Japanese Grammar - Putting Verbs in Base TA

Japanese grammar Lesson:
Japanese Verbs in Base TA

The shortest distance between you and you speaking in Japanese isn't very far. The fastest way to learn and start conversing in the Japanese is to memorize words and then understand how to put verbs into bases.

Japanese Verbs : Verb bases – Putting Japanese verbs into the TA –form (た-form)

The ability to put Japanese verbs into the various bases quickly without pause is a qualitysought out for in fluency and acquisition. Becoming a competent and capable Japanese conversationalist takes time and commitment.

Of all the Japanese verb Bases (I, II, III, IV , V, TA-た, and TE-て) the TA - た form ranks high in usage as one of the top three most used bases for verbs only after TE-てand Base III or root form. I am focusing on it now in order to prepare you for the quick, powerful grammar secrets that employ Base TA - た verbs. Knowing these secrets will catapult your Japanese speaking ability through the roof. I’ll be discussing Japanese grammar rules that use Japanese verbs in Base TA - た.

One of the main things you should know about the TA - た form of a verb is that it is used to put verbs into past tense plain form. A verb in base TA - た form is equivalent to English’s have done or past tense perfect. The TA - た form of a verb has evolved from the classical form tari.

**** How to put a Japanese verb into Base TA ****

1. Vowel Stemmed verbs (i.e. ichidan verbs IRU, or ERU ending verbs -える.)
        a. to put a verb into the TA-た form when the verb has a vowel stem simply add TA - た

We start with the Base III of verbs or the dictionary form of five Japanese verbs

1. kanjiru - 感じる
2. oboeru - 覚える
3. kangaeru - 考える
4. deru - 出る
5. iru - 居る

In Base II or stem form (or extensor form) for these five Japanese verbs will be -

1. kanji - 感じ
2. oboe - 覚え
3. kangae - 考え
4. de - 出
5. i - 居

Base TA for five Japanese verbs

TA - た ending verbs are past tense.

1. kanjita - 感じた - felt
2. oboeta - 覚えた - remebered
3. kangaeta - 考えた thought of
4. deta - 出た left
5. ita- 居た was

Meaning transformation of five Japanese Verbs:

1. To feel becomes to have felt.
kanjiru 感じる becomes kanjita 感じた

2. To remember becomes to have remembered.
oboeru 覚える becomes oboeta 覚えた

3. To think becomes to have thought.
kangaeru 考える becomes kangaeta 考えた

4. To leave becomes to have left.
deru 出るbecomes deta 出た

5. To be becomes to have been. (was, were)
iru 居る becomes ita 居た

Try putting your favorite verb ending in iru or eru into the TA form today and get your Nihongo study going!

If you want more information on how you can use memory and the laws of attraction to master any language the please see
Master Memory

As Always,
Ganbatte ne!
Do your best!
Makurasuki

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Just verb and See Japanese Grammar Base TE + Miru

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play
Japanese Lesson #95

Base TE + Miru – To see about verb’ing, to verb and see.

Putting verbs into base te

Bu, mu, nu, --> NDE
U, TSU, RU, --> TTE
KU --> ITE
GU--> IDE

Irregular
Suru --> shite

In all the examples, miru - to see

1. Hanashite miru 話して見る
I’ll try talking to him. (Talk to him and see, hanashite miru)
Hanasu – v. to speak (with)

2. ITTE MIRU 行って見る
I’ll go check it out (Go and see, itte miru)
Iku – v. to go,

3. Tabete miyo^ ka? 食べて見ようか?
Shall we try it? (The food) Let’s eat and see.
Taberu – v. to eat

4. Nonde mitara 飲んで見ったら
What if you tried to drink it, go ahead, see what it tastes like. (Drink and see) Nomu – v. to drink

5. Monku o iute mitara ..? 文句を言ってみたら
What about voicing your complaints? (Complain and see)
Monku o iu – v. to complain, to say a ‘monku’.

6. Yonde mireba…? 読んで見れば
Why don’t you read it and see? Try reading it for yourself, could you?
Yomu – v. to read

7. Tanonde miru 頼んで見る
Ask and see.
Tanomu 頼む– v. to request, ask a favor, to ask

8. Yatte miru やって見る
Try it and see.
Yaru – v. to do, to try.

9. Mite mitara 見て見ったら
Look and see.
Miru – v. to see.


Til lates,
Ganbatte Ne!

Makurasuki

Japanese language and on learning a foreign language?

Take for example the days of the week. First off in almost every single language in the world there is a day denoted as the Sun’s day or the day of the Sun, and a moon day, or day of the moon. the words for the days of the week in Japanese, we are liable to pass it off as mere coincidence, the similarities are striking. The following table shows the words for days of the week in Japanese and in English.
Kasei are made of two kanji, ka and sei, or fire and star. Kasei translates as fire day. In English our equivalent of fire’s day is Tuesday, named after the Tiu the god of war and the sky. But before the Germanic peoples renamed the second day of the week Tuesday, the Romans had a system of naming the days of the week after their god and had called it dies martis ‘day of mars’, after the war god (source of French Mardi ‘Tuesday’). (Ayto, 544)
The kanji for Saturday being read do or basically the term for dirt or dirt’s day but is also the root of the Japanese word for Saturn, which is Dosei.
As for the third day of the week, some languages call it the 3rd day or day 3(Vietnamese) In Japanese this day is denoted as Suiyobi or day of the water, water’s day. The Germanic peoples called this day woden’s day or day of Odin after one of their mightiest gods. It seems that Wednesday got all screwed up being filtrated through the evolution of languages. It makes sense because Wednesday is in the middle of the week and if there are going to be corruptions from the pure form from whence the original words came from then the word for the middle of the week makes sense. In Japanese the word for mercury is kasei which would find its relations to our Tuesday. The Japanese Suisei is the planet
Now Thursday was named after the god Thor (where our English thunder comes from) but in the Roman system of naming the days of the week the fourth day was names dies jovis or day of Jupiter. In Japanese the fourth day is denoted Moku sei or day of the tree which is from the same root as that for their word for Jupiter, and that word being Mokusei.
Now Friday is denoted as Kinsei or day of gold in Japanese which is the same root for the word for planet kinsei which is Venus. The Germanic peoples called it after Odin’s wife Frigg (Ayto, 241) ‘Frigg’s day’ was a direct adaptation of Latin Veneris dies “Venus’s day’ (whence French vendredi ‘Friday’)

Japanese Cusswords

It has been said that there are few cusswords in Japanese. There are some words like baka, aho, however that if you actually heard in person, would shock you into thinking otherwise. The use of baka and aho in Japanese ranges from being a super harsh cussing term to just a mildly sarcastic remark. Just as in English, depending on what type of voice and kind of inflection displayed, and targeted intent behind the word determines how bad of a word it really is. When translated literally the word baka means horse-dear. Baka might mean jack-ass or as it is most often translated, fool. But does fool do the word baka or horse deer justice? It really seldom suffices to translate the word baka into English by translating it as fool. Translation becomes difficult a lot of times betwixt the two languages. Sometimes there is no equivalent translation at all. O-negai shimasu is a perfect example of a word that cannot truly be understood from a western point of view. It cannot be fully understood with an explanation in words. It must be experienced to understand fully what is meant when the Japanese say words or phrases from Japanese to English because there is no way for either culture to understand the other culture’s view without fully being born and growing up in that country. Golden Grahams, and Romper Room are to Americans what, and pokki and punky kizu are to the Japanese. But try explaining either to the other. The word baka means so much more than just fool. Even screamed at the top of our lungs, calling somebody a fool nowadays in English means buddy or friend more than it means dickhead or asswipe. Baka is a personal term that takes on meaning through the person expressing it. The severity of the word is determined by the tone of voice which utters the two syllables ba and ka. I must admit I only really heard baka said once to realize how much meaning can be contained in one word. I think the word baka is the foulest word in the Japanese language. I will share an experience where me and a friend were riding our bikes in Saga, Japan.My friend being a hot shot bicyclist from Arizona who was a cocky acne prone American punk with no manners but was very capable of riding wheelies longer, going faster, bunny hopping even his ten-speed and skitchin’ behind Toyotas that had wheels like the Cars at Disneyland and he liked to show off to his ill-mannered very typical of some cocky young American. At a shingou (stop light) I had already crossed and he went ahead and ran the red light to catch up to me who had already passed through. Crossing the street he was almost hit by a car or two as he swerved in and out to miss him with what great stupidity I watched as I fully heard the word BAKA loud and clear come from the window of one of the cars. A young college aged Japanese male spoke loud and clear intending it to reach the ears of all within hearing range. He said, “BAKA” in the most hideous of tone directed at my cocky buddy who I was riding with. It made me sink on the seat of my bike for him to hear a Japanese native use the term baka in a way I never knew existed. Now this was the first time I had heard it like a cuss word but I felt so low and embarrassed for him, I knew then and there, I would never want to be called a “BAKA” myself or have anyone around me be called it neither. Somebody told me previously that baka meant fool but they didn’t explain how much of a fool it meant. There is no way that baka meant just fool. It sounded worse than a two edged sword and could cut through to one’s core and shake it and slice the flesh off of me. So terrible was its use that day and the impact that it had on my future was far reaching. It meant more than just “you fool!” it meant “you f***ing a***ole mother f***ing b**ch” or worse. But it was a very bad word to say the least. So the Japanese do have cuss words, baka being one of them. Other ways of cussing will be explained below. The way of cussing is different but still very penetrating. The way in which you cuss in Japanese is to use low level speech. What we speak in what is called plain form level or lower we are essentially without cussing it could be construed as speaking in a vulgar manner. It’s possible to sound foul mouthed simply by staying in the lowest level of politeness. The lowest form or levels of politeness can be the same as cussing every other word in English. Like I said words are very powerful, mightier than the sword, so be extremely careful to choose the words that come out of your mouth cautiously and remember to bridle your tongue just in case. Their are many intricacies of honorific Japanese but for ease of understanding they are usually 4 basic levels of politeness. From least polite, to talking with an Emporer, King, Duke, or magistrate, we can divide Japanese speech into 4 grades or levels that are distinctive in their use and level of politeness exhibited. Let’s take verbs for example. The verb iku could become ukagau iu becomes ossharu, suru becomes nasaru, dictionary, but also I am a gaijin and not a native speaker. I have heard aho - similiar to asshole or dickweed perhaps. The verb to eat can be expressed in a very vulgar manner or delicately and honorably eaten like the Empress herself. Meshi of Kuu means to eat some rice, gohan o taberu, a little better, gohan o tabemasu, and finally o-kome of meshiagarimasu.
1st level - Honorific speech. The level of highest politeness. In this level you are in essence raising the status of the person with whom you are speaking. Your speech raises them above your own field of existence and exalts their very being. Words are mightier than the sword. In this case Words are powerful to exalt those with whom you speak. Exaltation never made anyone feel bad, and as such usually brings the point of o sewa, their o-tsukaresama, and kochira koso, and other points exhibited or portrayed by these words in Japanes. Honorifics involve lowering yourself and at the same time raising others. is elates them. The feeling you get when being spoken to in honorific Japanese is that you are a member of a royal family. When I was being spoken to in keigo, I felt powerful. It made me feel very wanted or in some sense loved. It also made me feel like I was needed. I felt like I belonged and that they wanted me there. I certainly had a place.
Now with the next level politeness where you have masu and desu. This is more strict and straight polite level verbs, then or an important feature of this royal family. I was important. It actually empowers you. The words spoken make you feel comfortable and you also have a feeling of responsibility that comes with this nobility. Thinking in terms of Maslowe’s heirarchy of needs, being spoken to in keigo would fit the bill of social acceptance and fulfill that level in the Maslowes pyramid of needs. I only wish we had some of this honorific speech more often in America. Here all that is flourishing is ghetto grammar. Shucks!

Some cuss words in Japanese

It has been said that there are few cusswords in Japanese. There are some words like baka, aho, however that if you actually heard in person, would shock you into thinking otherwise. The use of baka and aho in Japanese ranges from being a super harsh cussing term to just a mildly sarcastic remark. Just as in English, depending on what type of voice and kind of inflection displayed, and targeted intent behind the word determines how bad of a word it really is.
When translated literally the word baka means horse-dear. Baka might mean jack-ass or as it is most often translated, fool. But does fool do the word baka or horse deer justice? It really seldom suffices to translate the word baka into English by translating it as fool.

Translation becomes difficult a lot of times betwixt the two languages. Sometimes there is no equivalent translation at all. O-negai shimasu is a perfect example of a word that cannot truly be understood from a western point of view. It cannot be fully understood with an explanation in words. It must be experienced to understand fully what is meant when the Japanese say words or phrases from Japanese to English because there is no way for either culture to understand the other culture’s view without fully being born and growing up in that country. Golden Grahams, and Romper Room are to Americans what, and pokki and punky kizu are to the Japanese. But try explaining either to the other.

The word baka means so much more than just fool. Even screamed at the top of our lungs, calling somebody a fool nowadays in English means buddy or friend more than it means dickhead or asswipe. Baka is a personal term that takes on meaning through the person expressing it. The severity of the word is determined by the tone of voice which utters the two syllables ba and ka. I must admit I only really heard baka said once to realize how much meaning can be contained in one word. I think the word baka is the foulest word in the Japanese language.

I will share an experience where me and a friend were riding our bikes in Saga, Japan.My friend being a hot shot bicyclist from Arizona who was a cocky acne prone American punk with no manners but was very capable of riding wheelies longer, going faster, bunny hopping even his ten-speed and skitchin’ behind Toyotas that had wheels like the Cars at Disneyland and he liked to show off to his ill-mannered very typical of some cocky young American. At a shingou (stop light) I had already crossed and he went ahead and ran the red light to catch up to me who had already passed through. Crossing the street he was almost hit by a car or two as he swerved in and out to miss him with what great stupidity I watched as I fully heard the word BAKA loud and clear come from the window of one of the cars.

 A young college aged Japanese male spoke loud and clear intending it to reach the ears of all within hearing range. He said, “BAKA” in the most hideous of tone directed at my cocky buddy who I was riding with. It made me sink on the seat of my bike for him to hear a Japanese native use the term baka in a way I never knew existed. Now this was the first time I had heard it like a cuss word but I felt so low and embarrassed for him, I knew then and there, I would never want to be called a “BAKA” myself or have anyone around me be called it neither. Somebody told me previously that baka meant fool but they didn’t explain how much of a fool it meant. There is no way that baka meant just fool. It sounded worse than a two edged sword and could cut through to one’s core and shake it and slice the flesh off of me.

 So terrible was its use that day and the impact that it had on my future was far reaching. It meant more than just “you fool!” it meant “you f***ing a***ole mother f***ing b**ch” or worse. But it was a very bad word to say the least. So the Japanese do have cuss words, baka being one of them. Other ways of cussing will be explained below. The way of cussing is different but still very penetrating. The way in which you cuss in Japanese is to use low level speech. What we speak in what is called plain form level or lower we are essentially without cussing it could be construed as speaking in a vulgar manner.

It’s possible to sound foul mouthed simply by staying in the lowest level of politeness. The lowest form or levels of politeness can be the same as cussing every other word in English. Like I said words are very powerful, mightier than the sword, so be extremely careful to choose the words that come out of your mouth cautiously and remember to bridle your tongue just in case.

Their are many intricacies of honorific Japanese but for ease of understanding they are usually 4 basic levels of politeness. From least polite, to talking with an Emporer, King, Duke, or magistrate, we can divide Japanese speech into 4 grades or levels that are distinctive in their use and level of politeness exhibited.
Let’s take verbs for example. The verb iku could become ukagau iu becomes ossharu, suru becomes nasaru, dictionary, but also I am a gaijin and not a native speaker. I have heard aho - similiar to asshole or dickweed perhaps. The verb to eat can be expressed in a very vulgar manner or delicately and honorably eaten like the Empress herself. Meshi of Kuu means to eat some rice, gohan o taberu, a little better, gohan o tabemasu, and finally o-kome of meshiagarimasu.

1st level - Honorific speech. The level of highest politeness. In this level you are in essence raising the status of the person with whom you are speaking. Your speech raises them above your own field of existence and exalts their very being. Words are mightier than the sword. In this case Words are powerful to exalt those with whom you speak. Exaltation never made anyone feel bad, and as such usually brings the point of o sewa, their o-tsukaresama, and kochira koso, and other points exhibited or portrayed by these words in Japanes. Honorifics involve lowering yourself and at the same time raising others. is elates them. The feeling you get when being spoken to in honorific Japanese is that you are a member of a royal family. When I was being spoken to in keigo, I felt powerful. It made me feel very wanted or in some sense loved. It also made me feel like I was needed. I felt like I belonged and that they wanted me there. I certainly had a place.

Now with the next level politeness where you have masu and desu. This is more strict and straight polite level verbs, then or an important feature of this royal family. I was important. It actually empowers you. The words spoken make you feel comfortable and you also have a feeling of responsibility that comes with this nobility. Thinking in terms of Maslowe’s heirarchy of needs, being spoken to in keigo would fit the bill of social acceptance and fulfill that level in the Maslowes pyramid of needs. I only wish we had some of this honorific speech more often in America. Here all that is flourishing is ghetto grammar. Shucks!