Basic Japanese Grammar Crash Course
Accelerated Japanese Mastery
Base II + NASAI なさい – Lesser command form
To boss people around, or tell people what to do, commanding them in Japanese you will need to know this Japanese Grammar construction:

Verb (base II) + NASAI なさい - Do verb! Command form.

Examples
1. Suwarinasai! 坐りなさい!
“Take your seat!”
a. Suwaru 座る - v. to sit down
b. suwaru 座るin base II is suwari 坐り
c. suwari坐り + nasai なさい = suwarinasai坐りなさい Sit!

2. Shukudai o shinasai! 宿題をしなさい
“Do your homework!”
a. suruする – v. to do
b. suru in base II = shiし
c. shiし + nasaiなさい = shinasaiしなさい “DO IT!”


3. Ikinasai!
“Go!”
a. iku 行く– v . to go
b. iku in base II is iki行き
c. iki + nasai = ikinasai行きなさい “GO!”

Plug in your favorite Japanese verbs into this Japanese Grammar Construction and start making your own cool sentences then test them on your Japanese friends.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tABO

200 blogposts

201st post for a blog my friend help me call sake talkie, hope you have had fun learning Japanese here, to 200 more!

Japanese Grammar Fun Again

4 Ways to Negate Anything in Japanese
Beginning Japanese Grammar Lesson
How to say “but…” in Japanese.

It is never a wise idea to refute the ideas of others. However, in the normal processes of direct communication between two individuals or any number of individuals or groups of people involved in a discussion, it becomes necessary to use the preposition but. In modern Japanese, the preposition but can be expressed in at least four different ways. By learning these four ways of saying but, you'll be able to negate (In Japanese) anything or anybody you want.

These words are very powerful, so use with caution, especially when talking to someone like say . . . your boss! You wouldn't want to negate your boss no matter how much you wanted to impress him with your Japanese skills. Below I present four ways the preposition but is used in Japanese. After that comes the plug and play Japanese grammar construction samples and the G.A.B. (Ghetto After Blast). So have fun and enjoy the rest of the lesson.

Words for the preposition but

but – ga が

but - shikashi しかし(however)

but - kedoけど, keredoけれど, keredomo けれども

but – demo でも





Example 1 - I want to kiss her; but, she won't let me!

Kanojo ni kissu sasete moraitiai n'da keredomo, sasete moraenai n'da!
かのじょに キッス させてもらいたいの だけれどもさせてもらえないのだ


Example 2. Her English skills are not very good, but she sure can cook though!

Kanojo no eigo wa ammari yokunai da kedo, ryo^ri wa umai n'da!
かのじょの 英語はあまりよくないのだけど料理が甘いのだ


Example 3. He said he was a doctor, however to tell you the real truth, he is just an ordinary dentist!



Kare wa isha da to iutta tai, shikashi honto wa kare. . . tada no haishasan!

re-yaku - Ex. 3. Kare wa isha da tte! Demo honki wa taishita mon ja nai.



Ex. 4. The president has completely died, but his spirit lives on.



Daito^ryo^san wa shinde shimaimashita ga, kare no rei wa mada ikitsuzuite iru no desu.

.

(See ghetto grammar lesson #97 for the plug and play learning system to master the Japanese grammar Base TE shimau- to verb completely)




Example 5. But . . . I wanted the pink one!

Demo, pinku no yatsu ga hoshikatta no da!
でも,ピンクの奴が欲しかったのだ



Ex. 6. I like her, but don't you think she is kind of short?

Ore wa kanojo ga suki nanya kedo, chotto se ga hikui to omouwanai to desu ka?

It is usually easy to tell on hearing the Japanese syllable ga whether it is the participle ga, or the preposition ga. The preposition ga when it is meant to mean but, is usually accompanied by a small pause and its use is more formal than any of the keredemo or demo variations. It is better to remeber shikashi as however and the keredemo variations as but.

Ghetto after blast - GAB 2 point advice. Since the Japanese words shikashi, kedo, keredemo, demo, and ga, all basically mean the same thing, you won't have to remember as much, so beginners might find it helpful to pick just one. Just remember that shikashi and ga sound more formal than the kedo, and keremo. Oh yeah... I almost forgot to mention that the word for ribbit in Japanese is kero, so make sure your pronunciation of kedo doesn't make you sound like you are making love to a frog, unless of course you are a princess!

As always, Ganbatte Ne!
Do your best!
Makurasuki sensei
http://www.saketalkie.blogspot.com or http://japanetics.blogspot.com
http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar/ or http://squidoo.com/phonesearch

http://spanishjapanese.blogspot.com

Table 1 - The 46 Syllables of the Japanese Syllabary (Romanized)

a ka sa ta na ha ma ra ya wa n
i ki shi chi ni hi mi ri
u ku su tsu nu fu mu ru yu
e ke se te ne he me re
o ko so to no ho mo ro yo wo

あ か さ た な は ま ら や わ ん
い き し ち に ひ み り
う く す つ ぬ ふ む る ゆ
え け せ て ね へ め れ
お こ そ と の ほ も ろ よ を

The above are the 46 syllables of the Japanese (alphabet) Syllabary. Individually they are called mora. Plurally they are called morae. One mora in particular is the focus of this article. The Tsu つmora. When the tsu つsyllable is added before the consonants k, p, and t, a hardened double consonant sound is produced. You spit out the words Like the sound of the doubled k in bookkeeper, adding the syllable tsu つ to ka, ki, ku, ke, ko makes pronunciation double succinct as in the following:

Tsu っ+ ka か= kka っ
Tsu っ+ ki き= kki っ
Tsu っ+ ku く= kku っ
Tsu っ+ ke け= kke っ
Tsu っ+ ko こ= kko っ

This special Japanese pronunciation of the doubled consonant is denoted by a lowered case, subscripted tsu っ in either hiragana平仮名
or katakana片仮名. Some examples are as follows:

速い行け!

1. makka 真っ赤– deep red
2. jikken 実験– experiment or test
3. shuppan 出版 する– publish , shuppatsu – departure
4. zettai ぜったい– suredly, absoluteness
5. tokkyo – not the kyou which has the elongated
6. happi ハッピ– the English word happy in katakana

Note the use of the doubled consonant sound in Japanese is indicated by a lower case tsu ッ followed by the doubled consonant sound.

When the last Japanese syllable n (ん) is not connected to a vowel, as in the very last syllable of the Japanese syllabary which in fact is just n or , it is like a syllable unto itself. It receives a full count if language were a music it would receive the same amount of time that a two letter syllable receives., and is denoted by the apostrophe ‘. For example:

1. Kin’en 禁煙 is Japanese for “No Smoking@!” not, kinen 記念, or the word for anniversary.
Kin’en 禁煙 has four syllables and the word for anniversary kinen 記念 has 3.

To say the raらriり ruる re れ ro ろ line of the syllabary say first in English name, “Eddy”, then make sure the tip of your tongue is touching delicately behind the upper front teeth. If you say it like this you come close to a true pronunciation of the Japanese word for collar, or eri 襟.
To learn more haya ike! はや行け!

http://japanetics.blogspot.com
or
http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabularyindex

As always,

Ganbatte ne! 頑張ってね
Do your best!
Makurasuki

Ja mata kondo! じゃ また こんどう

A few Thoughts ON learning Japanese

There is spoken language and the written language. The Japanese language is not so unique as it has borrowed kanji or characters from Kanji has deep meanings contained within each character which represents meaning like words. Much different than what we, who are stifled by the alphabet, are use to. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji also.

Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in a romaji dictionary because it makes it harder later or at least less easier to learn Japanese in depth if you cannot read the language. At the beginning there is no choice other than to study and memorize words that to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like sanseido’s daily concise wa-ei jiten.
Week 1 verbs - Drink, Sleep, Eat, go hataraku. Put verbs in all bases. Japanese Nouns: coffee, tea , milk, water, coca cola , sake , aquarius, beer, juice.

Japanese Adjectives - oishii, suteki na, benri na, okii, nagaim samui, atsui, chisai, mijikai.

Grammer masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita etc,
BII +tai desu = I want to. polite form. Without the desu its plain form.
Shall we +verb or let’s +verb = BII + masho (long oh vowel sound)

Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to some awkward details that might throw your study off. The various types of Romanization techniques used to display the Japanese syllables to westerners varies greatly and should be duly noted. For example putting two a’s together doesn’t equal just one sound it will actually be a then a repeated after it as in okaasan or mother. in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be elongated double vowel sound.
Adjectives- are fun to play with Practice putting the adjectives in front of a noun etc
ex.
New car – atarashii kuruma,
Old house – furui ie
Big mouth – okii kuchi
Small flower – chisai hana

Remember that nouns have no plural as such as we do in our western tongue so new cars would still be atarashii kuruma, or big mouths would still be okii kuchi

Basic Japanese Grammar Base IV + BA

Basic Japanese Grammar
The Japanese conditional form - verb in Base IV
After putting a verb into base IV, add the suffix particle BA ば to make sentences that take on an “iffy” meaning.

Verb (Base IV) + BA = IF VERB

To turn a Japanese verb into an “if” statement, put the verb into Base IV and add BA.

The first five vowels in the Japanese language correspond to the first five bases I, II, III, IV, and V , so that:

Verbs in Base I end in the a (あ) syllable.

Verbs in Base II end in the i (い) syllable.

Verbs in Base III end in the u (う) syllable.

Verbs in Base IV end in the e (え) syllable.

And

Verbs in Base V end in the syllable o (お).

Examples of putting a verb into base IV:

1. HANASU話す– v. to speak

Hanasu 話す (Base IV) = HANASE話せ

Add + BA ば

HANASE 話せ + BA ば = HANASEBA 話せば

HANASEBA話せば= If (I) spoke…


2. IKU行く– v. to go

IKU行く (Base IV) = IKE行け

Add + BA ば

IKE行け + BA ば = IKE 行けば

IKEBA 行けば= If (I) go…

3. – v. to go

IKU行く (Base IV) = IKE行け

Add + BA ば

IKE行け + BA ば = IKE 行けば

IKEBA 行けば= If (I) go…

That’s all for now Ganbatte Ne! Do your Best! Makurasuki

Japanese grammar plug and play for after verbing

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play - Three Ways of Saying,"After Verb-ing" in Japanese.

There are three ways to form sentences that you can use when you want to say, "after verb-ing" in Japanese.

Here are the constructs:

I. Verb (base TE) + KARA
II. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE
III. Verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI

By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after. All are similar to each other and are the equivalent for expressions relating to the English terms following or later, thereafter etc.

The first way to say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, is by using the kara bunpo (grammar):

I. Verb (Base TE ) + KARA = after verb-ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE-て.

Verbs ending in KU くbecome ITE いて.

Verbs ending in GU ぐbecome IDE いで.

Verbs ending in Uう, TSUつ, or RUる become TTEって

Verbs ending in BUぶ, MUむ, or NUぬ become NDEんで.

The verb suruするor verbs ending in SUす become SHITE して

After putting verbs into base TE, add + KARA (after) to complete the construction

1. HANASU 話す(v. to speak)
In Base TE-て the Japanese verb HANASU話す = HANASHITE話して
HANASHITE + KARA 話してから = after speaking , or after talking

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^
ちょっと話してから往きましょう
Let's go after we talk a little.

2. YOMU読む (v. to read) -
In Base TE-て the Japanese verb YOMU読むbecomes - YONDE読んで
YONDE KARA 読んでから= after reading

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
本を読んでから寝ると思います
I think I'll sleep after reading a book.

3. TABERU 食べる (v. to eat)
TABERU 食べるin Base TE-て becomes – TABETE 食べて
TABETE KARA食べてから= after eating

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU.
食べてから宿題をする
After I eat, I'm going to do homework.

4. UNDO^ SURU 運動する(v. to exercise)
SURU するin Base TE-て becomes - SHITEして
SHITE KARA してから= after exercising

UNDO^ SHITE KARA SHAWA WO ABIRU.
運動をしてからシャーワーを浴びる
I’ll take a shower after doing my exercise.

II. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb'ing

The second way to say "after verb-ing" in Japanese is by using the following construct.

Verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb'ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA. (Base TA is the past tense form of Japanese verbs.)

1. NOMU飲む (v. to drink)
For verbs ending in BU (ぶ), MU (む) or NU (ぬ),
The TA た form = NDA んだ
NOMU 飲む in base TA -た is NONDA 飲んだ (past tense of drink or drank)
NONDA ATO DE飲んだ後で = after drinking

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA
酒を飲んだ後で眠くなった
I got sleepy after drinking sake.

III. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb'ing
The third way of saying "after verb-ing" in Japanese, is to substitute the word+particle NOCHI NI のちに or 後に, , for ATO DE あとでor 後で. ATO 後 and NOCHI 後 actually use the same kanji as you can see. This being the case you can use them interchangeably and the meanings will stay the same. As a general rule, you can use NOCHI with NI (different particle) any time you would use ATO DE.

NOCHI NI and ATO DE are interchangeable thus: NOCHI NI = ATO DE

Verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb'ing

1. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA
酒を飲んだ後に家に帰えた
I went home after drinking some sake.

2. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA
酒を飲んだ後に犬を散歩しに行った
After I drank some sake, I took the dog for a walk.

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides to every sentence. On one side is verb 1 that comes before transforming it into its TE or TA base, and verb 2 which occurs after KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI

- Verb 1 in base TE + KARA and Verb 2
- Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.

I hope that you too can start-up some cool and interesting conversations using these Japanese plug and play grammar constructions. Test your creations out on your Japanese friends to see if they fly. If not revise and do it again. Plug and play is drill and kill for Japanese language learners of the 21st century. Good luck in all your Japanese learning endeavors.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき.

Japanese grammar

How to say, “You should…” in Japanese.
Japanese Grammar Lesson Ho^ ga ii desu 方がいいです

Ho^ or Hou (方 ) (Pronounced like a Santa’s chuckle …ho, ho, ho…) is the focus of today’s Japanese grammar lesson. I always associated the Japanese word Hou (方 ) to the English word, “way” or “the way”. The kanji for hou (The Chinese character printed next to the word) looks as if it were indicating some direction or person offering a path or showing the way. I also associated Hou to another Japanese word Houhou (方法)which means method or the way of doing things. When we say in English that you ought to lean this way or that way, I could replace them straight way with the Japanese words kono hou or sono hou.

Today’s grammar uses hou after a verb in base TA (た) to help form sentences that indicate that you should, or shouldn’t do something. This isn’t a way of telling someone that they must do something, but only that they should do something.

To say that you should do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:

Verb TA (た) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです) – …should verb…

First, put a Japanese verb into base TA then add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)

Example –
Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base TA = dashita (出した)
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.

You should send that letter. – ano tegami o deshita hou ga ii desuあの手紙を出した方がいいです

To say that you should not do something in Japanese, use the following Japanese grammar plug and play construction to make your own interesting Japanese sentences:
Verb base I+nai (ない) + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)- …shouldn’t verb…

Example –

Dasu (出す) – v. to send
Dasu (出す) in base I + nai (ない) = dasanai (出さない)
Add + hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)
And presto… a new interesting sentence has been born.

In the negative construction, you first put a verb into base I, add nai (ない), then add hou ga ii desu (方がいいです)

1.Ume o tabeta hou ga ii desu. 梅を食べたほうがいいです – “You** should eat a Japanese plum.” (ume 梅 - plum)

2.Byo^in ni itta hou ga ii desu. 病院に行ったほうがいいです “You should go to the hospital.” or “You better get yourself to a hospital.”

3.Nakanai hou ga ii desu. 泣かないほうがいいです “It is better not to cry.”, or “You shouldn’t cry.”

4.Konai hou ga ii desu. 来ないほうがいいです “You shouldn’t come.”

**In English, subject pronouns are rarely omitted during the discourse of a two way conversation. In Japanese, however, the subject is usually, omitted. In Japanese, it is more common to omit the subject than to say specifically who, or what was doing the action in a sentence. Unless you get specific, there is no need to say as for me, or as for you, or as for them etc. The Japanese usually omit subject pronouns, since it is generally understood in the course of a Japanese conversation, who or what is doing the action in a Japanese sentence.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき,

Japanese Grammar – Fusing verbs to make new ones.
Verb(Base II) + Hajimeru – To begin to verb


You can usually make new Japanese words, verbs, or phrases by fusing two verbs together; The first verb in base II and the last verb conjugated normally. Let’s take some verbs and put them into base II then see what kind of new words, verbs and different Japanese phrases we can come up with.

1.Hatasu 果たす – to accomplish
2.Settoku suru 説得する – to persuade
3.Hiyakeru 日焼ける– to get sun burnt
4.Kau 買う– to buy
5.Umareru 生まれる– to give birth

Proceeding we will put these Japanese verbs into base II to form the extensor. As explained in previous lessons, base II extensor form for yo^dan verbs is made with the 2nd Japanese vowel i, pronounced ee. A verb in Base II will always end in the i vowel unless it is an chidan verb. Below, 1,2 and 4 are yo^dan verbs while 3 and 5 are ichidan verbs:

1.hatasu in base II = hatashi 果たし

2.settoku suru説得する is suru する in base II = shiし

3.hiyakeru日焼ける in base II = hiyake日焼け(In ichidan verbs, just drop the final ru)

4.kau 買う in base II = kai 買い (replace u with i)

5.umareru生まれる in base II = umare生まれ (ichidan)

Now we can proceed to make new verbs in Japanese to test on our Japanese friends, just to make sure that this makes sense. So we use the above Japanese grammar plug and Play construction Verb (base II) + hajimeru – to begin to verb, to make new Japanese words, verbs and phrases.

1.hatashi果たし + hajimeru始める= hatashihajimeru果たし始める – to begin to accomplish

2.settoku shi 説得し+ hajimeru 始める= settoku shihajimeru 説得し始める – to begin to persuade

3.hiyake日焼け+ hajimeru 始める = hiyakehajimeru日焼け始める – to begin to get sunburnt

4.kai 買い+ hajimeru始める = kaihajimeru買い始める – to begin to buy

5.umare 生まれ + hajimeru 始める = umarehajimeru 生まれ始める – to begin to be born

There you have the Japanese grammar plug and play for making new phrases in Japanese. Continue by plugging in your own verbs and making your own new sentences. As always, Ganbatte Ne! Do Your Best! Makurasuki まくらすき.