Awesome 日本語 Lesson, Part II
I promised Whit and Grace that I would try to teach them a bit of Japanese, so here goes~
If you've ever taken the time to ponder English verbs, or tried to learn French (fml), you may have noticed how needlessly complicated conjugating verbs into (even simple) tenses can be.
Not so with Japanese!
First off, all verbs have what is called a 'dictionary form'. This is the simplest form of the verb, and what you will find when you look for it in a dictionary.
For example:
食べる （たべる）
見る （みる）
書く （きく）
飲む （のむ）
行く （いく）
来る （くる）
Verbs are divided into two main groups
Group 2: 一段動詞 （いちだんどうし）(no you don't need to remember that)
I know it's weird that I started with Group 2, but I think it's easier this way
Group 2 verbs end with ~eru or ~iru. This is the only time when romaji will be useful for you! haha
For example:
見る （みる）[miru] to see
食べる （たべる）[taberu] to eat
寝る （ねる）[neru] to sleep
起きる （おきる）[okiru] to get up/wake up
教える （おしえる）[oshieru] to teach
Are there some exceptions? Yes. Are there a shit-ton like in English? NOOO!!!
The dictionary form (above) of these verbs is also the informal present. This is what you'd use with your friends, family (except maybe grandparents), people younger than you, animals, etc.
例：
あきこが１０じに起きる Akiko gets up at 10 o'clock
私たちがおすしを食べる We eat sushi.
Now, to conjugate these to the formal present (aka the ~masu form) is super easy!
Just take off that pesky る and add ます! ^^
例：
えりがにほんごを教えます Eri teaches Japanese.
グレースちゃんがミルクを飲みます Grace drinks milk.
ホウィットちゃんが１じに寝ます Whit sleeps at 1 o'clock.
まいにちテレビを見ます (I) watch TV every day. *[note that the subject is not written! it is implied and can vary with the context]
This is the form that Japanese language students first learn, and it's the one you will probably use the most. Use it with people you first meet, people who are older than you (but not necessarily parents or siblings... not like in Korean), 先輩 (senpai), people who work in shops, strangers, etc. (there are exceptions where you need a more formal form, but you do not need to worry about that now!). AKA this is the form to use when you aren't sure what to use and a form to fall always back on!
MASU-KEI FTW PEOPLE
Group 1 Verbs: 五段動詞（ごだんどうし）
Group 1 verbs end with ~u. Yup.
For example:
話す （はなす）[hanasu] to speak
飲む （のむ）[nomu] to drink
聞く （きく）[kiku] to listen
書く （かく）[kaku] to write
帰る*（かえる）[kaeru] to return *hello exception-san
These are all the dictionary forms, of course. It's slightly more difficult to change these to ~masu form:
Change the final kana (which will end in a ~u if written in romaji) to a kana that ends in ~i in romaji, then add ~masu.
For example:
のむ → のみ → のみます → 飲みます
はなす → はなし → はなします → 話します
かえる → かえり → かえります → 帰ります
etc.
例：
グレースがいえに帰ります
ルーハンがてがみを書きます
シウミンがおさけを飲みます
~IRREGULAR VERBS~
する to do
来る （くる）to come
する → します
くる → きます
yup that's it.
例：
タオがかんこくへ来ます Tao comes to Korea
私はべんきょうします I study
する is the most handy verb EVER because you can put all kinds of nouns (usually of Chinese origin but other foreign words too) in front of it and make a verb -- BOOM!
勉強する （べんきょう）to study
旅行する （りょこう）to travel
ダンスする to dance
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Das right Whit!!!!
1 through 10 in order:
一 いち
二 に
三 さん
四 よん／し
五 ご
六 ろく
七 なな／しち
八 はち
九 きゅう／く
十 じゅう
日 （ひ／にち／に））sun (see how it looks like the sun? well, it did at one point in ancient China...)
本 （ほん）book; source
日本＝にほん＝JAPAN
Cause Japan is the land of the rising sun AKA THE SUN'S SOURCE
OHHHH YEEAAAAHHHHHH
Stealing this:
(TBH people 'sen' is rarely used for river)
So there are usually two different 'readings' of kanji: kun and on.
Kun are usually of Japanese origin. #2 above are the kun readings and they are all of Japanese origin. They are usually stand-alone words.
On are usually of Chinese origin. #1 above.
E.g. やま is the Japanese word for mountain. さん is used after the name of a mountain (equivalent to the English Mt.). It's not the same -san that goes after people's names!!
Examples:
あの山がたかい。 That mountain is tall.
富士山（ふじさん）がきれい。 Mt. Fuji is pretty.
川であそびましょう。 Let's play in the river.
この木がおおきい。 This tree is big.
木曜日（もくようび）にEXOがちゅうごくへ行く。EXO are going to China on Thursday.
MORE KANJI POUR TOI
Okay, I'm starting to get a little loopy so I'll stop here~
じゃまたねー
If you've ever taken the time to ponder English verbs, or tried to learn French (fml), you may have noticed how needlessly complicated conjugating verbs into (even simple) tenses can be.
Not so with Japanese!
First off, all verbs have what is called a 'dictionary form'. This is the simplest form of the verb, and what you will find when you look for it in a dictionary.
For example:
食べる （たべる）
見る （みる）
書く （きく）
飲む （のむ）
行く （いく）
来る （くる）
Verbs are divided into two main groups
Group 2: 一段動詞 （いちだんどうし）(no you don't need to remember that)
I know it's weird that I started with Group 2, but I think it's easier this way
Group 2 verbs end with ~eru or ~iru. This is the only time when romaji will be useful for you! haha
For example:
見る （みる）[miru] to see
食べる （たべる）[taberu] to eat
寝る （ねる）[neru] to sleep
起きる （おきる）[okiru] to get up/wake up
教える （おしえる）[oshieru] to teach
Are there some exceptions? Yes. Are there a shit-ton like in English? NOOO!!!
The dictionary form (above) of these verbs is also the informal present. This is what you'd use with your friends, family (except maybe grandparents), people younger than you, animals, etc.
例：
あきこが１０じに起きる Akiko gets up at 10 o'clock
私たちがおすしを食べる We eat sushi.
Now, to conjugate these to the formal present (aka the ~masu form) is super easy!
Just take off that pesky る and add ます! ^^
例：
えりがにほんごを教えます Eri teaches Japanese.
グレースちゃんがミルクを飲みます Grace drinks milk.
ホウィットちゃんが１じに寝ます Whit sleeps at 1 o'clock.
まいにちテレビを見ます (I) watch TV every day. *[note that the subject is not written! it is implied and can vary with the context]
This is the form that Japanese language students first learn, and it's the one you will probably use the most. Use it with people you first meet, people who are older than you (but not necessarily parents or siblings... not like in Korean), 先輩 (senpai), people who work in shops, strangers, etc. (there are exceptions where you need a more formal form, but you do not need to worry about that now!). AKA this is the form to use when you aren't sure what to use and a form to fall always back on!
MASU-KEI FTW PEOPLE
Group 1 Verbs: 五段動詞（ごだんどうし）
Group 1 verbs end with ~u. Yup.
For example:
話す （はなす）[hanasu] to speak
飲む （のむ）[nomu] to drink
聞く （きく）[kiku] to listen
書く （かく）[kaku] to write
帰る*（かえる）[kaeru] to return *hello exception-san
These are all the dictionary forms, of course. It's slightly more difficult to change these to ~masu form:
Change the final kana (which will end in a ~u if written in romaji) to a kana that ends in ~i in romaji, then add ~masu.
For example:
のむ → のみ → のみます → 飲みます
はなす → はなし → はなします → 話します
かえる → かえり → かえります → 帰ります
etc.
例：
グレースがいえに帰ります
ルーハンがてがみを書きます
シウミンがおさけを飲みます
~IRREGULAR VERBS~
する to do
来る （くる）to come
する → します
くる → きます
yup that's it.
例：
タオがかんこくへ来ます Tao comes to Korea
私はべんきょうします I study
する is the most handy verb EVER because you can put all kinds of nouns (usually of Chinese origin but other foreign words too) in front of it and make a verb -- BOOM!
勉強する （べんきょう）to study
旅行する （りょこう）to travel
ダンスする to dance
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Das right Whit!!!!
1 through 10 in order:
一 いち
二 に
三 さん
四 よん／し
五 ご
六 ろく
七 なな／しち
八 はち
九 きゅう／く
十 じゅう
日 （ひ／にち／に））sun (see how it looks like the sun? well, it did at one point in ancient China...)
本 （ほん）book; source
日本＝にほん＝JAPAN
Cause Japan is the land of the rising sun AKA THE SUN'S SOURCE
OHHHH YEEAAAAHHHHHH
Stealing this:
(TBH people 'sen' is rarely used for river)
So there are usually two different 'readings' of kanji: kun and on.
Kun are usually of Japanese origin. #2 above are the kun readings and they are all of Japanese origin. They are usually stand-alone words.
On are usually of Chinese origin. #1 above.
E.g. やま is the Japanese word for mountain. さん is used after the name of a mountain (equivalent to the English Mt.). It's not the same -san that goes after people's names!!
Examples:
あの山がたかい。 That mountain is tall.
富士山（ふじさん）がきれい。 Mt. Fuji is pretty.
川であそびましょう。 Let's play in the river.
この木がおおきい。 This tree is big.
木曜日（もくようび）にEXOがちゅうごくへ行く。EXO are going to China on Thursday.
MORE KANJI POUR TOI
Okay, I'm starting to get a little loopy so I'll stop here~
じゃまたねー