A so ne? A sayo^ desu ka.

A so ne? - Is that so? ( but insinuating to one's self with the ne)

A so^ desu ka? Is that right?

sayo^ = so^

so that

A sayo^ de gozaimasu ka can be used instead of A so^ desu ka when wanting to talk in ultra polite language.

To desu ka - used with base II of a verb as in

ikiyo^to^ desu ka? You are going?

Hakata dialect.


Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Japanese grammar - Japanese Intensifiers

Intesifiers in Japanese
Japanese intensifiers


Put a Japanese verb into its extensor form, Base II, then add + any of these to make the verb easy or hard to perform:


1. yasui – easy; simple
2. tsurai – hard to deal with, handle; hardship; difficult.
3. nikui – difficult;hard


1a. add yasui to yaru
やりやすい – yariyasui  - easy to play, do


1b. add yasui to suru
しやすい – shiyasui - easy to do


1c. add yasui to taberu
食べやすい - tabeyasui – easy to eat


1d. add yasui to noru
乗りやすい - noriyasui– easy to ride


2a. add tsurai to suru
しづらい - hard to do

2b. add tsurai to yaru
やりづらい - hard to play, do

3a. add nikui to hiku
引きにくい – hikinikui - hard to play, or pull

3b. add nikui to hanasu
 話しにくい– hanashinikui - hard to speak

3c. add nikui to miru
見にくい– Minikui - hard to look at; ugly


* tsu becomes dzu or zu when compounded
or しづらい not しつらい.
dzu not tsu after the shi in shidzurai (shizurai). Yarizurai – hard to do, shitsurai or shizurai – hard to do*

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play

Japanese Lesson #95 - To verb and see
Base TE + Miru - To see about verb'ing; to verb and see.

When putting Japanese verbs into Base TE you need to remember the rules below
All verbs ending in BU,MU,or NU such as asobu, yomu, or shinu transform the respective ending syllable(s) (BU,MU,NU) to nde.BU MU NU --> NDE

BU MU NU - NDE

U TSU RU - TTE

KU - ITE

GU - IDE
Irregular

Suru - shite

Hanashite miru - I'll try talking to him, (Talk to him and see.)

Hanasu - v. to speak (with), to talk

Itte miru - I'll go check it out (Go and see)

Iku - v. to go.

Tabete miyo^ ka? -Shall we try it? Let's eat and see.

Taberu - v. to eat, chow down on, to grub

Nonde mitara - What if you tried to drink it, go ahead see what it tastes like. (Drink and
see)

Nomu - v. to drink, to ingest.

Monku o iute mitara ..? - What about voicing your complaints? (Complain and see)

Monku o iu - v. to complain, to say a 'monku'.

Yonde mireba? - Why don't you read it and see? Try reading it for yourself.

Yomu - v. to read

Tanonde miru - Ask and see.

Tanomu - v. to request, ask a favor, to ask.

Yatte miru - Try it and see.Yaru - v. to do, to try.

Mite mitara? - What if you take a look see?Miru - v. to see.

**mitara and mireba are interchangeable-- both conditional phrasings, one in base ta +ra
and the other base IV ba.

Til lates,

Mata Kondo

Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki

please see http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar95

kiroku

kiroku -n. record(s)
-ki record(s)
Re-biki - Leviticus or the record of re-bi (Levites)

Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

japanese adjectives

Japanese Adjective discussion

Forming honorific adjectives
Honorific adjective Constructions

Ai
II
UI
EI - irregular
OI

AI  OU + GOZARU

II  UU + GOZARU

UI  UU + GOZARU

EI – DE GOZARU

OI  OU + GOZARU

Examples:

1. akai  akou + gozaru = akou gozaimasu
2. atarashii  atarashuu + gozaru = atarashuu gozaimasu
3. boroi  borou + gozaru = borou gozaimasu
4. furui  furuu + gozaru = furuu gozaimasu
Towards Better Japanese
Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

How to say, "rich" and "poor" in Japanese

Kane or 金, is defined as 1. a metal, 2. money; cash; a coin.

Japanese elementary schoolers learn this kanji in the first grade. It is easy to remember because it resembles what it represents - The kanji 金, looks like treasure in a chest, shining brightly.

You call a rich person, o-kane mochi, or literally holder of the gold.

O-kane mochi  - rich, wealthy
お金持ち

You call a poor person bimbo^.

bimbo^  - poor
貧乏

Base TE Japanese Grammar for fun

Japanese Grammar Made Easy – Base TE-て
By Brett McCluskey
Japanese lesson on learning how to use the Base TE-て form of Japanese verbs.

Remembering how verbs are put into base TE-て can be a challenging part of Japanese Grammar, but by singing the following syllables in the following order to the music of Silver Bells will help you better remember which verb ending syllable goes with what te ending.

(To be done to the music of Silver Bells, Bing Crosby’s version works well.)

verse 1

BU MU NU NDE

U TSU RU TTE

KU ITE

GU IDE

That’s the way we put verbs in base TE------

(Play it again Sam) repeat to verse 2

*Verbs ending in BU, MU, or NU become NDE. Verbs ending in U, TSU, RU become TTE or. Verbs ending in KU become ITE and verbs ending in GU become IDE.

Verbs ending in these syllables
Become these base Te endings

BU, MU, or NU - Base TE ending = NDE

U, TSU, or RU - Base TE ending = TTE

KU - Base TE ending = ITE

GU - Base TE ending = IDE

Here are a few examples of putting a verb into base te. The first example, asobu ends in bu so you can either use the above chart or sing the song!

Ex. 1. asobu 遊ぶ - to play – becomes asonde
1. asonde iru = playing
2. asonde kudasai = please play
3. asonde wa naranai = you can’t play here, its against the rules to play

Ex. 2. kamu 噛む – to chew – becomes kande
1. kande iru – chewing
2. kande kudasai – please chew
3. kande wa naranai – you mustn’t chew

Ex. 3. shinu 死ぬ - to die – becomes shinde
1. shinde iru – dying
2. shinde kudasai – please die
3. shinde wa naranai – you mustn’t die

Ex 4. harau 払う– to pay - becomes haratte
1. haratte iru – paying
2. haratte kudasai – please pay
3. haratte wa naranai – you had better not pay.

Ex 5. inoru 祈る – to pray – becomes inotte
1. inotte iru – praying
2. inotte kudasai – please pray
3. inotte wa naranai – its bad to pray here

Ex 6. utsu 打つ
– to hit becomes utte
1. utte iru – hitting
2. utte kudasai – please hit
3. utte wa naranai - its bad to hit here

Ex 7. hataraku働く– to work – becomes hataraite
1. hataraite iru – working
2. hataraite kudasai – please work
3. hataraite wa naranai – it is forbidden for you to work.

Ex 8. oyogu泳ぐ– to swim – becomes oyoide
1. oyoide iru – swimming
2. oyoide kudasai – please swim
3. oyoide wa naranai – you shouldn’t swim around here


Ganbatte ne!
Do your best
Makuarsuki まくらすき

For more Japanese grammar fun see - http://www.japanetics.blogspot.com or http://saketalkie.blogspot.com

Japanese Funtime Language Grammar Supplement

The following supplement will help you increase your Japanese vocabulary by showing you how the particle MO is used. MO is more than just a particle. MO is part of the family. Have fun in your Japanese language endeavors!
First, memorize the question words:

Who – dare誰,
What – nani何,
Where – dokoどこ,
When – itsu いつ,
How many things –ikutsuいくつか
How many people – nannin 何人

Question word + mo with + positive verb with – negative verb
dare (誰)+mo (も) anyone nobody
nani (何)+mo (も) anything nothing
doko(どこ)+mo(も) everywhere, anywhere nowhere
itsu (いつ)+mo(も) all the time, always none of the time, never
nannin(何人)+mo(も) many people, a bunch of people not many people

The mo participle carries the meaning of too, or also. It is all inclusive. For example, to say “me too” just add mo to me and there you have it. Watakushi mo or me too. Easy, right? What if your friend wants to come with us too? Then just add mo and presto you have Watakushi no tomodachi mo. My friend too or him too.
Someone might ask,

question word + ka (か) with + positive verb with – negative verb
dare(誰) + ka (か) someone nobody
nani(何 )+ ka (か) something nothing
doko (どこ) + ka (か) somewhere nowhere
itsu (いつ) + ka (か) sometime none of the time, never
nannin (何人) + ka (か) so many people , this many not many people

“Is anybody home?”
“Dareka oraremasu ka?” (“誰かおられますか?”)
“No, Nobody is here.”
Iie, Daremo oraremasen. いいえ, 誰もおられません



Question word + demo with + positive verb with – negative verb
dare (誰) + demo(でも) anybody, whoever nobody
nani (何) + demo,
nandemo (何でも) anything, everything nothing
doko (どこ) + demo(でも) everywhere, anywhere nowhere
itsu (何時) + demo (でも) all the time none of the time, never
nannin (何人) +demo (でも) many people, a bunch of people not many people


What about why? I thought you might ask about the last interrogative. So to say why in Japanese you might use these two words

Words for Why in Japanese:

1.do^ shite ?– (lit. how does it do, or why?) or

2.naze? – why ?

Similar rules can happen with the word do^shite. Like do^shite mo – meaning- for all reasons why. I can’t recall ever hearing nazemo but it is likely that there is such a Japanese word.

Interesting Fact: There is an island off the bottom of kyu^shu^ below the city kagoshima that is in fact named Naze. Of course the kanji are different for this small island city. It is interesting to note, due to its isolate state

A secret to learn any language and Japanese too

A Secret So Easy, it will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language into a fun and exciting adventure.

I know what is good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know what to verb so that it would be good.”
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA SHITTE IRU
Verb (Base TA) + RA + YOI

YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)

YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, OR SURUDOI. It is irregular like TOMEI therefore it uses the connective particle NA

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary consists of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but it is called the GOJUON, or chart of the 50 sounds. The GOJUON is grouped in a way that facilitates learning of Japanese, especially the adjectives. Endings of adjectives follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o. I admonish any aspiring Japanese language learner to earnestly study the 46 syllables of the GOJUON or Japanese alphabet.
By the time we are 12 years of age, we usually forget how we came to be able to speak and utilize the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet itself is so ingrained into our language, it is often hard to remember that in order to be a successful learner of any language, that we must study first the primary components and basic building that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English, it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying its Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated.
Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever… learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is not a hard language to learn. In my opinion it is much easier than English to learn.

Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GOJU ON A
あ I
い U
う E*
え O
お
The first five adjectivial endings + the irregular EI AI
あい II
いい UI
うい EI
,えい OI
おい
Example adjectives showing the various endings ARAI
あらい ATARASHII
あたらしい FURUI
ふるい KIREI*
きれい OSOI
おそい

* EI endings are for the most
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in EI, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.

可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard

短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright

太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold

涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy

眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big

小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy

目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft

早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light

恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious

酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious


辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful

Watch the latest videos about anything YouTube.com

http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/mybloglog1294a476cec8f56ae2cc

japanese kinfolk to the English Demonstrative Pronoun

Here…There… And Everywhere
JPPGG supplement # 92
Japanese Kinfolk to the Demonstrative Pronoun

Notice in the following that

Interrogatives (questions) tend toward  D
here proximity  K
there proximity  S
over there proximity  A

Donna ni okii desu – How Big
Konna ni okii desu - About this big
Sonna ni okii desu – About that big
Anna ni okii desu – about that big (over there).

Dore gurai? About how much do you think?
Kore gurai! About this much!
Sore gurai ! About that much!
Are gurai! About (over there) that much

Dochi? –which one?
Kochi – this one
Sochi –that one
Achi – that one (over there)

Doko? – Where?
Koko – here
Soko – there
Muko – over there

Dokora – where abouts?
Kokora – around here
Sokora –around there

** Bonus Ghetto Word Section**
please don’t even dare thinking about using the following words

Dare? –
Koitsu! – This mofo, or this dude, or this guy, or this person!
Soitsu! - That dude! Or that bonehead there!
Aitsu! – That person over there!



Learn these useful words that all begin with mai or every

毎- まい - Mai – Every

毎日 - まいにち - Mainichi –Every Day

毎晩 - まいばん - Maiban – Every night

毎週 - まいしゅう - Maishu^ - Every week

毎月 - まいつき - Maitsuki – Every Month

毎年 - まいとし - Maitoshi – Every year

毎年 - まいねん - Mainen - Every year

毎度 - まいど - Maido – Every time

毎朝 - まいあさ Maiasa – Every morning


As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki

Japanese language learning is seriously addicting

A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language funto making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +

Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case

yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.


Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.

KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI

TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

Japanese grammar yoku shita mono desu

This is JPPGG bunpo principle #87.
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar Japanese Language Learning
By Makurasuki Sensei, Brett McCluskey
Towards better Japanese: Methods of Acquisition and Mastery.
To say in Japanese that you used to ~ verb, (at fairly regular intervals and at some point in the past) use the following construction:
used to ~ (~ is any verb)
yoku verb(base TA) mono desu.

The following examples will help you grasp today's JPPGG construction. After you get a feel for how this grammar is made, just keep plugging new verbs into the verb area in Base TA and then continue playing by making your own unique and interesting sentences. Don't forget to practice by saying all your newly created sentences out-loud. Drilling and killing, or plugging and playing your way to building a solid base from which your Japanese conversational skills will surely improve. Each new grammar principle you learn is like adding another weapon to your formidable Japanese language arsenal, which you will be able to use whenever the need arises.
Keep plugging and playing until your friends tell you they can't stand how much you practice your Japanese or until they say stop. But even if you start bugging people because you practice too much, just keep telling yourself its all for my own good. Just keep practicing the grammar constructions and saying to yourself new sentences of your own creation. If you want to improve your Japanese, don’t fret too much on annoying the slackers that don’t want to master another language as badly as you do. The following are example sentences to show you how the construction is typically used so you too can take it and make it your own. Once again the construction for #87 Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar is as follows:
English - used to ~ (where ~ is any verb)
Japanese - yoku verb(base TA) mono desu.

1. When I was younger, I used to go to school by bicycle.
Watakushi ga motto wakai koro, jitensha de yoku gakko ni itta mono desu.
{As for I, in the more young time, by bike often school went thing is.}[1] a. The main verb in 1. is iku - v. to go.
b. Putting the verb into its past tense -TA form ending gives you itta. c. Insert iku, verb(base TA) or in this case itta into the construction and
d. you have your new sentence.
yoku itta mono da or I used to go.

2. He used to cheat, but the teacher busted him, and now he is a good boy.
Kare wa mae yoku kanningu[2] shita mono desu keredomo sensei ni barete shimatte ima orikosan desu. 3. I used to play there a lot.
Watakushi wa soko de yoku asonda mono da. [3]

G.A.B. or the Ghetto After Blast - One point advice -
The Japanese verb nareru means, "To get used to" which is similar to the used to that you have been getting used to in this bunpo. Nareru is a really cool word, and you will hear it a lot in Japanese conversation.

Ex.1 He is used to that job.
Kare wa sono shigoto ni narete imasu.[4]

As Always, Do your Best! Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei.


[1] Given here in its' literal translation; its easy to see why not to translate literally as can be seen from the corruption madness of its form and sound.
[2] From the English adjective cunning.
[3] Non-polite plain form of the copula desu = da.
[4] See JPPGG Ghetto Grammar #88: 'Verbing' -verb (base TE) + iru or the Japanese Gerund.

Enthusiasm for Japanese langauge learning How to do it!

Deal the Zeal : Enthusiasm and its effects on second language Acquisition
Goals for Japanese Fluency
By Makurasuki, Brett McCluskey

This article was created to help those that need a boost to start or re-continue there quest for the acquisition and mastery of Japanese unto fluency.

You can improve your Japanese by following a few techniques I will show you and briefly outline here. In no time, your Japanese speaking skills will be better than you ever thought possible. Your success in second language acquisition should you accept the challenge, will be dependant upon the commitments you make to yourself to memorizing words part1, understanding, learning, memorizing then applying the basic Japanese grammar principlespart3+4 and finally your total amount of zeal you put into your efforts.

The amount of success or failure you have in second language acquisition starts with you. The power is within you; now let us try to unlock it. I want to share with you my zeal for learning another language and perhaps you might catch a little part of it and it might burn like the California fires of 2007 until you too have inspired others through your zeal and mastery of a foreign language.

My roommates hated me when I was studying, because not only would I ask them to help me by quizzing me from my vocabulary list from which I studied without fail daily, but I would wake up very early in the morning to practice speaking Japanese. I would repeat sentences I learned like mantras until I got the chance to use what I learned in real life to see which ones actually worked.

My roommates hated me. I had zeal for learning Japanese. It takes a great bit of it to be a successful language learner. You MUST HAVE ZEAL for learning the language or you will become complacent and lazy.

Determine within yourself now that you will find a way to harness zeal and enthusiasm towards the improvement of your Japanese unto acquisition. You must also have a purpose for your zeal. My purpose was to be able to speak with the Japanese people themselves, to communicate with them with no impediments of speech. ‘Like they say Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit’, so get going now and find your purpose and zeal it up.

The following is just one way and one example of what kind of language goals a person could set and realistically achieve, while at the same time making it challenging enough to maintain their interest. You might emulate these goals if you were learning Japanese; they are modeled after my own goals. They are in no way the only way to go, but they are, as I said, just one set of possible goals that you can use to help you attain fluency.

They helped me acquire that ever-elusive second language (Japanese) and if they are couple with enough zeal, it will be very possible that they will help you get fluency too. Remember though, the amount of zeal you put into your work is exactly how much success you will achieve out of it. With the right amount of zeal, you are bound to be speaking native like a Japanese senator in no time flat. May your Nihongo wa jozu ni naru.

It has been said to be fluent a person must know a minimum 4000 words

Vocabulary –n. a list of words, and often phrases, abbreviations, inflectional forms, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined or otherwise identified as in a dictionary, or glossary.

It goes on to say that vocabulary is also all the words recognized and understood by a particular person although not necessarily used by him, these may be an interrelated group of nonverbal symbols, signs, gestures, etc. used for communication or expression.

Now let us do some math to see how long it will take us to learn 4000 words, or, what some have called, the minimum amount of vocabulary one must know and be able to use and still be considered fluent.

7 days a week
52 weeks per annum
4 weeks per month
12 months per annum

How long will it take to obtain a 4000 word vocabulary?

Well if we learned 4000 words in one day, it would only take us one day, but is it reasonable to assume that we will retain those words? Unless you have a photographic memory, we should consider something else. How about 4000 words in 1 month? Is that a reasonable goal? I do not think either of those goals are within a typical realizable amount attainable possible.

We need a reasonable goal that is attainable that leaves us some breathing room to assimilate the vocabulary into our own speech system. I feel 6-8 words a day might be stretching us thin a little bit but it is the one I will recommend. Actually, the way I did it was to learn 15 words every two days but for sake of clarity, let us stick with words/day.

We do not want to memorize too many words because we will end up worse than learning only one word a week. At one word a week, it would take us 4000 days, or almost 11 years to have such a vocabulary. That is too long if you figure that for an accelerated college degree program you will be spending 4-6 years to obtain your B.A. and still would not be fluent either way, 11 years is too long.

These goals will be set for you to learn 4000 vocabulary terms in 1 year and 1 month from your starting date. This is still a very lofty goal. In order to learn 4000 vocabulary in 1 year and 1 month you will need to learn 10-11 words / day
That is the goal, 10-11 words / day, sunawachi everyday with no rest.

Day 1 goal – memorize 10 words today, tomorrow and 10 new words everyday for the next 9 months. Do not get discouraged after 9 months if you stick with your goals you will not be pera pera (fluent), but you will be enabled to handle almost any conversation that comes your way.


Day 2 goal -
Day 3 goal –
Weekly goal
Monthly goal
3-month goal
6-month goal

Beginning

So what exactly is fluency?

How do we measure fluency? There are indubitably quite a few ways to measure fluency. I am not aware of any fluency machine that can instantly measure your fluency like we can measure blood pressure, or body temperature.

I have heard it said at least once that fluency is dependent upon total vocabulary memorized. In addition, they put a number on it of 4000 different words. I cannot say I totally agree with that statement. No doubt, other requirements for language fluency certainly exist, other than just knowledge of the vocabulary.

Although many other complex processes are involved in fluency, we will start with how to set goals in memorizing words to increase our vocabulary power. Setting goals to memorizing vocabulary is a good place to start. So how much vocabulary power do you have under your belt?

The amount of words that you know and are able to translate those words into and out of your native tongue and into and out of your target language. Know the meaning of words so thoroughly that you can interchange them instantly. I suggest the use of mnemonics as helpful way to memorize Japanese words.

Just as one can word or phrase or apply any manipulation to the language so that its suits our purpose and the main purpose and reason is to get our meaning across. Sharing a As long as the method we use suffices to get our message across it does not even matter if we can speak Japanese or not.

In any language, if you look like you have to go ‘pee’ you do not have to say a word people will understand you. If you look tired or motion your hands as if you are sleeping, our knowledge of Nihongo lets body language assume the role.
What is the shortest distance between you and getting what you want? You are allowed to use any and all means necessary to get your meaning across.

Please see my article on circumlocution for sure fire ways to get your meaning across even if you do not know the Japanese words for it. http://ezinearticles.com/?Japanese-Pronunciation-Tips-13&id=472520

About our own Native tongue -
Just in mannerisms and the exact vocabulary and grammatical structure employed by the speaker, can there be vast amounts of missed meanings to occur.

Japanese could be spoken in any number of differing ways; intelligently, suave, brave, naive, sophisticated, charming, honorifically, stately, manly cunning, feminine, drunk, legendary all sorts of ways to speak like and just as we have the ish to make something in Nihongo the word becomes -ppoi.

Noun + ppoi = noun ‘ish’

Beautifully, wonderfully or bold or any other way you can think of, it becomes like it and takes on its characteristic traits.

The levels Keigo and the cultural implications of Kokugo^ must know how to manipulate verbs, while memorizing and strengthening your store of Japanese words to put into your goal oriented language arsenal. With that arsenal and using all of your faculties to summon together the ability to speak inside of another tongue, and also to be able to open your ears to such an extent that they become even more sensitive to different words, consonants, vowels phonemes.

Along with your noun memorization oath. (See appendix) noun (do not take for granted any place names that are presented to you on your quest for complete Japanese mastery. You have to commit yourself to a reasonable yet challenging goal.

Rocket Japanese

3 ways of saying after verb in Japanese

Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar 109
JPPGG #109
Three Ways of Saying “After Verb’ing” in Japanese.

After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese –
There are 3 easy ways to say to “after verb’ing” in Japanese

1. verb (base TE) + KARA
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI

By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after similar equivalent expressions for the English terms following or later.

To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:

1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE.

Verbs ending in KU become ITE  ~ITE
Verbs ending in GU become IDE  ~IDE
Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU  ~ TTE
Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU  ~NDE
The verb suru or verbs ending in SU become SHITE  ~SHITE

Then add + KARA (after)

HANASU (v. to speak)  HANASHITE

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ -
Let’s go after we talk a little.

YOMU (v. to speak) YONDE

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.

TABERU (v. to eat)  TABETE

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. –
After I eat, I’m going to do homework.

UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU.
I like to take a shower after I do my exercise.

2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA

NOMU (v. to drink)  NONDA

NOMU (base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU
ta  nda
NOMU in base TA is NONDA

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.

*NOCHI NI = ATO DE, NOCHI DE

3. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA –
I went home after drinking some sake.

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)

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.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei

Learning Japanese isn't so hard

Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I feel that if you want to learn a language, try the Japanese language.The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to!Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.

The symbol shown above right is the Kanji, or chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!

Japanese skills

A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language funto making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +

Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case

yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.


Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.

KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI

TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

Don't Mis-pronounce Japanese or look like a baka

When I hear badly pronounced Japanese, it’s like hearing fingernails scraping against a chalkboard. I have been known to turn red in embarrassment for the person committing the foul pronunciation. Why is pronunciation such a big deal? There are many reasons why language learners should practice pronouncing their words correctly.

In this article I I’ll touch on a few topics I feel are important concerning learning, studying and practicing pronunciation in Japanese.
In speaking another language it is important to be understood quickly and clearly. Without correct pronunciation there is no way for this to happen.

If you want to be a well liked and a well respected speaker of Japanese then put pronunciation practice at the top of your priority list for things you need to study. Bad pronunciation is not cool. It is simply irresponsible for a beginning Japanese language learner to continue learning Japanese without making attempts to improve upon their own particular pronunciation situation.

A good steward of second language acquisition, makes sure that he/she is pronouncing their Japanese words correctly. A learner of the Japanese language must never neglect pronunciation in their studies. The art or skill of the lips the teeth and the tip of the tongue can spell the difference between effective communication or utter confusion.

A tongue is a people, how words are communicated amongst individuals also defines who they are and the type of people they represent; their long heritage and lineage of traditions, festivals, and ceremonies. Giving a little extra effort in your practice of correct pronunciation displays a sincere desire to understand the people and culture through the words of their mouth. Words of a language were not just some accident. Or were they?

Japanese pronunciation is probably one of the easier aspects of the language to learn yet it is often put aside due to the seemingly lack of similarities between the two languages; Japanese, and English. I use to think that if I just copied the way native speakers spoke then I should be ok, right? Well, in retrospect I do believe it is a good thing to copy speak when it comes to simple pronunciation of words, but be careful not to copy speak grammar or sentence structure because that can turn out to give you trouble later on. Mimicking native speakers is good as long as you aren’t copying their bad habits also. Men should never copy the speech of women.
Copy pronunciation but stay very far from women’s nuances, sentence endings, and their use of certain words if done in like manner could portray an overzealous Japanese SL male learner as an okama or gay. If you don't want to be considered an okama, you must pay attention to the way Men use the words for you and I. And be careful of sentence ending particles. That’s harsh and if you don't know what okama is, look it up in the Sanseido Wa-Ei and if you don't have one go to my lens http://squidoo.com/japponics wherein is a link to the Sanseido publishing company. It is so important to have a dictionary as an aid for studying Japanese it goes without saying. So get one if you don't already have one.

If you are going to learn to speak Japanese please try to speak with correct pronunciation. It shows bad manners, and lack of commitment. It also sends a message of disgrace for your native country. It is important also while in Japan to show that you love your country. They are quite accepting of many gaijins in this respect. Especially since you'll usually be the only gaijin within a couple of hundred miles so make your pronunciation count.

One cool thing about Japanese pronunciation is that vowels do not vary as they do in English. They stay straight. English uses the 5 letters a e i o u to make around 20 vowel sounds. You have many elided or dipthongated vowel sounds that Japanese just doesn't have. it is for this reason I find it easier to find the pronunciation of any foreign difficult word like words in the Bible Deuteronomy that you'll never figure out or philosophical names and the like, if you read those foreign difficult name type words in Japanese it comes out closer than attempts I have made in English. Actually using both your native tongue and Japanese together you can come up with the pronunciation of any difficult biblical term. Let me give you one example: In Japanese, there are 5 vowels, and 5 vowel sounds. Learning languages couldn’t be easier.

The order is a little different so that might be the first thing to look at. The first 5 syllables in the Japanese syllabary are a i u e and o. It has to be said that if you were to gather a Japanese ensemble and make a choir out of them, oh how satisfied the director would be. Because they only use 5 vowels and they are pure. International phonetics could straightway use Japanese for these vowels written in Romaji as a i u e o. Or Hiragana as あ,い,う,えand お.

After Verbing in Base TE + KARA

Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar 109
JPPGG #109
Three Ways of Saying “After Verb’ing” in Japanese.

After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese –
There are 3 easy ways to say to “after verb’ing” in Japanese

1. verb (base TE) + KARA
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI

By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after similar equivalent expressions for the English terms following or later.

To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:

1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE.

Verbs ending in KU become ITE  ~ITE
Verbs ending in GU become IDE  ~IDE
Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU  ~ TTE
Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU  ~NDE
The verb suru or verbs ending in SU become SHITE  ~SHITE

Then add + KARA (after)

HANASU (v. to speak)  HANASHITE

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ -
Let’s go after we talk a little.

YOMU (v. to speak) YONDE

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.

TABERU (v. to eat)  TABETE

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. –
After I eat, I’m going to do homework.

UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU.
I like to take a shower after I do my exercise.

2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA

NOMU (v. to drink)  NONDA

NOMU (base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU
ta  nda
NOMU in base TA is NONDA

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.

*NOCHI NI = ATO DE, NOCHI DE

3. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA –
I went home after drinking some sake.

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)

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.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei

Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 15
or to continue the training, see
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster 17

To seem about to verb

To say that someone seems about to verb in Japanese, use the following construction:
Verb(base II) So^ desu
This one is an easily constructed grammar principle. First we take any verb we like and put it into base II.
Hanasu - to speak -Hanasu(base II) = hanashi
Ochiru - to fall -Ochiru(base II) = ochi
Naku - to cryNaku(base II) = naki
add So^ desu to the base II of Japanese verbs will make the verb take on the nuance of things which are about to take place or that look like they are going to do it soon, ie. seems about to verb.
hanashi so^ desuhanashiso^ desu - It seems he is about to speak
ochi so^ desuochiso^ desu - looks like they are about to fall downFor iru and eru ending verbs simply drop off the last syllable ru and and your So^ desu. For all other forms put into i ending.

Some necessary Japanese Learning

I have several articles for your Japanese learning enjoyment, the links I will list below. Most of the content of these articles are for intermediate to advance learners. Being exposed is a good thing in education. Being immersed would be the most ideal situation. You are thinking in a good manner to want to read it then speak it. I think that there are 4 categories or areas which must be developed when attempting to master a language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I know there are other terms for listening, like comprehension etc. but for our sakes I shall call it listening. There are two outflows of language, they are writing and speaking. Outflow of writing uses the medium of pen and paper to write symbols which will convey meaning, and the Japanese language is so very full of meaning in this way. There is so much to learn in the way of kanji. All terms having to do with water use the sui hen or water radical. Start memorizing the radicals of Kanji, this will help you immensely in your understanding of the language, but it may not help your amount of vocabulary. I would suggest this at first because if you try to attack the kanji too soon you might get discouraged, so I say its ok in order to learn how to speak in Japanese a lot of your words will simply be written in romaji. You must make a list and set a goal. I set a goal at first after deciding adamantly that I was going to be able to speak Japanese because I couldn't and was living in Japan. Must determination was so high and motivating that I did it. I can say it took me 9 months at least maybe 10 before my ears were open enough to hear the small intricacies of the language. But I'll never say that I have become fluent like a native, although when people talk to me over the phone they can't tell if I'm a native or a gaijin. Even the police when they pulled me over twice for speeding I was doing 45kph in a 30kph until I took off my helmet they didn't know and I almost scared the silly puddy right out of them once they saw my blonde hair. It really freaked those power ranger looking police officers that I, a blonde headed gaijin could speak as a native. It blew them away. But those are the rewards of all my diligence, determination, and steadfastness to my goals. My very first goal that I made was to memorize 15 words in 2 day. I did that at first but I did anywhere from 15 -30 words every 2 days, and I would constantly pester someone to quiz me on my new words. The way I memorized words was I made a list of all the useful words I could think of and the list grew very big and then I would do a review over and over, I repeated the words over and over in both directions into and out of English and Japanese, front ways and backwards. Every chance I got I would try to use my new words in sentences as the chance permitted. I woke up at 5 in the morning and studied my bootie off, because I was so determined to master it and be the best I could be as a speaker of Japanese. Next I had two grammar books and learned how to put verbs in bases, and then I could just plug and play with my Japanese grammar and my vocabulary list. It would be good to be able to simultaneously learn and memorize the kanji of a word on your vocabulary list as well as having just the romaji. Most often times I didn't have the luxury or time to study the Kanji, so I didn't start the Kanji until about a year into studying it. I was mainly concerned with my desire to speak Japanese quickly. But let me tell you. If you study the radicals of the kanji and just start learning your first year kanji then you will be able to see how words are made and how they may have originated. I mean kanji is a fascinating pictographically way of communicating. To me there is always more meaning in the Kanji of some word as opposed to the shallow no descript meaning of just the Phoenician alphabet. Before taking on any kanji though, master the kana, both hiragana and katakana. And practice writing the kana, these basic strokes are what forms kanji in the long run. Ok I am going to tell you my secret for getting good really fast. It worked wonders for me because I would sit and study, practice my Japanese in an odd way but it was so fun. This is what I did, it may not be like scholarly or a recommended way to do it but it sure worked wonders for me. I would laugh all over town practicing saying the word fart in every type of grammar I could find that accepted verbs. Because verbs are put into the bases I II III IV and V and verbs put into the various bases have various grammars, I would just put the verb to fart in any bunpo (grammar) I could get my hands on. For example, I like to fart. Onara suru koto ga suki desu. I even put it in polite form which to me is really funny. Or you could ask someone please fart! Onara shite kudasai. Or I must fart now! Onara shinakereba narimasen. Or you could have fun saying I just farted, Onara shita bakari desu. Well hopefully you will take the spirit of what I'm saying and not take it to the letter of the law. It was so much fun learning Japanese that way. Set your goals challenging yet not to the point of overload, neither are productive. If you need a list of words to start memorizing check the link below I have made a word list just for people like you. In essence the more vocabulary you know the more fluent you are (well that’s the idea or that is what someone told me once that if you have at least a 4000 word vocabulary you can be considered fluent, but I don't consider anybody fluent unless their pronunciation is well prepared). The amount of vocabulary must increase a little everyday. But you will need someone to check you on your vocabulary so all you have to do is this or something Here are my guaranteed steps to getting better at Japanese in the shortest amount of time.