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Japanese Verbs plus

Polite and Plain Styles -

Free Japanese Lessons: 18

Japanese can be divided into 2 types of speech - Polite and Plain styles (or forms).

What you have learned so far until this lesson are all in polite style.

That's to say, those sentences which ended with (desu), (deshita),

(dewa arimasen), (dewa arimasen deshita), (masu), (mashita),

(masen), are all polite style.

On the other hand, Plain style, which is shorter when compared to Polite style are sentences ended

with (da), (datta), (nai), (ta), (nakatta), etc.

You can use Polite style anytime, talking to anybody. When talking to someone who you have met

for the first time or not close enough, or to your superiors, it's best to speak in Polite style in order

to be polite. It's considered rude if you speak in Plain style to these people.

Whereas for Plain style, you use it when you are talking to family members, colleagues or close

friends. It will seem strange to speak in polite style to them. Besides, Plain style is commonly used in

written work like Newspaper, books, etc. However most letters are written in the Polite style.

How to Decide If The Sentence is Polite or Plain Style?

The style of the speech is decided by the last Japanese verb (for verb sentence) that you used in a

sentence. Even if you have used many plain forms within the sentence, as long as it ends with polite

form, the sentence is considered to be Polite style or form.

On the contrary, even if you have put in many polite forms within the sentence, as long as it ends

with plain form, the sentence becomes Plain style. For example consider the 2 following sentences...

watashi wa ashita gakkou e iku to omoimasu

watashi wa ashita gakkou e iku to omou

Both sentences mean "I think I am going to school tomorrow". The underlined Japanese verb is

the dictionary-form of (ikimasu) which means "to go". Dictionary-form is considered one

of the plain form (I will go into that later).

As you can see, the first sentence ended with the Japanese verb (omoimasu) which

means "to think". This is a polite-form (masu-form) verb. Therefore this sentence is consideredto be a Polite style sentence.

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However, the second sentence ended with the dictionary-form (plain form) of "to think",

(omou). In this case, this sentence is considered to be a Plain style sentence.

Plain Style of Japanese Verbs

Actually the Polite style that you have learned so far is not the basic of Japanese. The basic ofJapanese is in the Plain style. The dictionary-form that I mentioned just now is one of the Plain style.

The reason why it is called dictionary-form is because it is the form you can find in dictionary.

Dictionary-form is also considered to be the Present Affirmative of Plain style. And you will get to

learn the other forms in Plain style in future lessons. See the following table for the various forms in

Plain style for Japanese verbs.

Plain StylePresent Affirmative -form or dictionary-formPresent Negative -form or nai-formPast Affirmative -form or ta-formPast Negative -form or nakatta-form

The 3 Groups of Japanese Verbs in Dictionary-Form

Japanese verbs can be divided into 3 groups.

Group 1 verbs are verbs ended with (u), (ku), (gu), (su), (tsu), (nu), (bu),(mu), and the words of (a) column, (u) column, (o) column in thehiragana chartplus

(ru). For example, the following are group 1 verbs:

(iu) - say, tell (iku) - go (oyogu) - swim (naosu) - fix, repair (matsu) - wait (shinu) - die (asobu) - play (nomu) - drink (wakaru) - understand (nemuru) - sleep (mamoru) - protect

http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/hiragana-chart.htmlhttp://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/hiragana-chart.htmlhttp://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/hiragana-chart.htmlhttp://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/hiragana-chart.html

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There are some exceptions whereas the verbs don't fulfil the above rules but still considered

as group 1 verbs. Or you can say that they look like group 2 verbs but are actually group 1

verbs. For example like (hairu), (hashiru) and (kaeru). There are many

other exceptions but for the meantime I will only list three of them.

Group 2 verbs are verbs ended with (i) column, (e) column in the hiragana chart plus (ru). The following are some examples of group 2 verbs:

(taberu) - eat (okiru) - get up, rise

Group 3 verbs are (kuru) and all verbs ended with (suru). The following are someexamples of group 3 verbs:

(kuru) - come (benkyou suru) - study (sanpo suru) - stroll, walk

In next lesson, you will get to learn how to change the verbs from dictionary-form to masu-form and nai-form for all the three groups.

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Group 3 Verbs

Group 3 verbs are irregular verbs. You just need to memorize them. The masu-form of

(kuru) is (kimasu) and the masu-form of (suru) is (shimasu).

In summary, the following diagram shows the rules when changing dictionary-form to

masu-form for Japanese verbs.

Rules for Changing dictionary-form to nai-form

For this section you will learn how to change dictionary-from (Plain Present Affirmation) to

nai-form (Plain Present Negative). The following are the rules for the 3 groups of Japanese

verbs.

Group 1 Verbs

To change group 1 verbs from dictionary-form to masu-form, change the u-sound to a-

sound in the last word. After that append (nai) to the changed words and you will get

the nai-form of the verb.

For example, this group 1 Japanese verb (kaku) ends up with (ku). If you change the

u-sound to a-sound, (ku) becomes (ka). Adding (nai) at the end, you will get

(kakanai).

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However there is one exception. For group 1 verbs end up with the word (u), instead of

changing it to (a), you need to change it to (wa). For example, this group 1 verb

(kau) ends up with (u). Therefore you need to change (u) to (wa). Adding (nai) at

the end, you will get (kawanai).

Group 2 Verbs

Group 2 verbs are much simpler. You just need to change (ru) to (nai) and you will

get the nai-form Japanese verbs.

Group 3 Verbs

Group 3 verbs are irregular verbs. You just need to memorize them. The nai-form of

(kuru) is (konai) and the nai-form of (suru) is (shinai).

In summary, the following diagram shows the rules when changing dictionary-form to nai-

form for Japanese verbs.

Examples of Changing Japanese Verbs to masu-form and nai-form

Let's see some examples of changing Japanese verbs from dictionary-form to masu-form

and nai-form.

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Group 1 Verbsdict-form Meaning masu-form nai-form

1. Exist (Thing) (Exception)

2. Hang/Take

3. Read

4. Drink

5. Listen/Ask

6. Brush

7. Wash

8. Buy

9. Go

10. Go Back (Exception, not Grp 2)

11. Enter (Exception, not Grp 2)

12. Run (Exception, not Grp 2)

13. Get On/Ride

14. Understand

15. Send

16. Swim

17. Play

18. Write

19. Take Out/Submit

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20. Take/Pick Up

21. Pull/Play (Piano)

22. Lower/Get Down

23. Speak/Talk

24. Wait

25. Begin/Start

26. End/Finish

27. Think/Feel

28. Receive/Get

Group 2 Verbsdict-form Meaning masu-form nai-form

1. Exist (Human/Animal)

2. Eat

3. See

4. Bathe/Shower

5. Appear/Leave

6. Alight/Get Off

7. Be Seen/Seem/Appear

8. Be Heard/Said to be

9. Welcome/Greet

10. Go to Bed

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11. Wake Up/Rise/Happen

12. Give/Offer/Raise

13. Be Given/Let One Have

Group 3 Verbsdict-form Meaning masu-form nai-form

1. Come/Arrive

2. Do/Execute/Play

3. Study

4. Walk/Stroll

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Giving and Receiving in Japanese Verbs -

Free Japanese Lessons: 20

In this lesson you will get to learn the Japanese verbs on giving and receiving.

There are 3 special verbs that you will come across very often on giving and receiving.

They are (agemasu), (moraimasu) and (kuremasu).In the first 2 verbs, (agemasu) means "to give" and (moraimasu) means

"to receive".

Let's look at the following expressions using this 2 Japanese verbs...

Giver Receiver Object

Giver wa Receiver ni Object wo agemasu

Receiver Giver / Object

Receiver wa Giver ni/kara Object wo moraimasu

In the first expression, the focus is put on the Giver as it is the topic. It means the Giver isgiving Object to the Receiver. Whereas in the second expression, the emphasis is put on

theReceiver. The sentence means the Receiver is receiving Objectfrom the Giver. For thesecond expression, you can either use (ni) or (kara) before the Object.Let's make some examples using the above 2 expressions to explain the two Japanese verbs

more clearly. Assuming that yesterday was Mr Yamada's birthday and he has received a

present from his friend Mr Tanaka.

tanaka san wa yamada san ni hon wo agemashitaMeaning: Mr Tanaka gave a book to Mr Yamada.

yamada san wa tanaka san ni hon wo moraimashitaMeaning: Mr Yamada received a book from Mr Tanaka.

How to Ask Question in and Sentences?You can change the Japanese verb sentence into question by changing some of the words.

Let's use the previous example as a model...

If you want to ask who is the person that

has given the book to, change to (dare)...

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tanaka san wa dare ni hon wo agemashitaka

If you want to ask what is the thing that has given to , change to

(nani)...

tanaka san wa yamada san ni nani wo agemashitaka

If you want to ask who has given a book, change to (dare).

However, you cannot have question word with (wa) such as (darewa). In this case

you need to replace (wa) with (ga)...

dare ga yamada san ni hon wo agemashitaka

Using the same logic, you can create the questions for the sentences.

yamada san wa dare ni hon wo moraimashitaka

yamada san wa tanaka san ni nani wo moraimashitaka

dare ga tanaka san ni hon wo moraimashitaka

(agemasu) and (kuremasu) SentencesThe third Japanese verb (kuremasu) has the same meaning of "to give" as

(agemasu). However, you need to take note of some rules to decide which one to use in your

sentence.

Giver Receiver Object

Giver wa Receiver ni Object wo agemasu

Giver Receiver Object Giver wa Receiver ni Object wo kuremasu

In Japanese custom, it is important and is always the first priority to show respect to other

people (third person). In that perspective, your family members are considered part of

yourself. Therefore when comparing to third person, your family members have to be in

lower priority.

Secondly, if third person is absent, you have to show respect to your family members,

putting yourself in the lowest priority. This is even true to family members younger than

you.

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Based on the above two conditions, when you have to show respect to ONLY the Giver, use (kuremasu). Other than that you have to use the Japanese verb (agemasu).

In summary, look at the following table to decide which Japanese verb to use...

Giver Receiver Use1. Third Person Third Person

2. Third Person Me/Family Members

3. I/Family Members Third Person

4. Family Members Me

5. I Family Members

It will be easier to understand the above with some examples...

1. tanaka san wa yamada san ni hana wo agemashitaMeaning: Mr Tanaka gave flower to Mr Yamada.

2. tanaka san wa imouto ni hana wo kuremashitaMeaning: Mr Tanaka gave flower to my younger sister.

3. chichi wa tanaka san ni ko-hi- wo agemashitaMeaning: My father gave coffee to Mr Tanaka.

4. otouto wa watashi ni purezento wo kuremashitaMeaning: My younger brother gave present to me.

5. watashi wa haha ni okane wo agemashitaMeaning: I gave money to my mother.

It will be good if you can understand the concept of the above Japanese verbs because

Japanese use them frequently in their daily conversation.