Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Sites | Writers | Advertise | My Orble | Login

Verbs in all basic forms.

May 6th 2008 04:53
Present.

Present form of verbs is the most common, and simply indicates an action. These verbs always end in the suffix ~ます (~masu).

To Go: いきます (ikimasu)
To Eat: たべます (tabemasu)
To Drink: のみます (nomimasu)

Past.

To make a verb into past form, you remove す and add した (Shita).

Have Gone: いきました (ikimashita)
Have Eaten: たべました (tabemashita)
Have Drunk: のみました (nomimashita)

Negative.

To make a sentence negative you again remove す, this time replacing it with せんです (sen (desu)). Desu at the end makes it more polite but is not essential.

Doesn’t go: いきませんです (ikimasen (desu))
Doesn’t eat: たべませんです (tabemasen (desu))
Doesn’t drink: のみませんです (nomimasen (desu))

Past Negative.

We’ve seen that ません (masen) makes a word negative. If you remember, です (desu) is used in Japanese to finish a sentence. To make a past negative verb, we use the negative ません (masen) with the past tense of です (desu); でした (deshita).

Didn’t go: いきませんでした (ikimasen deshita)
Didn’t eat: たべませんでした (tabemasen deshita)
Didn’t drink: のみませんでした (nomimasen deshita)

Questions.

If you remember, the best way to make a question is to add a か (ka) to the end of a sentence. This is true of all the above examples.

Does it/he/she go?: いきますか (ikimasuka)
Did it/he/she eat?: たべましたか (tabemashita)
Didn’t he/she/it drink?: のみませんでしたか (nomimasen deshitaka)

Negative form written as a question usually indicates a polite invitation.

Won’t you drink?: のみませんか/のみませんですか (nomimasenka/nomimasen desu ka). The second of these two options is most polite.

Plain form.

Plain form is the more relaxed, colloquial version of a verb. It is less polite and should only be used with friends. For Present positive verbs it’s best to simply use the ~ます (~masu) form up the top.

Plain past

For plain past form, just remove ます and add た.Words that end in み (Mi) are an exception as they also replace み with ん (N), and use だ instead of た.

Have Gone: いきた (ikita)
Have Eaten: たべた (tabeta)
Have Drunk: のんだ (nonda)

Plain Present negative

For plain present negative, where a verb does not end with an い (i) sound, such as in たべます (tabemasu), you simply remove ます (masu) and add ない (nai).
If it does end with an い (i) sound then the い (i) sound is replaced with it’s あ (a) line equivalent. For example, with のみます (nomimasu), み (Mi) is replaced with ま (ma) before ない (nai) is added.

Doesn’t go: いかない (ikanai)
Doesn’t eat: たべない (tabenai)
Doesn’t Drink: のまない (nomanai)

Plain Past Negative

Plain past Negative is the exact same as present negative, except instead of adding ない (nai), you add なかた

Didn’t go: いかななかた (ikanakata)
Didn’t Eat: たべななかた (tabenakata)
Didn’t Drink: のまななかた (nomanakata)

As above, all plain form verbs can be changed to questions by adding か (ka) to the end.
24
Vote
   


Houses and buildings

May 4th 2008 14:24
Residential and Community:

Apartment –アパート – Apaato.
Building ビ-ル Biiru.
Construction Site –けんちくげんば – Kenchikugenba.
Hotel – ホテル Hoteru.
House/Home いえ Ie.
Office – じむしつ - Jimushitsu
Town – まち Machi.

Shops:

Barber – かみど{ 71; – Kamidoko.
Bakery –パンや – Panya.
Department Store - デパート – Depaato.
Pizza shop – ピザや - Pizaya.
Restaurant – レストラン Resutoran.
Supermarket – スーパー Suupaa.

• A note on shop names. や (Ya) means ‘Shop.’ Theoretically, almost any word can be placed in front of Ya to make a ___shop. In the above list, Pizza Shop is literally ‘Pizza shop’ and Bakery is literally written as Bread Shop.

Facilities:

Airport – くうこう Kuukou.
Church – きょうかい Kyoukai.
Fire Station – しょうぼうしょ Shoubousho.
Gym – たいいくかん – Taiikukan.
Hospital – びょういん - Byouin
Library – としょかん - Toshokan.
Love Hotel –つれこみやど / ラブホテル Tsurekomiyado / Rabu hoteru. (Place for couples to stay)
Museum – はくぶつかん Hakutsukan.
Post Office – ゆうびんきょく- Yuubinkyoku.
Train Station – えき - Eki
26
Vote
   


Ke

May 1st 2008 05:44
Ke is a Japanese Kana that can be written in Hiragana or Katakana

Hiragana – け
Katakana – ケ

With chonchons is pronounced ‘Ge’ (Ge-h).

Ke can also be written in Kanji to mean ‘Hair.’ 毛
31
Vote
   


I: First Person Pronouns

April 27th 2008 11:56
The Japanese have a number of words for ‘I’.

The main Japanese word for I is わたし (watashi). This word always goes at the beginning of a sentence where one is speaking about oneself, or ones opinion.

[ Click here to read more ]
26
Vote
   


Kuroi Kaji no Jikoshoukai

April 25th 2008 06:47
A Jikoshoukai is a self introduction. This is the self introduction of Kuroi Kaji, the girl Dr Spin met in Harajuku.


[ Click here to read more ]
26
Vote
   


Names

April 24th 2008 09:25
How to ask: なまえなんですか (namae wa nan desuka) means ‘what is your name?’ ~なんですか (wa nan desuka) is a form that means ‘what is~’ and can be appropriated to various purposes.
The best answer is なまえNAMEです (namae wa NAME desu) where name is replaced with the name. E.g, なまえ スピン せんせ{ 56; です (namae wa supin sensei desu) The name is Dr Spin. If you want to specifically want to say MY name you need to add ‘ わたし (watashi no) to the beginning of the sentence; わたし なまえスピン せんせ{ 56; Really Long Linkです (watashi no namae wa Supin Sensei desu); My name is Dr Spin.
• VARIATION


[ Click here to read more ]
26
Vote
   


Genki

April 19th 2008 11:53
24
Vote
   


Inquiring about Others

April 18th 2008 10:49
In Japanese there are a number of ways to directly inquire about another person. This list begins with phrases used to gather information from new people, and becomes progressively less formal and more friendly.

なまえ なん ですか (namae wa nan desuka) means ‘what is your name?’ ~ なん ですか (wa nan desuka) is a form that means ‘what is~’ and can be appropriated to various purposes.

[ Click here to read more ]
25
Vote
   


Getting Attention.

April 8th 2008 12:23
One thing to remember at all times with learning Japanese, is that the culture is incredibly polite, and that this is intertwined with the language.

EXCUSE ME (Getting Attention):

[ Click here to read more ]
35
Vote
   


Numbers

April 8th 2008 11:15
Counting to Ten in Japanese

One. Ichi. 一

[ Click here to read more ]
46
Vote
   


More Posts
3 Posts
15 Posts
8 Posts
54 Posts dating from June 2007
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
Moderated by Brenton
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]