verbs

The verb ‘to be’ – desu, is special. Its formal form is ‘desu’ and its casual form is ‘da’.
For the other verbs, the ‘masu’ form is formal, and the dictionary form is casual.

Lessons 1-8

Lessons 9-16

From instructions:

dict. → tai

To change the form of a verb from dictionary to -tai, we do exactly the same changes that we use to go to -masu:

• group 1 – u verbs: replace -u with -itai
  exceptions: there is no ‘tsi’ nor ‘si’, so -tsu → -chitai, and -su → -shitai.
  • hanasu → hanashitai (exception: -su → -shitai)
  • wakaru → wakaritai
  • nomu → nomitai
  • kau → kaitai
  • aru → aritai
• group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -tai
  • taberu → tabetai
  • miru → mitai
• group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
  • kuru → kitai
  • suru → shitai

With respect to stating one’s wishes and desires, we find that in Japanese instead of saying ‘I want a beer’ we say ‘A beer is desirable’ (biiru ga hoshi-i). Something similar happens with verbs: instead of saying ‘I want to eat’, we use the -tai to say ‘eating is desirable’ (tabe-tai). In a sense, the -tai ending makes the verb behave like an i-adjective – tabeta-i, and now all the rules of i-adjectives apply:

Direct object of a -tai form

Since the -tai form is the form of a verb, we can mark its direct object with ‘wo’ (を), same as with any other verb form. However, the -tai form makes the verb behave like an i-adjective, so we can also mark its direct object with ‘ga’ (が), same as with any other adjective; even Japanese people cannot pin-point if there is any difference between marking the direct object of a -tai form using ‘wo’ or ‘ga’; for all purposes, they are interchangeable:

Although it makes no difference whether we use ‘ga’ or ‘wo’ to mark the direct object, there is one case where we should use ‘ga’ instead of ‘wo’. So far we have seen two of the functions of ‘ga’: as the subject marker, and as the direct object marker of an adjective. We should always choose ‘ga’ if we want it to play, not the role of direct object marker of an adjective, but the role of the subject marker of the sentence, emphasizing the subject. Let’s see this with an example:

‘sushi ga tabeta-i desu’ is written exactly the same whether we are using ‘ga’ as the direct object marker, or as the subject marker, but the meaning (and probably the spoken intonation) would be quite different, because the function of ‘ga’ as the subject marker is to emphasize the subject. Let’s see this again, in a more descriptive manner:

So a reply to using ‘ga’ as a direct object marker could be ‘(yawn…) I guess I could have sushi too’, while a reply to using ‘ga’ as the subject marker could be ‘Calm down… calm down… we’ll find sushi, if it’s that important, ok? geez…’.

dict. → -te

This is the gentle imperative form, e.g., ‘ki-ite, kudasai’ (‘listen, please’) or ‘i-tte, kudasai’ (‘say, please’, or, ‘go, please’). We also use it to connect sentences, e.g., ‘sushi wo tabe-te, o-sake wo no-nde, kaeri-mashita’ (‘I ate sushi, drank sake, and went home’).

To change the form of a verb from dictionary to -te:

• group 1 – u verbs:
  • -u/ru/tsu → -tte
  • -mu/nu/bu → -nde
  • -ku → ite, exception: i-ku (to go) does not become i-ite, but i-tte
  • -gu → ide
  • -su → shite
  For example:
  • hanasu → hanashite
  • wakaru → wakatte
  • kau → katte
  • nomu → nonde
• group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -te
  • taberu → tabete
  • miru → mite
• group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
  • kuru → kite
  • suru → shite

dict. → -ta

While -mashita is the formal past form of a verb (e.g., tabe-masu → tabe-mashita, nomi-masu → nomi-mashita), the -ta form is the casual past form of a verb (e.g., tabe-ru → tabe-ta, no-mu → no-nda).

Learning the -te form is painful, but the reward is that the -te and the -ta forms are identical: all we need to do is change every ‘e’ in the ‘-te’ form for an ‘a’.

To change the form of a verb from dictionary to -ta:

• group 1 – u verbs:
  • -u/ru/tsu → -tta
  • -mu/nu/bu → -nda
  • -ku → ita, exception: i-ku (to go) does not become i-ita, but i-tta
  • -gu → ida
  • -su → shita
  For example:
  • hanasu → hanashita
  • wakaru → wakatta
  • kau → katta
  • nomu → nonda
• group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -ta
  • taberu → tabeta
  • miru → mita
• group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
  • kuru → kita
  • suru → shita

dict. → potential (can)

The potential form plays the role of the English auxiliary verb ‘can’, use to say things like ‘I can eat’.

To change the form of a verb from dictionary to potential:

• For group I verbs, u → e[ru/e-masu]
• For group II verbs, ru → (ra)re[ru/-masu]
• For group III, suru → deki[ru/-masu], kuru → ko(ra)re[ru/-masu]

• group 1 – u verbs: replace -u with -eru
  exceptions: there is no ‘tse’, so -tsu → -te.
  • hanasu → hanae-ru
  • wakaru → wakare-ru
  • nom → nome-ru
  • kau → kae-ru
  • aru → are-ru
• group 2 – ru verbs: -ru → -(ra)reru
  • taberu → tabe-(ra)re-ru
  • miru → mi-(ra)re-ru
• group 3 – irregular verbs: no rule, memorize them
  • kuru → ko-(ra)re-ru
  • suru → deki-ru

The termination -(ra)reru indicates that both are used, i.e., ‘I can eat’ is ‘tabe-rareru’ but many people drop the ‘ra’ and simply say ‘tabe-reru’.

All potential verbs will conjugate as -ru verbs (group 2).

dict. → -nai/(-masu/-tai)/-t(e/a)/pot

With the above knowledge under our belt, let’s see the masu and casual negative forms of the verbs in units 1-16:

*: to obtain other tenses of the formal -masu form, we replace -masu as follows:

• non-past negative: -masu → -masen, e.g., don’t eat: tabe-masen
• past positive: -masu → -mashita, e.g., ate: tabe-mashita
• past negative: -masu → -masen deshita, e.g., didn’t eat: tabe-masen deshita