Japanese Verb Forms (location in sentence) The Plain and Polite Verb Forms

1. Class Session 9a Chapter 5 • Japanese Verb Forms (location in sentence) • The Plain and Polite Verb Forms • The Stem Form and the Polite Suffix • The Present and Past Verb Forms • Affirmative and Negative Verb Forms • Verbs of Coming and Going • Polite Present Forms • Places You Often Go Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

2. Japanese Verb Forms • Japanese verbs: • Are always placed at the end of a sentence • Are conjugated based on the speech style, tense, and whether it is affirmative or negative • Verb conjugations are based on verb stems + suffixes • Most of the verb forms can be derived easily from one of the basic forms by adding one or more suffixes • Compared to verbs in many other languages, Japanese verbs tend to more regular in adherence to rules of grammatical construction • There are only two irregular verbs in Japanese • There are only two tenses for Japanese verbs: past and non-past Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

3. The Plain and Polite Verb Forms • The short form of a Japanese verb is called the plain form and is used in informal • conversation • The long form of a Japanese verb is called the polite form and is used in neutral or • polite conversation • Example: • iku (to go) is in the plain present (short) affirmative form • ikimasu is in the polite present (long) affirmative form • The plain form is also used in some grammatical constructions even when they are used • in neutral or polite conversation (so, you must know both forms) Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

4. The Stem Form and the Polite Suffix • The polite form of a verb is the combination of the stem form and the polite suffix • The stem form of the verb iku is iki and -masu is the polite suffix in present affirmative form • The polite present negative suffix is –masen • Examples: • ikimasu (I) will go (there) • ikimasen (I) will not go (there) • The stem form is often called “pre-masu” form because it is the form that precedes • -masu (or the form to which you add –masu) Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

5. The Present and Past Verb Forms • The present tense expresses a habitual OR future action (or non-past tense) • The past tense expresses an action that has already happened • The past counterparts foriku and ikimasu • itta (I) went • ikimashita (I) went Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

6. Affirmative and Negative Verb Forms • Japanese verbs conjugate based on whether or not they are affirmative or negative • iku is affirmative; its negative is ikanai • ikimasu is affirmative; its negative is ikimasen • Verbs are listed in (most) dictionaries in the plain present affirmative form. • The verb “to go” is listed as iku in a Japanese dictionary • The plain present affirmative form is also called “the dictionary form” Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

7. Verbs of Coming and Going • The verbs for coming and going are used frequently in describing one’s daily activities • iku means to go • kuru means to come • kaeru means to return • kaeru is used when one goes back to his base place such as home, dorm, or office Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

8. Polite Present Forms • Polite present forms of verbs of coming and going • Polite Present Polite Present • AffirmativeNegative • iku (go) ikimasu ikimasen • kuru (come) kimasu kimasen • kaeru (return) kaerimasu kaerimasen • We will discuss the verb conjugation mechanism in Chapter 7 • As mentioned earlier the present tense actually expresses a future tense (especially • with a furure time word) or habitual action (especially with an adverb) • ashita ikimasu. I will go (there) tomorrow. • yoku ikimasu. I go (there) often. Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012

9. Places You Often Go • Places where people frequently go to study, work, or do other things: • kōkō high school • daigaku univesity, college • kurasu class • kaisha company • yūbinkyoku post office • byōin hospital • ginkō bank • sūpā supermarket Japanese 1100-L09a-07-11-2012