where
you *do* something or a thing you use.)
LOCATION+ni
(A location where someone or something *is*.)
ORIGIN+kara
ROUTE+wo
(Part of the path you follow to get somewhere.)
DESTINATION+ni/he (Use "ni"
over "he" but be aware that both are okay.)
INDIRECT OBJECT+ni (Use this if
you're out of choices. It's often right!)
DIRECT OBJECT+wo
After understanding the descriptions given earlier,
these nine lines
are the key to knowing what particle to use 90% of
the time. Even if
these rules cause you to make a mistake you're definitely
being
understood.
DELETIONS
Usually, you don't have to worry about whether to
use wa or ga,
because most subjects can usually be deleted. "You
can't get something
wrong, if you leave it out in the first place." That's
my philosophy.
So we'll work on the parts of sentences that you
can delete, starting
with subjects.
If you turn to a Japanese and suddenly make a statement:
"Ashita paatii ni iku."
("[I'm] going to the party tomorrow.")
The listener will *naturally* assume the subject is
you. So don't
bother supplying any subject. To do so, in fact,
is not natural; a
Japanese wouldn't normally do it.
If you turn to a Japanese and suddenly ask a question:
"Ashita paatii ni iku?"
("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")
The listener will assume the subject is himself or
herself. Easy! Most
one-on-one conversations where you or the listener
is the subject
*don't need an explicit subject*. No chance of screwing
up wa/ga here.
If you suddenly turn to a Japanese and want to make
a statement or ask
a question about some other person altogether, use
"wa" after that
person's name or title the first time you mention
that person:
"Shachoo wa, ashita paatii ni iku?"
("Is the shachoo going to the party tomorrow?")
Let's just say the "wa" introduces a change in subject.
This time it
signals a change from the default "you the listener"
to the "shachoo".
After you establish that you're talking about the
president you can
go back to dropping subjects again:
"Sono ato wa, kaeru ka na?"
("Is he going home after that?"--again
some vagueness added with
"ka na" ("I wonder"). Don't be
too forward making assumptions
about other people. This trick
also stops the listener from
thinking the question is back
to being about themself. There's a
strong tendency for questions
to erase understood info and you
have to signal that things are
unchanged. Usually you play with
the verb a little bit to get this
across. Note that the change in
time being talked about was also
signaled with a "wa".)
Note that this tendency to delete in Japanese parallels
the point
where an English native speaker would use plain pronouns
like, I, you,
he, she, they. When you start a comment about yourself,
you use "I"
(Japanese people delete). When you ask about the
listener, you use
"you" (Japanese people delete). When you've first
established someone
and then keep going with that person, you use "he"
or "she" (Japanese
people delete). See? Simple. So don't go around
using "watakushi",
"anata", "kare" and "kanojo" all the time. Okay?
Use them the first
time only and then get rid of them.
Deleting
other Established Info
Just like with subjects, any info that's been established
can be
deleted, and any changes in established info can
be signalled using
"wa":
"Ashita paatii ni iku?"
("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")
"Un, anata wa?"
("Yeah, how about you?"--info about "paatii
ni" and "iku" unchanged,
therefore deleted. Subject changed to
original questioner, so the
change is signaled with "wa".)
"Un-n, ikanai"
("No, I'm not going."--info about "paatii
ni" still deleted, "iku"
comes back as "ikanai" because it has
changed form.)
"Sono ato no eiga wa?"
("How about the movie afterwards?"--the established
info "paatii"
changed to "eiga" so we use "wa" to
establish the change in
understood information. Understood info
that *hasn't* changed is
still left out, like the subject "boku"
and the action "iku".)
"Un-n, ikanai."
This is pretty much how deletions work whether it
be subjects or
something else. In general, always go for deletions
if possible. This
section also serves the purpose of giving you a feel
for "wa".
Particle Ga
In general, you don't need it. In the instances where
you do, you
can slowly build a feel for it. Basically, you need
it in situations
where you're not expressing a change in subject,
but where you want
to state the subject even though it is established
info. Usually,
this is to add emphasis or avoid ambiguity.
"Shacho wa, ashita paatii ni iku?"
("Is the shachoo going to the party tomorrow?")
"Un-n, ikanai mitai."
("No, it doesn't look like it."--throw in
a "mitai" because you
don't wan't to act too sure of the actions
of others in Japanese.
We're not really covering that though,
it's just a side note.)
"Nande?"
("Why not?")
"Sore ga wakaranai"
("I don't know why not."--there's no real
ambiguity in this case,
and "wakaranai" alone would have worked,
but it is a case where
you're not changing an understood subject
to another, you're
restating the understood subject as
such for some emphasis. If
you're stating an established subject,
for whatever reason, use
"ga". But you could've deleted, and
if you were following my
philosophy you would have. This one
sentence also helps dispell
the huge MYTH that "wa" is for negative
sentences. Wipe that myth
from your mind. As a mental exercise,
stop and think about why
negative sentences and changes in subject
often go hand in hand. In
that you're admitting other possible
subjects that might be
construed at that point, but you need
to point out the subject that
*you're* talking about to avoid confusion.
When you can get your
head around this concept, you will have
come to understand "wa"
and "ga".)
Particle Mo
も
Use mo when you're adding more info on a list of established
info. It
may be used alone when marking subjects and objects,
and can follow
other particles (like ni, de, and he). Put it this
way: if "wa" clears
the understood info and replaces it, "mo" adds extra
info on top of
what's already there without clearing out anything.
"Ashita paatii ni iku?"
("[Are you] going to the party tomorrow?")
"Un, iku yo. Kimi wa?"
("Yeah, I'm going. Are you?"--note what was
deleted and why.
Look at deletions in the English, too. See
any similarities?)
"Boku mo iku."
("I'm going too."--add yourself to the understood
subject.)
Mo is easy, so we won't waste any more time with it.
Just trying to be
complete and it only took a few lines to do.
VERB CONJUGATIONS
Another thing that many Japanese learners need is
an easy method of
arriving at all the verb conjugations and a highly
reduced set of
rules for how to get them right on the different
types of verbs.
That's easy enough really because there are only
three major verb
types: -ru verbs, -u verbs, and -aru verbs (a polite
type not much
used except for "gozaru/gozaimasu"). People really
hate Eleanor Jorden
for this kind of naming, but in language learning
you take what's easy
and go with it; there's no need to worry about theoretical
linguistics
here. Also note that I changed romanization styles
at this point to
one that makes the changes in verbs appear much more
uniform.
-Ru verbs are those that end in -ru like taberu and
ireru. There is
always an "i" or an "e" before "ru". "-u" verbs end
in u, ku, gu, bu,
mu, nu, su, tu, or [a,i,u,e,o]+ru. See the
overlap? It's where "i" or
"e" comes before "ru". Luckily, an ambiguous verb
is *usually* a -ru
verb. But to be sure, you should memorize two forms
for all "e+ru" and
"i+ru" verbs (e.g. ireru/irete and hairu/haitte),
so you can keep them
straight. So here's the process of picking up a new
verb. You look in
the dictionary or ask a native speaker.
Q. How do you say "kick"?
A. "keru"
If it had ended in u, ku, gu, bu, mu, nu, su or tu
that would be all
the information you need to come up with every inflection.
But this
one is "e+ru" so you need to know if it's a -ru verb
or an -u verb.
Check by asking for another form.
Q. Do you say "kemasu" or "kerimasu"?
A. You say "kerimasu".
Well, now you know it's an -u verb. If you drop -ru
to add -masu,
that's always a -ru verb. If you change -u to -i
that's always an -u
verb. Once you know which it is you can make all
the inflections you
need just from knowing "keru".
-Ru Verbs
For these verbs, everything is done by dropping or
replacing -ru with
something else. Just remember the different
uses of each conjugation.
drop -ru to add extensions like -masu (polite), -yasui
(easy to): tabe+X
("Tabeyasui". This is easy to eat.)
replace with "-te" for gerund:
tabete
(The gerund form is for "and"-ing verbs (eat
and go, "tabete iku") and
also for simple orders: Eat that. "Are tabete".)
replace with "-ta" for past tense:
tabeta
(I ate it.)
replace with "-tara" for meaning "if": tabetara
(If I/someone eats. often has the feel of "once".
once it happens, then...)
replace with "-tari" for meaning "do things like":
tabetari
(I did things like eating--"tabetari sita".
not really used much)
replace with "-reba" for another "if": tabereba
(If I/someone eats. Much more like an "if"
than "-tara" but don't worry
to much about the difference, they're pretty
much interchangeable.)
replace with "-yoo" for "let's":
tabeyoo
(Let's eat.)
replace with "-ro" for rude orders:
tabero
(Eat dammit!)
replace with "-nai" for negative:
tabenai
(Note that to order someone *not* to do something
you add "de" here.
Don't eat that! "Are tabenai de yo!")
replace with "-rareru" for "can":
taberareru <- these are now -ru verbs
(I can't eat this! "kore taberarenai yo!" Good
in cafeteria's.)
replace with "-saseru" for "make (someone) do": tabesaseru
<- now a -ru verb
("Kore tabesasenai de yo!" Don't make me eat
this. A negative request
equal in level to "tabete" is "nai" plus "de",
remember?)
replace with "-rareru" for passive "was X-ed":
taberareru <- now a -ru verb
(Looks exactly like "can" for this type verb.
"Raion ni taberareta."
I was eaten by a lion. Use "ni" for "by" to
show the agent of a passive verb.)
replace with "-rareru" for potential "can do X":
taberareru <- now a -ru verb
(Looks exactly like passive for this type verb.
"natto taberaru?"
Can you eat natto? Get used to this question!!)
replace with "-saserareru" for "be made to":
tabesaserareru <- a -ru verb
(This follows from just putting two separate
types above together.
My mom made me eat chicken. "Okaasan ni chikin
wo tabesaserareta."
Putting it in passive makes you seem like you
didn't want to and you
feel sorry for yourself.)
-U Verbals
-RU verbs are by far the easiest to conjugate: you
drop -ru and add
something else. Simple. -U verbs aren't that easy
but almost.
Typically you drop -u and add something else. The
problem is that
there might be a phonetic change (such as when ha
becomes pa, or ta
becomes da) for some of the types. See -ru verbs
above for simple
English examples of what the conjunctions mean. This
part will cover
the conjunction rules for -u verbals only.
Remember, there are some -u verbs that end in -ru.
Real -ru verbs
(where -ru gets dropped) always end in "iru" or "eru".
Anything else,
like "aru"/be located, "oru"/break and "uru"/sell,
must be an -u verb.
For "iru" and "eru" you need to know two forms to
be sure. If you see
one that ends in "iru" or "eru", and -u changes to
add -masu, or the
"t" doubles to get a gerund (hairu->haitte), then
you're dealing with
an -u verb. Otherwise, it's a -ru verb.
There are other verbs that end in -ru that aren't
either type. These
are always super-polite oddball verbs like gozaru/gozaimasu
and
nasaru/nasaimasu. You can effectively forget about
these because they
are only a handful and you can see them coming a
mile away. Usually,
just assume anything ending "aru", "uru" or "oru"
is an -u verb.)
IMPORTANT: Except for "iru/eru" verbs, every other
type of verb
can be identified by hearing only one form.
Including -u verbs which might happen to end in -ru,
these are all the
types there are:
-su
-ku (these two types conjugate similarly)
-gu
-bu (these three types conjugate similarly)
-mu
-nu
-ru (these three types conjugate similarly)
-tu
-vowel+u
-su is the only one that is well-behaved. That is,
-u will change to
-a, -i, -e or -o depending on the conjugation with
no odd behavior to
remember.
Here are the replacements:
replace -u with -i to add extensions like "-masu",
"-yasui", etc.
(works straight across, no phonetic changes
in any of the types)
hanasu -> hanasi (talk)
kiku -> kiki (walk)
oyogu -> oyogi (swim)
yobu -> yobi (call)
nomu -> nomi (drink)
sinu -> sini (die)
tukuru -> tukuri (make)
matu -> mati (wait)
harau -> harai (pay)
Replace -u with -ite for do "X and Y" and for simple
commands.
(types not strictly following the rule, but
acting similarly, are grouped)
hanasu -> hanasite (talk)
kiku -> kiite (walk)
(replace entire -ku, be sure to use -ite)
oyogu -> oyoide (swim)
(replace entire -gu, be sure to use -ide)
yobu -> yonde (call)
(replace entire -bu, be sure to use -nde)
nomu -> nonde (drink)
(replace entire -mu, be sure to use -nde)
sinu -> sinde (die)
(replace entire -nu, be sure to use -nde)
tukuru -> tukutte (make) (replace
entire -ru, be sure to use -tte)
matu -> matte (wait)
(replace entire -tu, be sure to use -tte)
harau -> haratte (pay)
(replace -u, be sure to use -tte)
Replace -u with -ita for past tense.
(types not strictly following the rule, but
acting similarly, are grouped)
hanasu -> hanasita (talk)
kiku -> kiita (walk)
(replace entire -ku, be sure to use -ita)
oyogu -> oyoida (swim)
(replace entire -gu, be sure to use -ida)
yobu -> yonda (call)
(replace entire -bu, be sure to use -nda)
nomu -> nonda (drink)
(replace entire -mu, be sure to use -nda)
sinu -> sinda (die)
(replace entire -nu, be sure to use -nda)
tukuru -> tukutta (make) (replace
entire -ru, be sure to use -tta)
matu -> matta (wait)
(replace entire -tu, be sure to use -tta)
harau -> haratta (pay)
(replace -u, be sure to use -tta)
(In fact, I query search and replaced "e" with "a"
on the gerunds to
arrive at the past tense. This is good to know because
the rule
breakers are now breaking the rules in a predictable
fashion.)
Replace -u with -itara for "if". (Or, just add "ra"
to the past.)
(types not strictly following the rule, but
acting similarly, are grouped)
hanasu -> hanasitara (talk)
kiku -> kiitara (walk)
(replace entire -ku, be sure to use -itara)
oyogu -> oyoidara (swim)
(replace entire -gu, be sure to use -idara)
yobu -> yondara (call)
(replace entire -bu, be sure to use -ndara)
nomu -> nondara (drink)
(replace entire -mu, be sure to use -ndara)
sinu -> sindara (die)
(replace entire -nu, be sure to use -ndara)
tukuru -> tukuttara (make) (replace
entire -ru, be sure to use -ttara)
matu -> mattara (wait)
(replace entire -tu, be sure to use -ttara)
harau -> harattara (pay)
(replace -u, be sure to use -ttara)
Replace -u with -itari for "do things like X". (Or
just add "ri" to past.)
(types not strictly following the rule, but
acting similarly, are grouped)
hanasu -> hanasitari (talk)
kiku -> kiitari (walk)
(replace entire -ku, be sure to use -itari)
oyogu -> oyoidari (swim)
(replace entire -gu, be sure to use -idari)
yobu -> yondari (call)
(replace entire -bu, be sure to use -ndari)
nomu -> nondari (drink)
(replace entire -mu, be sure to use -ndari)
sinu -> sindari (die)
(replace entire -nu, be sure to use -ndari)
tukuru -> tukuttari (make) (replace
entire -ru, be sure to use -ttari)
matu -> mattari (wait)
(replace entire -tu, be sure to use -ttari)
harau -> harattari (pay)
(replace -u, be sure to use -ttari)
Replace -u with -eba for "if"
(works straight across, no phonetic changes
in any of the types)
hanasu -> hanaseba (talk)
kiku -> kikeba (walk)
oyogu -> oyogeba (swim)
yobu -> yobeba (call)
nomu -> nomeba (drink)
sinu -> sineba (die)
tukuru -> tukureba (make)
matu -> mateba (wait)
harau -> haraeba (pay)
Replace -u with -oo for "let's do X".
(works straight across, no phonetic changes
in any of the types)
hanasu -> hanasoo (talk)
kiku -> kikoo (walk)
oyogu -> oyogoo (swim)
yobu -> yoboo (call)
nomu -> nomoo (drink)
sinu -> sinoo (die)
tukuru -> tukuroo (make)
matu -> matoo (wait)
harau -> haraoo (pay)
Replace -u with -e for rude orders "do X dammit".
(works straight across, no phonetic changes
in any of the types)
hanasu -> hanase (talk)
kiku -> kike (walk)
oyogu -> oyoge (swim)
yobu -> yobe (call)
nomu -> nome (drink)
sinu -> sine (die)
tukuru -> tukure (make)
matu -> mate (wait)
harau -> harae (pay)
Replace -u with -anai for negative. (This is now an
adjective.)
(works straight across, only one phonetic change
in one type)
hanasu -> hanasanai (talk)
kiku -> kikanai (walk)
oyogu -> oyoganai (swim)
yobu -> yobanai (call)
nomu -> nomanai (drink)
sinu -> sinanai (die)
tukuru -> tukuranai (make)
matu -> matanai (wait)
harau -> harawanai (pay)
(stick a wa in there, not just an "a". Makes
it easier to say, too. Lucky us!)
Replace -u with -eru for "can do X". This is now a
-ru verb.
(works straight across, no phonetic changes
in any of the types)
hanasu -> hanaseru (talk)
kiku -> kikeru (walk)
oyogu -> oyogeru (swim)
yobu -> yoberu (call)
nomu -> nomeru (drink)
sinu -> sineru (die)
tukuru -> tukureru (make)
matu -> materu (wait)
harau -> haraeru (pay)
Replace -u with -aseru for "make (someone) do X".
This is now a -ru verb.
(works straight across, only one phonetic change
in one of the types)
hanasu -> hanasaseru (talk)
kiku -> kikaseru (walk)
oyogu -> oyogaseru (swim)
yobu -> yobaseru (call)
nomu -> nomaseru (drink)
sinu -> sinaseru (die)
tukuru -> tukuraseru (make)
matu -> mataseru (wait)
harau -> harawaseru (pay) (Don't forget
to throw a wa in there!)
Replace -u with -areru for "X is done (often to someone)".
This is now
a -ru verb. (works straight across, only one phonetic
change in one of
the types)
hanasu -> hanasareru (talk)
kiku -> kikareru (walk)
oyogu -> oyogareru (swim)
yobu -> yobareru (call)
nomu -> nomareru (drink)
sinu -> sinareru (die)
tukuru -> tukurareru (make)
matu -> matareru (wait)
harau -> harawareru (pay) (Don't forget
to throw a wa in there!)
Replace -u with -aserareru for "be made to do X by
someone". Same
result as just doing the two conjunctions separately
but is taught
in most books as a specific conjunction. This is
now a -ru verb.
(works straight across, only one phonetic change
in one of the types)
hanasu -> hanasaserareru (talk)
kiku -> kikaserareru (walk)
oyogu -> oyogaserareru (swim)
yobu -> yobaserareru (call)
nomu -> nomaserareru (drink)
sinu -> sinaserareru (die)
tukuru -> tukuraserareru (make)
matu -> mataserareru (wait)
harau -> harawaserareru (pay) (Don't
forget to throw a wa in there!)
Now that was long, but it was mostly cut-and-paste
because even these
are well-behaved when you organize them correctly.
When you boil down
what needs to be done to these verbs to conjugate
them correctly, the
information required is really minimal--even for
the oddballs. That's
all you need to be able to conjugate almost every
verb in Japanese.
Most books say that there are only two irregular
verbs in all of
Japanese: suru and kuru. Those you have to memorize
separately, but
they kind of make sense when you look at them. In
fact, though,
there's a third irregular verb: iku. The reason is
that unlike kiita
for kiku, you don't say iita, you say itta. You don't
say, iite, you
say itte. But it's regular in it's irregularity because
it acts like
tsukuru for some weird reason.
kuru
("will come", or "comes (often, everyday, etc.)")
ki
(to add "-masu", note that "-yasui" isn't used)
kite
(casual command: "come here")
kita
(past tense: "someone came")
kitara (add ra to past) ("if(once) someone
comes", some connotation of when)
kitari (ad ri to past) ("do things like
come")
kureba
("if someone comes", no connotation of when)
koyoo
("let's come", no, it can't possibly mean orgasms)
koi
(rude request: "come here you")
konai
(negative: "won't come" or "doesn't come (very much)")
korareru
("can come")
kosaseru
("make (someone) come")
korareru
(passive--no example comes to mind)
kosaserareru
("be made to come (by someone)")
suru
("will do", or "does (often, everyday, etc.)")
si
(to add "-masu", or "-yasui")
site
(casual command: "do this")
sita
(past tense: "someone did")
sitara (add ra to past) ("if(once) someone
does", some connotation of when)
X sitari (ad ri to past) ("do things like doing X")
sureba
("if someone does", no connotation of when)
X siyoo
("let's do X")
siro
(rude request: "do this dammit")
sinai
(negative: "won't do" or "doesn't do (very much)")
dekiru (really "seru") ("can do"--"someone
I can love": "ai seru hito")
saseru
("make (someone) do")
sareru
("be done (by someone"))
saserareru
("be made to do (by someone)")
A cool trick to remember suru is that many of the
conjugations match
what you would get if you conjugated a lone "su",
so it's kind of like
"hanasu". Hanasita--sita. Hanaseru--seru. Hanasaseru--saseru.
ADJECTIVES
These aren't that hard. They always end in [a,i,u,o]+i.
They *never*
end in e+i that would be a noun. Basically you replace
"i" with a form
of "ka" to inflect.
yasashii
("It's nice")
yasashiku nai
("It's not nice")
yasashikatta
("It was nice")
yasashikattara
("If it's nice.")
yasashikattari
(possible I suppose but not heard often)
yasashikereba
("If it's nice.")
These inflections follow what a "ka+u" verb would
do. If you can
conjugate "kau" (to buy) you can conjugate every
Japanese adjective.
Just note that you don't say: "atsukaseru" for "make
something hot"
you say "atsuku suru". For a command, say: "yasashiku
natte" ("be
nice").
Sometimes when you
look in a dictionary or ask for an adjective you,
you will find something that doesn't look like an
adjective at
all. It's a noun! If you come up with a noun for
a word when you
expected an adjective (like "kirei" for "pretty"),
just remember that
you use adjectival noun + na + noun to make it work.
So, "kirei na
ojoosan" is "pretty girl". Everything else is like
a noun. "Kirei da".
"Kirei ja nai", etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tad Perry Internet:
tvp@eskimo.com
CompuServe: 70402,3020
NIFTY-Serve: GBG01266
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