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*

At the door in Japan

Let's say you are in Japan, and you are visiting a friend. So you go to their door and give it a knock. After you hear some movement inside, you will probably hear this phrase too.

Dochirasama desu ka? or Who is it?

Politely tell them it is you by stating your name followed by desu, the polite form of the verb "to be".

So if you are Robert, say
Robert desu. - It is Robert.

If you are Brett, say
Brett desu. - It is Brett.

If you are Julie, say
Julie desu. It is Julie.
After stating politely who you are, and if they like you, they will tell you
Dozo, o-hairi kudasai - which is to say - please come in.

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, "I'm hungry" in Japanese

To say "I'm hungry" in Japanese use the following phrase -
o - naka ga suita

Naka is a generic word for things in the middle. The kanji for naka is very simple - 中. It looks like a box with a line drawn through it.


o - naka  織中 おなか - stomach, belly, midsection, torso, etc. Literally,  "the honorific middle".

Here are some uses of o-naka -

1. o - naka ga suita - I'm hungry
織中が空いた
おなかがすいた
2. o - naka ga itai  - I have a stomach ache.
織中が痛い
おなかがいたい
3. o - naka no ko - The expected child.
織中 の 子

Basic Japanese Grammar - Verb Base II + Nasai

Basic Japanese Grammar Crash Course
Accelerated Japanese Mastery
Base II + NASAI なさい – Lesser command form

To boss people around, or tell people what to do, commanding them in Japanese you will need to know this Japanese Grammar construction:

Verb (base II) + NASAI なさい - Do verb! Command form.

Examples
1.Suwarinasai! 坐りなさい!
“Take your seat!”
a.Suwaru 座る - v. to sit down
b.Suwaru 座るin base II is suwari 坐り
c.Suwari坐り + nasai なさい = suwarinasai坐りなさい Sit!

2.Shukudai o shinasai! 宿題をしなさい
“Do your homework!”
a.suruする – v. to do
b.suru in base II = shiし
c.shiし + nasaiなさい = shinasaiしなさい “DO IT!”


3.Ikinasai!行きなさい
“Go!”
a.iku 行く– v . to go
b.iku 行く in base II is iki 行き
c.iki行き + nasaiなさい = ikinasai行きなさい “GO!”

Plug in your favorite Japanese verbs into this Japanese Grammar Construction and start making your own cool sentences then test them on your Japanese friends.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき

How to count people in Japanese

How to count people in Japanese.
Hito 人 the Japanese counter for people.

When counting people in Japanese we use the counter for person or hito 人 (ひと). Hito also has the reading of nin or にん. The first two counters or words for 1 person and 2 persons are exceptions and are irregular. The word for 1 person is hitori, and the word for 2 people is futari.

When at a fine gourmet restaurant in Japan, the first thing the maitre d will ask is, “ how many people in your group,” to which you could reply any of the following. If two people then say futari. You will most likely hear the maitre d saying “ O- futari san desu ka?”, which means, “Table for two?” to which you could reply, “Hai so^ desu”, “Yes that is correct, 2.”

Nin 人 is the counter for people or persons so that we will have from 1-10 people the following:

hitori - 一人, 1 person
futari - 二人, 2 people
sannin - 三人, 3 people
yonnin - 四人, 4 people
gonin - 五人, 5 people
rokunin - 六人, 6 people
shichinin - 七人, 7 people
hachinin - 八人, 8 people
kyu^nin - 九人, 9 people
ju^nin - 十人, 10 people

If you can count to 100 in Japanese, then just add nin 人 to say how many people you are talking about. The same for any number up to infinity. The word for everyone or everybody is minna and depending on how polite you wish to address everyone by, you either add the polite san さん or sama 様 to minna 皆making it minnasan 皆さん or minnasama 皆様.

More advanced examples:
hachiju^hachinin - 八十八人, 88 people
sennin - 千人,1000 people etc.

Japanese grammar noun ga hoshii

Japanese noun fun with hoshii

noun ga hoshii = noun is wanted


so that

ringo ga hoshii = I want an apple

suteki na bo^shi ga hoshii = I want a cool hat

okii ie ga hoshii - I want a big house

okane ga hoshii - I want some money

to make these Japanese phrases polite, add desu to hoshii so that the entire construction becomes noun ga hoshii desu

itchi oku en ga hoshii desu etc.
etc. have a decent day

More on Hodo in Japanese grammar

Hodo – to the extent that

Ex. 1 sureba suru hodo shiyasukunaru – The more I do it the easier it gets.

Ex. 2 Aeba au hodo suki ni natte shimau – the more I meet you the more I begin to like you.

Ex. 3 Stephen wa toshi or toreba toru hodo se wa takakunaru - The more Stephen ages, the taller he gets.

Words and terms of Family In Japanese

Quick Japanese Vocabulary Chart demonstrating humble and exalted forms for family related terms for those serious in making Japanese their SL2.


Family words Humble –when speaking of ones own, of oneself Exalted – when inquiring of others
Father chichi - 父 (ちち) o-to^san (long o) - お父さん(おとうさん)
Mother haha - 母 (はは) o-ka^san (long a) - お母さん (おかあさん)
Older Brother ani - 兄 (あに) o-ni^san (long i) - お兄さん(おにいさん)
Younger Brother oto^to - 弟 (おとうと) o-to^tosan - 弟さん (おとうとさん)
Older Sister ane –
姉 (あね) o-ne^san (long e) - 姉 (あね)
Younger Sister imo^to –
妹 ( いもうと) imo^tosan (long o) 妹さん (いもうとさん)
Parents ryo^shin (long o) –
両親 (りょうしん) go-ryoshin (long o) - 御両親 (ごりょうしん)
Husband shujin (lit. my lord) -主人 (しゅじん) go-shujin 御-主人(しゅじん)
Wife kanai – (lit. inside the house)
家内 (かない) okusama, or less exalted okusan - (lit. the person in the far back) 奥さん (おくさん) but still polite and most commonly used as with any word in this column, the suffix san can be exchanged for sama in any case Sama being more honorific.

Also frequently heard is the term for husband or danna. Dannasan or dannasama being the exalted forms.

For other various Japanese language learning needs, see the following websites

http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar

http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabularyindex

http://saketalkie.blogspot.com

http://squidoo.com/japanese1



Ganbatte ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei

Favorable favors in Japanese Grammar

This will show you how to get someone to do something for you in Japanese. After you get the hang of these constructions it is advised top use any verb you learn from here on out by making sentences of your own. Be creative as best you can, even making the way you learn the verbs and constructions you put them into sound out-landish, extravagant or otherwise. The more bizarre you make the image of the meaning of words and the way you associate word terms and meanings together the more memorable will be their image and greater will be your vocabulary retention.

Remember, it isn't always the total amount of words that make one fluent. It is found only after mastery of the various grammar forms are handled as well as total amount of vocabulary held at your disposal. My advice to any do-it your-self-er Japanes language learner will greatly benefit from practicing Japanese with sentences which the studier creates from scratch. Using in a sentence some grammatical construction featuring verbs which are well retained and at one's disposal.

There are mainly three levels of politeness in Japanese. There is also many shades in between these levels which can be obtained and implied through the various endings a verb can take. There are three distinct latitudes or heights (Or depths as some may see it) at which spoken Japanese can be vocalized and interpreted, all different yet all manifesting levels of politeness.

Politeness levels are in large part determined by the age difference between locutors in a two way conversation. In Japanese, one would speak in more respectful ways to persons who are upwards of your age or older than you. It is natural to speak less formally to people who are in your same graduating class or to people younger than you, in other words, it is acceptable to speak to those of equal or lesser value in standard or plain form Japanese.

It is usually all right to speak in plain form to people your age or less unless it is people who you have just met or the boss of your company, grandparent or god-father. The shacho or boss of a company is always spoken to in the highest possible forms of polite forms of Japanese. In these constructions, aru is replaced by its specialized counterpart gozaru, so instead of arimasu(polite aru baseII+masu) you would use gozaimasu. (gozaru is the super polite form of the verb aru, de aru is plain form of desu, de gozaru = de aru = desu.)

On first meeting someone in Japan, it would be rude to automatically assume that you were acquainted with them enough to speak plain form Japanese. There is something to say about polite speech. Polite speech makes people feel good. It makes the person you are speaking to feel like he is important and it makes you the speaker feel good when the same type of speaking is spoken back to you. We really can’t get this same feeling in English. It is possible that some event, like a royal wedding where everything was done prim and proper, or at a wedding and you are the bride or groom, then you may feel what it is like to be spoken up to and through speech made to feel good about yourself because of polite speech.

Otherwise, I have never felt so good as when someone speaks to me in Keigo compared to not having such a thing in English America. When first meeting someone always assume that he or she is your great uncle who had died and left you his fortune. Don't automatically assume enough familiarity with them to speak to them in the plain form or anything lower in politeness to anybody ever. You can get yourself in deep trouble. The Japanese are nice but words are a two edged sword powerful enough to cause wars so take car to always be as polite as you can. Remember plain form is the type of language that is spoken to dogs, so how much respect does a human being deserve over a dog, and plus, it’s easy if you tongue doesn’t become lazy. Just always practice speaking in polite Japanese and you won’t have any trouble.

It is important to understand the distinctions made between the levels of politeness in speech. Plain form just isn't polite, try to avoid it by always keeping your mouth clean and out of trouble. If you are a gaijin, your mouth and manners are already out of thwack with the customs and traditional courtesies of the Japanese nation. When in Rome we do as the Romans do and when in Japan our feet can't stink.

In order to avoid sounding like a beast with no manners, try always speaking in Japanese at higher more respectful levels. There are two levels of speech and 2 conditions of the verbs + future, - future, past +, past -. plain form. One above that level and another beneath. In all three levels. We can make sentences that are crystal clear and come out in our speech imbued with beautiful hues and hints of wonderful meanings making our Japanese not different from a samurai overlord.

In the present tense, plain form verbs always end in one of five vowels, a, i u e, or, o which corresponding to the five bases (I,II,III,IV,V) of a verb.
The polite form of a verb is made up of a verb in base II or the i line of the syllabayry and by adding ~masu. The ~masu ending is always adequately polite. Speaking in plain form or leaving the verb in dictionary form or base (III) is less polite and could be construed as very rude speech. (*In my Ghetto Grammar lesson plain form is denoted P.F.)Polite form is also categorized in degrees or levels of politeness.
In Japanese there are 4 basic states or tenses a verb can take. There are 2 present tense verb forms that are polite and 2 in the past tense, each tense having its' affirmative or + side and, or its' negative , {future/present + or - } and {past + or -}. In Japanese, the latter part of the verb is where the conjugations occur, at the tail of a verb, not the stem. There are many endings which can be constructed. Each ending can change the meaning of the Japanese words ever so subtley, yet significantly. In other words, there are many levels of politeness possible even using the same word(s).

When asking a favor of someone, you'll have to consider how polite you’ll want to sound with that person. You won't get very far by getting your boss to give you a raise when speaking to him in less polite language which equivocal to what is know as plain form Japanese. Not being careful of your politeness level can really get you into trouble. With the boss example it could give him more reason to dislike you or even fire you for insubordination. Sometimes speaking in the plain form Japanese can be dangerous, making you sound even barbaric at times, childish at others, straight out rude at times, piggish, bossy, arrogant to name a few of the ways you jeopardize your potential to speaking fluid, beatifully perfect Japanese speaking. Be mindful that respect to others is shown through the Japanese langauge via the levels of speech:

Politeness levels in the Japanese Language - From low to high:

1. Base speech (rude, raunchy and raw Japanese, spoken to lesser creatures, animals, underlings, fledglings and disciples.

2 . Plain form or basically neutral status speaking Japanese, or the humble and exalted levels of speech. Humble and exalted levels of speech considered from the same tree and is globally known as

3. Honorifics

In getting a commitment for your request, use the verb ITADAKU, the same verb that is used in the expression, “Itadakimasu” before eating.

You will put this with a verb in base TE to get a yes or no answer. However, if your demands weren't that impending, or is not in need of immediate attention, then there are 3 further choice of verbs for those requests to become actions. The verbs involved in getting someone to do an action for you in Japanese, are these:

MORAU - (to get, be given, receive),

KURERU - (to receive from) and

KUDASARU - ( to be so kind as to receive from )
with the masu ending being the highest.

• ITADAKU means literally to humbly partake of something or someone doing something for you that equates to a will you…? Or similar type English sentence.

Constructions for "Will you verb (for me)?" in Japanese.

Verb (base TE) + MORAU V (て) + もらう
Do you think you could verb for me?

Verb (base TE) +YARU V (て) + やる
I will verb for you. (This is least polite and only said amongst the closest of friends, more masculine.)

Verb (base TE) + KURERU V (て) + くれる-
Would you verb for me? (Either because I physically or otherwise can't do it myself or simply because you are kind or respected by me).

Verb (base TE) + AGERU V (て) + あげる
I'll verb for you.

Verb (base TE) + KUDASARU V (て) + 下さる
Will you kindly verb for me?

*Kudasaruくださる is one of the first learned Japanese words. It’s kanji represents the word meaning below, underneath, under, or down. The meaning is opposite to that of the word UE上 (Up, on top, above etc.)

This is where the construction for -please verb- or verb (base TE) + kudasai comes from.

Verb (base TE) + itadaku (The commitment word evoking only a yes or no answer). Equivalent to "Will you verb?" in English.

1. Will you quit smoking.
Tabako o su^ no o yamete itadakemasu ka?
たばこを吸うのを止めて頂けますか

2. Can I get you to turn the light off for me?
Denki o keshite moraimasu ka?
電機を消してもらいますか

3. Could you turn the light off for me?
Denki o keshite kuremasu ka?
電機をけしてくれますか


4. Will you kindly lend me $1000 dollars Grandmother?
Oba^chan@ ano 1 sen doru o kashite kudasaimasu ka?
おばあちゃん! あの 一千＄貸してくれますか

5. Could you tell me your phone number?

a. Denwa bango o oshiete kudasaimasu ka?
電話番号を教えて下さいますか?

b. Denwa bango o oshiete kuremasu ka?
電話番号を教えてくれますか

c. Denwa bango o oshiete itadakemasu ka?
電話番号をいただけますか

a.,b.,c. Will you tell me your phone number?

Itadaku - the yes or no verb
Itadaku頂く is special in that it forms changes from the itadaki to itadake form either Yes, or, No? Using the verb itadaku is ultimately polite yet it elicits only two answers from which to form a reply..

6. Shall I open it for you?
Akete yaro^ ka? (Less polite form V of verb yaru, downward politeness)
開けてやろうか?

7. Shall I read it for you?
Yonde agemasho^ ka? (masho^ is more polite, spoken to peers and above)
読んで挙げましょう

8. Lets get him to pay for us.
Haratte moraimasho^
払ってもらいましょう

9. I wanted him to draw a picture for us.
E o kaite moraitakatta n' desu.
絵を画いてもらいたかったのです.

10. I am going to need you to come in on Sunday (too).
Nichiyoubi nimo kaisha ni kite moraitakatta no desu ga…?
日曜日にも会社に来てもらいたかったのですが
That is straight out of “office space” yo!

Until next time, that’s the end of this short lesson in Japanese grammar. As always, I wish you the best in your endeavors towards better Japanese …

Ganbatte Ne!
頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki. まくらすき

Japanese and your B.A.C

Their are 3 main beer brewing companies in Japan. Of Kirin, Sapporo, and Asahi, I have a personal preference for Asahi super dry. It being based in Fukuoka, one of my favorite places on the globe. The Asahi brand is a good brand. However, Japanese beer is made from rice not from wheat or any other thing. Kirin has an Ichiban shibori which means first wort. Kirin also has that cool logo of the Kirin which in modern Japanese means Giraffe but in days of old could have meant dragon or griffon.
www.kirin.com/

Now don't get me wrong, you can get very sick off of rice beer. I know first hand how bad things can get if you drink that big 2 liter bottle of Sapporo ichiban shibori. Remember to drink responsibly, and .4 is death on the BAC chart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Breweries

How to study Japanese

How to study Japanese for the first week and why kanji is so cool.

There is spoken language and the written language. Kanji has deep meanings contained within each one. This is much different from what we are expecting, because we have become through continuous use of our own native language, stifled by the alphabet. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji. Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in Romaji to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like Sanseido’s daily concise wa-ei jiten.

Week 1

Verbs –
Drink, nomu, 飲む, のむ,
Sleep, neru, 寝る, ねる,
Eat, taberu 食べる,たべる,
Go,
Work hataraku, 働く, はたらく

- Be able to put learned verbs in all their bases. Bases I – V
- create sentences using all base forms from I – V
- Test your created sentences on an actual Nihonjin to make sure they really work.

Nouns:
Coffee, kohi, コーヒ-,
Tea お茶 おちゃ,
milk, water, coca colaコカ-コラ-, sake, Aquarius, beer, juice (ko-hi, o-cha, gyu^nyu^牛乳
ぎゅうにゅう, mizu, koka kora, sake, akuariusuアクアリアス, bi-ruビール, ju-suジュウスウ)

Adjectives – oishiiおいしい, suteki naすてきな, benri naべんりな, okii大きい
おおきい, nagai長い
ながい, samui寒い
さむい
, atsui熱い あつい, chisai, mijikai 短いみじかい

(Delicious, cool, convenient, big, long, cold, hot

, small小さいちいさい, short etc.)
- Adjectives- are fun to play with. Practice putting the adjectives in front of nouns etc

Grammar - Know the masuます, masenません, mashitaました, masen deshitaません でした. etc (polite formations of verbs)
- Become acquainted with the various levels of politeness; humble, honorific, plain form

Example Grammar Construction –

Verb (Base II) + Tai desu = I want to verb - polite form. - Without desu, its plain form or P.F.
~ たい です tai desu

Verb (Base II) + masho^ = Shall we +verb or let’s +verb
ましょう

Pronunciation - (distinguish between long and short vowel sounds) =

Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to detail. The Romanization methods employed by the various types of Romanization of the Japanese Syllabary should be duly noted. For example in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be an elongated double vowel sound.