Aka to pinku mo sukidesu “to” In Japanese, the particle “to” has additional functions when used with nouns. It can mean “and” or “with” in English. However, it is important to note that “with” in this context is not used in the same way as in English. It cannot be used to indicate tools or […]
Basu o orite, chikatetsu ni norimasu Functions of て-form The functions of the te-form in Japanese primarily serve two main purposes. One is as a punctuation device, and the other is as an auxiliary verb. In this context, you will learn about its function as a punctuation device. …te, … (punctuation) In English, the te-form
tabete, nonde te-form The function of the te-form in Japanese is primarily to act as an adhesive between ‘verb and verb’ and ‘sentence and sentence.’ This form is frequently used in Japanese because combining verbs or sentences often carries specific grammatical meanings, which you will learn about later. In this lesson, you will learn how
Short and long form in Japanese What’s the difference of short form and long form? Short form Short form in Japanese is primarily used for making statements and is typically used when speaking to people with whom you have a close relationship, such as friends and family. This form is informal and casual, making it
Fujisan wa ookikattadesu Past form of i-adjective I-adjectives in Japanese undergo specific changes when conjugated into the past and past negative forms. In the past form, the final ‘i’ sound changes to “kattadesu.” In the past negative form, the final ‘i’ sound changes to “kunakattadesu.” For example: ookii Present Past Affirmative ookiidesu ookikattadesu Negative ookikunaidesuookikuarimasen
Ojiisan wa ikemen deshita Past form of noun-adjective sentence The past form of noun-adjectives in Japanese follows the same conjugation pattern as noun sentences. This means that when expressing the past tense with noun-adjectives, you use the same conjugation rules as you would with noun sentences. This is why these adjectives are referred to as
Sonotoki wa shougakusei deshita “deshita” and “jaarimasendeshita” Affirmative …desu Negative …janaidesu, …jaarimasen Past-affirmative …deshita Past-negative …janakattadesu, …jaarimasendeshita In this part of the lesson, we will focus on the long past tense of noun sentences, which are indicated in orange in the table. We have already covered the green parts of noun sentences, where one noun
Dokoka ikitaidesu something, someone, somewhere In this lesson, we will learn how to express ‘some…’ in Japanese. To do this, you add “ka” after interrogative words. This construction allows you to refer to something that is not clear or specific, but something that does exist. For example, the interrogative word for “who” is “dare”. By
Osake o nomi sugimashita do too much (…sugimasu) Verb When you do too much of something in Japanese, you can use the expression “sugimasu.” This is added after verb stems to indicate excess. If the stem ends with a consonant, you need to add an i-sound after the stems. The verb “sugimasu” (from “sugiru”) means
Kurabu e odori ni ikimasu “verb stem” + “ni” = purpose”…ni iku” = go to…”…ni kuru” = come to… In Japanese, the structure of sentences requires that verbs come at the end and never appear in the middle. This affects how certain phrases are constructed. For example, the English expressions ‘go somewhere to do something’