10

Lesson 1
The Plain Form

First we will look at only some simple yodan verbs, which can end in u, ku, gu, su, tsu, nu, bu, mu, or ru:

·  kau (buy)
·  aruku (walk)
·  isogu (hurry)
·  kasu (lend)
·  matsu (wait) / ·  shinu (die)
·  asobu (play)
·  yomu (read)
·  kaeru (return) ! exception

Ichidan verbs all end in either eru or iru. Some frequently used ones are:

·  taberu (eat)
·  kimeru (decide) / ·  miru (look, watch)
·  kariru (borrow)

Example sentences:

·  Watashi wa ringo o taberu. (I'll eat an apple.)

·  Naomi wa terebi o miru. (Naomi will watch TV.)

Lesson 2
Yodan Verbs with Base 2 + masu

Notice how the following yodan verbs change in order to add masu, the present polite ending. Especially notice how verbs ending in su and tsu change:

Plain Verb (English) / Base 2 Form / Polite Verb Form
kau (buy) / kai / kaimasu
aruku (walk) / aruki / arukimasu
isogu (hurry) / isogi / isogimasu
kasu (lend) / kashi / kashimasu
matsu (wait) / machi / machimasu
shinu (die) / shini / shinimasu
asobu (play) / asobi / asobimasu
yomu (read) / yomi / yomimasu
kaeru (return) ! exception / kaeri / kaerimasu

Mama wa mise de banana o kaimasu. (Mom buys/will buy bananas at the store.)

Lesson 3
Ichidan Verbs with Base 2 + masu

Ichidan verbs are a snap, because you change them to Base 2 by just dropping the ru at the end.

Plain Verb (English) / Base 2 Form / Polite Verb Form
taberu (eat) / tabe / tabemasu
oboeru (remember) / oboe / oboemasu
kimeru (decide) / kime / kimemasu
deru (leave, come out) / de / demasu
kariru (borrow) / kari / karimasu
miru (look, watch) / mi / mimasu

·  Jerry wa sugu demasu. (Jerry will come out soon.)

Lesson 4
Base 2 + masen

Now that you're a little familiar with Base 2, let's try masen, which is the negative form of masu. Look at these yodan examples:

·  Watashi wa kasa o kaimasen. (I'm not going to buy an umbrella.)

And some ichidan:

·  Watashi wa ima tabemasen. (I'm not going to eat now.)

·  Kanojo wa kasa o karimasen. (She isn't going to borrow an umbrella.)

Lesson 5
Base 2 + mashita

Mashita is used to change verbs to their past polite form. Let's make some examples:

·  John wa Hiroshima ni ikimashita. (John went to Hiroshima.)

·  Kodomotachi wa kouen de asobimashita. (The children played at the park.)

·  Yoshi wa ringo o tabemashita. (Yoshi ate an apple.)

Lesson 6
Base 2 + masen deshita

As you recall from Lesson 4, masen shows negative tense. To make that negative past tense we just add deshita. Let's change a few of the examples shown in Lesson 5:

·  John wa Hiroshima ni ikimasen deshita. (John didn't go to Hiroshima.)

·  Kodomotachi wa kouen de asobimasen deshita. (The children didn't play at the park.)

·  Yoshi wa ringo o tabemasen deshita. (Yoshi didn't eat an apple.)

Lesson 7
Base 2 + tai / tai desu

Another very useful Base 2 ending is tai, which is used to show that you want to do something:

·  Watashi wa kasa o kaitai. (I want to buy an umbrella.)

·  Kodomotachi wa asobitai. (The children want to play.)

·  Bob wa tempura o tabetai. (Bob wants to eat tempura.)

To make them polite, add desu: Watashi wa kasa o kaitai desu.

Please note that tai is only used with verbs, and is never used alone with an object. For example, you wouldn't say watashi wa inu o tai for "I want a dog," you would use the adjective hoshii and say, "Watakushi wa inu ga hoshii desu."

Lesson 8
Base 2 + takunai / takunai desu

·  Watakushi wa kasa o kaitakunai. (I don't want to buy an umbrella.)

·  Kodomotachi wa asobitakunai. (The children don't want to play.)

Now let's make the next two polite:

·  Bob wa tempura o tabetakunai desu. (Bob doesn't want to eat tempura.)

·  Miki wa sono eiga o mitakunai desu. (Miki doesn't want to see that movie.)

Simple enough, right? Two of these examples use yodan verbs, and two use ichidan.

Lesson 9
Base 2 + mashô

. It simply means "let's (do something)." For example:

·  Ikimashou. (Let's go.)

·  Tabemashou. (Let's eat.)

·  Yasumimashou. (Let's take a break.)

As in English, this is also used to mean "I'll do (something) (for you)/Let me do (something) (for you)," as in:

·  [Watashi wa] hakobimashou. (I'll carry this/these [for you].)*

·  (to a pet) Esa o agemashou. (Let's get you some food.)

·  Anata no jitensha o naoshimashou. (I'll fix your bicycle./I'll help you fix your bicycle.)

Lesson 10
Base 2 + nasai

Add nasai to verbs in Base 2 form for simple commands:

· Tabenasai! (Eat!)

· Minasai! (Look!)

· Yominasai! (Read it!)

· Iinasai! (Tell me!)

· Suwarinasai! (Sit down!)

· Koko ni kinasai! (Come here!)

Lesson 11
Irregular Verbs kuru and suru

It is now time to introduce the irregular verbs kuru and suru.

The Base 2 form of kuru is just ki. Let's use it to review some of the endings already learned:

·  Bob wa kimasu. (Bob will come.)

·  Sue wa kimasen. (Sue won't come/won't be coming.)

·  John wa kimashita. (John came.)

·  Ken wa kimasen deshita. (Ken didn't come.)

·  Yumi wa kitai desu. (Yumi wants to come.)

Suru is not only a handy "stand alone" verb, but is also used to make countless nouns into verbs: benkyou suru (study), shimpai suru (worry), chuumon suru (place an order), yakusoku suru (promise). The Base 2 form of suru is shi. Look at these examples:

·  Watashi wa shimasu. (I'll do it.)

·  Kare wa shimasen. (He won't do it.)

·  Bill wa ashita benkyou shitai desu. (Bill wants to study tomorrow.)

·  Anata wa yakusoku shimashita. (You promised.)

·  Hiromi wa shimpai shimasen deshita. (Hiromi didn't worry.)

Lesson 12
Forming Questions with ka

Making questions in Japanese is easy. Unlike English, where you have that silliness of subjects and verbs trading places, in Japanese all you do is stick ka on the end of a word, phrase, or sentence to turn it into a question.

·  Yoshi wa ringo o tabemashita ka. (Did Yoshi eat an apple?)

·  Miki wa sono eiga o mitai desu ka. (Does Miki want to see that movie?)

·  Yasumimashou ka. (Shall we take a break?)

Lesson 13
Base 1 + nai - The Plain Negative Form

Ichidan are easy to convert into Base 1 because you just knock off the ru. In other words, their Base 1 is the same as their Base 2. The yodan group are changed so they end in a: iku changes to ika, matsu to mata, yomu to yoma, and etc. If the verb ends in u with another vowel before it, like kau, just change the u to wa; so kau becomes kawa. The irregular kuru changes to ko, and suru to shi, just like its Base 2 form.

Yodan verbs:

Base 3 (root form) / Base 2 / Base 1
kau / kai-masu / kawa-nai
aruku / aruki- / aruka-
isogu / isogi- / isoga-
kasu / kashi- / kasa-
matsu / machi- / mata-
shinu / shini- / shina-
asobu / asobi- / asoba-
yomu / yomi- / yoma-
kaeru ! exception / kaeri / kaera-

Ichidan verbs:

Base 3 (root form) / Base 2 / Base 1
taberu / tabe-masu / tabe-nai
oboeru / oboe- / oboe-
kimeru / kime- / kime-
deru / de- / de-
kariru / kari- / kari-
miru / mi- / mi-

Irregular verbs:

Base 3 (root form) / Base 2 / Base 1
kuru / ki-masu / ko-nai
suru / shi- / shi-

Look at these example sentences:

·  John wa kasa o kawanai. (John isn't going to buy an umbrella.)

·  Jim wa manga o yomanai. (Jim doesn't read comic books.)

·  Ojii-san wa sugu kaeranai. (Grandpa isn't going to return soon.)

·  Watashi wa terebi o minai. (I'm not going to watch TV.)

·  Sachiko wa konai. (Sachiko won't be coming.)

Please remember that the ending nai by itself is plain, and should only be used in very informal settings. Depending on the situation, you may want to upgrade it to a polite form, like Base 2 + masen, which we already covered in Lesson 4, or by simply adding desu on the end after nai:

·  John wa kasa o kaimasen. (or) John wa kasa o kawanai desu.

·  Jim wa manga o yomimasen. (or) Jim wa manga o yomanai desu.

Lesson 14
Base 1 + nai deshou

Here's an easy one. Adding deshou after nai means that somebody is probably not going to do something, or that something is not likely to happen:

·  John wa kasa o kawanai deshou. (John probably isn't going to buy an umbrella.)

·  Jim wa manga o yomanai deshou. (Jim probably doesn't read comic books.)

·  Yuki wa furanai deshou. (It probably won't snow.)

Actually, deshou is a handy add-on that works with other endings, like plain positive (Base 3) verbs and the Base 2 polite masu/masen:

·  Ojii-san wa sugu kaeru deshou. (Grandpa will probably return soon.)

·  Sachiko wa kuru deshou. (Sachiko will probably come.)

·  Bill wa ika o tabemasen deshou. (Bill probably won't/doesn't eat squid.)

Lesson 15
Base 1 + nakereba

Base 1 + nakereba is used to make negative conditional sentences -- what will happen if something doesn't happen. Look at these examples:

·  Ojii-san wa sugu kaeranakereba watashi wa makudonarudo ni ikimasu. (If Grandpa doesn't return soon I'm going to McDonald's.)

·  Naoko wa kasa o karinakereba (kanojo wa) koukai suru deshou. (If Naoko doesn't borrow an umbrella she'll probably regret it.)

In the last example above there is no question that kanojo wa (she) is Naoko, so it is omitted.

Please remember that the na in nakereba comes from nai and is the negative element. The kereba is the conditional ("if") element.

Lesson 17
Base 1 + nakereba narimasen

It means "must do." Let's take iku (to go), change it to Base 1 ika, and add nakereba narimasen to make this simple example sentence: Watashi wa ikanakereba narimasen. (I have to go.)

·  Jim wa ima kaeranakereba narimasen. (Jim has to return now.)

·  Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba narimasen. (Laura has to buy an umbrella.)

·  Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba narimasen. (The children must eat.)

Accordingly, if we use the the plain negative form of naru instead (naranai), the ending becomes nakereba naranai, which changes the whole sentence to its plain form. This can be handy when adding other endings, like deshou from Lesson 14.

·  Jim wa ima kaeranakereba naranai deshou. (Jim probably has to return now.)

·  Laura wa kasa o kawanakereba naranai deshou. (Laura probably needs to buy an umbrella.)

·  Kodomotachi wa tabenakereba naranai deshou. (The children probably need to eat.)

Lesson 18
Base 1 + seru / saseru

These are used when you want to let/have/make someone do something.

The important thing to remember is that yodan verbs use seru, like this:

·  Ojii-san wa kodomotachi ni asobaseru. (Grandpa lets the children play.)

·  Okaa-chan wa Kimiko ni kasa o kawaseru. (Mom will have Kimiko buy an umbrella.)

·  Sensei wa gakusei ni mainichi shimbun o yomaseru. (The teacher makes the students read the newspaper every day.)

And ichidan verbs and the irregular kuru use saseru :

·  Roku ji ni kodomotachi ni yuushoku o tabesaseru. (I'll have the kids eat dinner at 6:00.)

·  John ni raishuu made ni kimesaseru. (I'll have John decide by next week.)

·  Kare ni ashita kosaseru. (I'll have him come tomorrow.)

With "suru verbs," suru is simply replaced with saseru :

·  Otou-san wa Bob ni benkyou saseru. (Dad will make Bob study.)

·  Kanojo ni saseru. (I'll have her do it.)

Lesson 19
Base 3 + deshou

This is an easy add-on which means "perhaps" or "probably." For example, add it to kau (buy) in Mama wa mise de banana o kau and you have Mama wa mise de banana o kau deshou (Mom will probably buy some bananas at the store). Let's do a few more:

·  Raishuu watashi wa Kurashiki ni iku deshou. (I'll probably go to Kurashiki next week.)

·  Kenji wa atarashii kuruma o kau deshou. (Kenji will probably buy a new car.)

·  Ashita wa ame (ga furu) deshou. (It will probably rain tomorrow.)

The verb furu, shown in the last example above, means "to fall," but only if it's rain or snow that's doing the falling (a falling object uses the verb ochiru). As in English, the fact that the rain will fall is understood, making the verb unnecessary, so it is often omitted. Base 3 + deshou is very handy when you aren't sure of something. Please note that ka is not added at the end; a rising intonation is used instead:

·  Osaka ni iku deshou? (You're going to Osaka, aren't you?)

·  Sue wa kuru deshou? (Sue's coming, isn't she?)

·  Tomoko wa eigo no shukudai o suru deshou? (Tomoko will do her English homework, right?)

Lesson 20
Base 3 + hazu desu

When something is "supposed to be" or "ought to be," etc., we use the Base 3 form of the verb with hazu desu (polite) or hazu (plain) added on: