Day #2.11.2

LESSON 14.2 – Conjugating ‘te’ form, expressing ‘please’, ‘how to’ and ‘shall I’, giving directions and progressive actions

With that, we conclude Level 2 of Japanese Language! Let’s review important conjugation of verbs, questions words and how to answer them by typing a keyword in the search box at the bottom of the page.

Lesson 8 – Introduction of adjectives, asking how; what kind of; which one

Lesson 9 – Expressing likes/ dislikes, expressing good at/ bad at, asking what kind of, expressing understand, expressing have/ don’t have (particle *ga), stating reasons

Lesson 10 – Expressing existence of people/ objects, expressing positions, expressing location

Lesson 11 – Counting, asking how long; frequency

Lesson 12 – Asking how was (past tense); comparing, expressing superlative

Lesson 13 – Expressing wants (conjugation), expressing want to (conjugation), expressing go/come to do something (conjugation)

Lesson 14 – Conjugating ‘te’ form, expressing please, how to and shall I, progressive actions, giving directions

Day #2.10.1

Lesson 14 (Part I)

• Verbs and the ‘て | te’ form of verbs
• Making requests with ‘て ください | te kudasai’

The ‘te’ form of verbs are classified into 3 types of groups:

1. Those that end with ‘i’; namely, い ち り み び に き ぎ し

Lesson #13.2

Lesson 13 (Part II)

• Go in/ go out of ~ (house, building, a room)
• Expressing go/come + [verb – to do something]

1a. GO INTO ~  

レスラン に はいります。 | I go into the restaurant.

スーパー に はいります。 | I go into the supermarket.

1b. GO OUT OF ~

レスラン を でます。 | I go out of the restaurant.

うち を でます。 | I go out of my house.

Note that the particle changes when referring to entering and leaving.

2. [PLACE] + GO/ COME TO DO + [VERB] 

Some additional vocabulary:

なにか | something

どこか | somewhere/ anywhere

なにか のみたいですね。 | I want something to drink.

やすみに どこかへ いきましたか。| Did you go anywhere in the holidays?

To express that you go/ come to do an activity at a place: Because “going”/ “coming” is a verb, the action that comes before needs to be conjugated.

飲みものを 買います  | Buy drinks     – – – – >   飲みものを 買いに 

The verb in its ‘masu’ form conjugates to become ‘ni’ form.

スーパーへ 飲みものを 買いに 行きます。 |  I go to the supermarket to buy drinks.

ロンドンへ えぶんけんきゅ の べんきょうを しに きました。 | I came to London to study Literature.

3a. GO/ COME TO DO [VERB]

オーチャードへ 何を しに 行きますか。 | What do you do when you go to Orchard?

3b. GO/ COME TO DO [ACTION]

どこへ おみやげ を 買いに いきますか。| Where do you go to buy souvenirs?

 

Day #2.9.1

Lesson 13 (Part 1)

• Describing desires – “I want [noun]” & “I want to [verb]”

1. WANT [NOUN]

The stem word “want” is categorised as an ‘i adjective’, and it is ‘ほしい | hoshii’ in Japanese. We’ve learnt from the previous Lesson 12 (Parts I – III) that ‘i adjectives’ conjugate differently from typical nouns and ‘na adjectives’.

Conjugation for ‘ほしい | hoshii’:

(い adjective)       Positive                          Negative

Present                  ほしいです                  ほしくないです

Past                         ほしかったです        ほしくなかったです

なに が ほしいですか。 | What do you want?

–  –  –  –  –  – じてんしゃ が ほしいです。| I want a bicycle.

Sentence structure: noun + *particle ga + ‘ほしい | hoshii’

Asking “what kind of ~ you want”:

In Lesson 8 we learnt how to ask “what kind of ~”, and we used the question word ‘どんな | donna’. This question can be added into a sentence to ask “what kind of bicycle you want” –

どんな じてんしゃ が ほしいですか。| What kind of bicycle do you want?

–  –  –  –  –  – しろい じてんしゃ が ほしいです。|  I want a white bicycle.

 

 

 

 

 

私 は あ たたらしい カメラ が ほしい です。

私 は あかい くるま が ほしいです。

2. WANT TO [VERB]

When expressing a desire to do an action, the verb needs to be conjugated, from a typical ‘ます | masu’ form to ‘たい | tai’ form.  When it is in the ‘たい | tai’ form, the newly conjugated verb becomes an ‘い adjective’.

おいしい コーヒーを 飲みたいです。 | I want to drink yummy coffee.

Sentence structure: adjective + noun + *particle o + conjugated verb in ‘tai’ form

テニス を したいです。 | I want to play tennis.

日本 へ いきたいです。 | I want to go to Japan. (particle here is ‘へ | e’ because it is a place marker)

***** The particle ‘を | o’ can be replaced with ‘が | ga’

何を 買いたいですか。 | What do you want to buy?

–  –  –  –  –  –  あたらしい けだいでんわ を かいたいです。 | I want to buy a new phone.

いつ ほっかいどう へ いきたいですか。 | When do you want to go to hokkaido?

–  –  –  –  –  –  十二月 の 休み に 北海道 へ 行きたいです。

どこ へ いきたいですか。 どうしてですか。 – practice questions!

Day #2.8.2

Lesson 12 (Part III)

• Comparative statements (between 2 objects)
• Superlative statements (asking which is the best/ most ~)

1a. COMPARATIVE – comparing 2 objects with adjectives

To compare and contrast two objects, we use the word ‘より | yori’, which is an extension of the adjective (both ‘i’ and ‘na’), like how in English there is “pretty” and “prettier“. In Japanese,  ‘より | yori’ acts as the “er” part of the adjective.

If we want to posit that Japan is bigger than Singapore, we say

日本は シンガポール より 大きいです。 | Japan is bigger than Singapore.

Sentence structure: Subject that the adjective is applied to + *particle wa + Subject that the adjective is not applied to + より | yori + adjective

タイのカレーは 日本のカレーより からいです。| Thai food is spicier than Japanese food.

タイのカレーは 日本のカレーより ずっと からいです。 | Thai food is much spicier than Japanese food.

ほっかいどう は おおさか より すずしいです。| Hokkaido is cooler than Osaka.

1b. COMPARATIVE – choosing between 2 objects 

‘どちら | dochira’ means “which one”, as in which between the two ~.

サッカーと やきゅうとどちら が すきですか。 | Which one do you like, soccer or baseball?

Sentence structure: Object A + *particle to + Object B + *particle to + ‘どちら | dochira’ + *particle ga + adjective

–  –  –  –  –  – サッカーのほうが すきです。 | I like soccer.

いぬと ねことどちら が かわいいですか。 | Which one is cuter, cat or dog?

–  –  –  –  –  –  どちらも かわいいで 。  | Both are cute.

1c. COMPARATIVE – choosing one object over another (subset of choosing between 2 objects)

ぎゅうにゅうより ジュース のほが すきです。 | I like juice more than milk.

Here, the positions of the nouns change.

In 1a, A は B より [adjective] means A is more [adjective] than B.

But when choosing an object over something else, the structure becomes A より B のほうが  [adjective]. This means B is more [adjective] than A.

Conversation at the table:

A: くだもの は いかがですか。
B: ありがとう ございます。
A: みかん と りんご と どちら が いいですか。
B: ええと、りんご を おねがいします。

2. SUPERLATIVE 

For superlative sentences, we ask what is the “most” or the “best” out of a category. For example, to ask what one’s most favourite fruit is, we say:

くだもの で なに が いちばん すき ですか。| What fruit do you like the most?

Sentence structure: Category + *particle de + question word (‘なに | nani’ / ‘どこ | doko’) + *particle ga + ‘いちばん | ichiban’ + adjective

–  –  –  –  –  –  りんご が いちばん 好きです。 | I like apples the most.

Some typical question words:

1. なに | nani | what
2. どこ | doko | where
3. いつ | itsu | when
4. だれ | dare | who

 

 

Day #2.8.1

Lesson 12 (Part II)

• Differences between ‘na’  adjective endings and ‘i’ adjective endings
• Asking about past events

1. ‘NA’ vs ‘I’ ADJECTIVE ENDINGS

In short, ‘na’ adjective endings follow noun endings in terms of negatives and tenses.

‘na’ adjectives:

きのう は ひまでしたか。
–  –  –  –  –  –  いいえ、ひまじゃありませんでした。

‘i’ adjectives:

パーティー は たのしかった ですか。(past tense)
–  –  –  –  –  –  いいえ、パーティー は たのしくなかった。(past tense x negative)

2. ASKING ABOUT PAST EVENTS

とうきょう は どうでしたか。
–  –  –  –  –  –  とても きれいでした。(na adjective)

きのう の てんき は どうでしたか。
–  –  –  –  –  –  てんき は あめでした。(noun)

きのう タイ レストラン で たべました。
–  –  –  –  –  –  そですか。タイりょうり は どうでしたか。
とても からかったです。(i adjective)

きのう はじめて おすし を たべました。
–  –  –  –  –  –  どうでしたか。
とても おいしかったです。

きのう はじめて かぶき を みました。
–  –  –  –  –  – どうでしたか。
とても きれいでした。

–  –  –  –  –  – きのう はじめて いけばな を しました。
どうでしたか。
とても むすかしかったです。

きのう はじめて にほん の おさけ を のみました。
–  –  –  –  –  – どうでしたか。
ちょっと あまかったです。

Day #2.7.2

Lesson 12 (Part I)

• The 4 different types of Japanese endings in sentences

 1. Sentences that end with verbs

These sentences end with ‘ます | masu’, for example  あした テストが あります。| I have a test tomorrow.

2. Sentences that end with nouns 

Nouns and adjectives have similar endings. They only differ in terms of the tense that they are in. Nouns end with ‘です | desu’, for example ふじ山は ゆうめいな山です。| Mount Fuji is a beautiful mountain.

3. Sentences that end with ‘na’ adjectives

These type of sentences end with ‘です | desu’ too, さくらの はなは きれいです。| Sakura flower is pretty.

4. Sentences that end with ‘i’ adjectives

3 types of sentences end with ‘です | desu’; nouns and two kinds of adjectives. 今日は あついです。 | Today is hot.

Day #2.7.1

Lesson 11 (Part III)

• Duration – counting number of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years
• Asking questions such as “how long” and “how many days”
• Frequency – number of times a week, constructing sentences with frequency

 

1. DURATION

Minutes

Hours

Days

Weeks 

Months

Years

Added expressions to describe time:

１０分だけ 休みます。 | I only rest for 10 minutes.

‘だけ | only’ is used after the time counter.

やすみは 日よう日だけ です。| Sunday is my only rest day.

Asking “how long”:

To ask “how long”, we use the phrase ‘どのくらい | donokurai’.

どのくらい日本ごを べんきょうしましたか。| How long have you studied Japanese?

–  –  –  –  –  –  半年ぐらい べんきょうしました。| About half a year.

休みに どのくらい りょこうをしましたか。|  How long was your trip during the holidays?

–  –  –  –  –  –  一週かんぐらい りょこうを しました。| My trip was about 1 week.

Sentence structure: Time expression + object + *particle o + verb

Asking “how long does it take”:

うちから えきまで どのくらい かかりますか。 | How long does it take to get to the station from home?

–  –  –  –  –  –  バス で １５分 ぐらい かかります。 | It takes about15 mins by bus.

–  –  –  –  –  –  あるいて ５分です。 | 5 mins by walking.

東京から 大阪まで 新幹線で どのくらい かかりますか。 | How long does it take to get to Osaka from Tokyo by Shinkansen?

–  –  –  –  –  –  ３時間 かかります。| It takes 3 hours.

うちから 大学まで どのくらい かかりますか。 | How long does it take to get to school from home?

–  –  –  –  –  –  でんしゃで 2 時間 かかります。| It takes 2 hours by train.

うちから MRTのえきまで どのくらい かかりますか。| How long does it take to get to the MRT station from home?

–  –  –  –  –  –  バスで 1 0 分 ぐらい かかります。| It takes 10 minutes by bus.

2. FREQUENCY

To count how many times a week that something happens, we use ‘かい | kai’, which is “times”.

1週間に 何かい 日本語を べんきょうしますか。 | In one week how many times do you study Japanese Language?

–  –  –  –  –  –  1週間 に 2 かい 日本語を べんきょうします。 | In one week I study Japanese Language twice.

Sentence structure: time expression + *particle ni + frequency + noun + *particle o + verb

1 か月に 何かい えいがを 見ますか。| How many times do you watch movies in a month?

–  –  –  –  –  –  3 かい 見ます。| I watch 3 times.

1 年に 何かい りょこうを しますか。| How many times do you go on a trip every year?

–  –  –  –  –  –  1 かい りょこうを します。|  I go on a trip once.